Last November, I strongly recommended to the White House that President Obama grant the bishops’ request for a broader exemption for Catholic employers from the general obligation placed on most employers to acquire contraceptive coverage for their employees. To emphasize how well the bishops’ request dovetailed with what I understood then, and understand now, to be the president’s own perspective on religious freedom, I drafted some remarks to illustrate that happy convergence.

The president chose to not grant the exemption, and now the bishops are calling that decision an act of war on the church and religious freedom. With due respect, I believe the leaders of our faith have overstated matters, but were I the president’s political advisor, I ...