I think you misunderstand, the ACA is the law - passed by congress and approved by the President. It does not conflict with the first amendment. Please re-read:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

The problem is that they merely oppose the use of birth control - it does not prevent them from their beliefs (unless you can cite the line in your religious text containing the words "birth control", then we'll talk). IF birth control were to be offered under the plan but never used by anyone, would it be any different than a plan that didn't offer birth control? The cost would be the same since the offer was never ever used.

What if an employer has a religion which believes in "faith healing" only. By requiring them to provide any health insurance would be wrong in your view. At this juncture, you have forced your employees to be without health insurance. This forces the employees into the same "faith healing" - effectively forcing your employees into that religious belief.

Meat consumption is not the problem, overpopulation is. If we had fewer mouths to feed, we would have fewer starving people. It is unfortunate that the planet is overpopulated and no one has the stomach to tackle this problem. Africa has a food problem (and probably always will). The US has begun consuming water far above the replacement rate. It won't be long until we can't drill wells deep enough since we have taken all of the water out.

What is the problem with a smaller population? The only argument I have ever heard was the lack of freedom to choose to have more children. If anyone can enlighten me why a reduced population is bad, please do.