(LifeNews.com)The fact that Tyndale House Publishers, based in Carol Stream, has needed to take a stand in court against ObamaCare’s abortion pill mandate should itself shock most Americans. The publisher simply believes that devout Christians in America are exercising religion when they publish the Bible and give the proceeds to religious charity. But even this idea is now disputed.
The president’s agencies have written rules that render evangelistic publishing of the Bible to be, well, not really religious. To the people who drafted the ObamaCare rule, and its defenders, religion is little more than a target of derision and marginalization.
Tyndale House is a Bible publisher, but the administration believes it shouldn’t qualify for an exemption because it initially earns a profit on its published materials…before directing 97 percent of that profit to non-profit religious charities and causes.
Some advocates for the abortion pill mandate erroneously contend that Tyndale House, instead of the Obama administration, wants the government to pick and choose what is and isn’t truly “religious,” and even to interpret what biblical authors really meant.
This is the opposite of the truth. In America, the burden of proof to violate religious freedom is not on citizens, but on the government. The government needs to stay out of religious gerrymandering and respect free exercise of religion, period.
In the First Amendment, the Founders took for granted that religion exists, and far from ridiculing it, they set up a barrier to protect it. President Bill Clinton and a broad bipartisan majority followed suit when they passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993.
The administration and Tyndale House’s critics are the ones asking for government to decide what the Bible means. The Obama administration has drawn a tiny circle around what it calls “religious employers,” and has left most religious Americans out in the cold. But the government shouldn’t be drawing that line in the first place.
Secularists seem to believe that since courts shouldn’t decide what the Bible means, Christians aren’t allowed to decide either. Instead, the administration forces believers to follow the theological decisions of President Obama and Planned Parenthood.
Nothing could be further from America’s tradition of religious freedom. Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish.
When defenders of the ObamaCare abortion pill mandate wring their hands about the impossibility of respecting varying religions and biblical interpretations, their rhetoric is actually intended to take away from what’s really at stake—the freedom of Americans to live, do business, and serve the community without the government forcing them to violate their conscience.
This is partly what led a Denver federal court to put the mandate on hold for the Newland family, which runs Hercules Industries. The court declared that ObamaCare’s arbitrary rules about who must comply and who gets exceptions “completely undermine” the government’s alleged interest in forcing Christians to violate the biblical respect for life. The mandate forces a wide range of Christians to violate basic, shared tenets of their faith or denomination.
Supporters of the abortion pill mandate are the ones trampling on the First Amendment and religious freedom. They support a scenario where the state simply “defines” most religious believers out of existence. And when a Bible publisher is no longer religious enough to have convictions the law will respect, then the government’s usurpation of religious freedom is well underway.
22 August 2012: Since reporting on the account of Jason Egroff, a 28 year-old Scranton, Pennsylvania web designer and Blog Talk Radio host of the weekly Revelation News Christian broadcast, I have received documentation of numerous cases where outspoken critics specific to the anti-Christian agenda of Barack Hussein Obama experienced similar encounters with “mental health professionals”.
In the event you are unfamiliar with the full account of Mr. Egroff, it is documented here. In short, Mr. Egroff was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility for evaluation due to his pro-Christian yet non-threatening religious views opposing those of the Obama regime. Of course, that’s not the official psychiatric diagnosis given to him, but after an extensive investigation into the events leading up to and following his evaluation, it might as well be. What was uncovered in subsequent investigations involving other “patients,” I for one am convinced that the common element in all similar cases is one’s Christian beliefs when combined with a vocal opposition to Obama agenda. I’m also convinced we’ve identified their playbook.
Further research into this tactic left me both surprised and shaken to the core. My findings have determined that the situation involving Mr. Egroff is not an isolated case, but one of a growing and effective tactic currently being used to silence the Christian “watchmen” in the U.S. The victims of these tactics are not fanatical, they do not advocate violence, and certainly do not represent any threat to themselves or others. Their common “crime” is that they believe in the Word of God, the Holy Bible, and vocally identify the transgressions of our current government as they relate to the Bible and Scripture. To the Obama regime, this has obviously become a dangerous political threat.
Obama tactics from the Communist playbook
With gratitude to the research of Mary Ann, a listener of the Hagmann & Hagmann Report and reader of this website, this author was alerted to the January 2010 edition of the Schizophrenia Bulletin authored by Robert van Voren. The abstract contains important documented evidence that reads like the mental health chapter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security handbook, except that it details the strategies of communist Russia in the 1970′s and 1980′s. During the height of political oppression in the Soviet Union, for example, studies found that at least one-third of the political prisoners were locked up in psychiatric hospitals.
As noted by the author, “using psychiatry as a means of repression has been a particular favorite of Socialist-oriented regimes.” What are we seeing take place in the United States today? We are witnessing a sudden and widespread increase in the “thought police” and by extension, the “religion police.” In the aforementioned bulletin, the author states that “[T]he political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union originated from the concept that persons who opposed the Soviet regime were mentally ill because there was no other logical explanation why one would oppose the best sociopolitical system in the world.”
It is also important to point out that the author notes that under the misuse of psychiatry by the state, the “patient” was diagnosed as having sluggish schizophrenia. He adds that “[T]he patient with paranoid symptoms retained some insight in his condition but overvalued his own importance and might exhibit grandiose ideas of reforming society. Thus, symptoms of sluggish schizophrenia could be “reform delusions,” “struggle for the truth,” and “perseverance.” So, according to the nationalized psychiatrists of the former Soviet Union, it was accepted that anyone desiring to eliminate Socialism is mentally ill, and possesses the shocking symptoms and impairments as a desire to seek political reform, learn the truth, and exhibit perseverance in the process. Sound familiar?
As one digs deeper into today’s headlines, it is evident that the socialist inclinations of the current administration, from Obama to Holder to Napolitano and across the higher levels of government, are becoming more apparent. Noted in the study is a reference to Russia that appears to apply here in the U.S.; “the deteriorating political climate seems to create an atmosphere in which local authorities feel that they can again use psychiatry as a means of intimidation.”
Steve, please call me at your earliest convenience. I have some breaking information regarding an Army combat veteran (and Christian) in Ohio who was just raided this evening for the same reasons Brandon Raub was arrested. There were no criminal charges, no suspicions of criminal activity charge, and he was notarrested but all of his firearms were confiscated and he has been given a notice to appear before a judge. He is a Purple Heart recipient, no criminal background, no issues with prior VA psych evals. I just got off the phone with him and would like to pass along all of the information (and there is quite a bit) so others can be made aware of what is happening.
At 18:40 EST on 22/Aug/2012, I received a call from a very close friend of mine in west central Ohio, claiming he had just had all firearms confiscated. At first I thought he was joking, as we often do, so I made some sarcastic remarks, but he continued explaining what he had gone through. I stopped him and asked if he was being serious or just pulling my leg. He assured me he was being serious. I’ll provide you with the details as best I can- he conveyed all of this information to me during our second phone conversation after I had returned home at approximately 20:30 EST.
A search warrant was executed by Miami County Ohio Sheriff’s deputies at approximately 1730 EST at the home of my friend, at the exact time he was returning home from work. The minute he got in the back door from the garage, there was a knock at the front door, and a cruiser pulled up directly behind his truck (which he could see from inside the house.) There were seven Sheriff’s deputies in total, and the warrant they produced gave them the ability to find, secure, and obtain any deadly weapons. The reason stated on the warrant was for the “safety of the defendant (my friend,) and the general public.” The order was signed by a local judge around noon on 21/Aug/2012.
My friend was able to read off parts of the warrant to me, and I transcribed them as best I could:
"…Defendant shall not possess, use, carry, or obtain any deadly weapon and shall turn over all deadly weapons in defendant’s possession to the law enforcement agency that serves this order. Any law enforcement agency is authorized to take possession of deadly weapons pursuant to this paragraph and hold them in protective custody until further court order…" NCIC[06] "…if defendant is in possession of deadly weapons, defendant is guilty of violating Ohio revised code 2923.13(5). Whoever violates this section is guilty of having weapons while under disability, a felony of the third degree..."
Here’s the revised code the warrant referred to:
“2923.13 Having weapons while under disability. (5) The person is under adjudication of mental incompetence, has been adjudicated as a mental defective, has been committed to a mental institution, has been found by a court to be a mentally ill person subject to hospitalization by court order, or is an involuntary patient other than one who is a patient only for purposes of observation. As used in this division, “mentally ill person subject to hospitalization by court order” and “patient” have the same meanings as in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code.”
The deputies confiscated one .45 caliber pistol, one .380 caliber pistol, a 12 gauge shotgun, two AR-15 rifles, and a stripped AR-15 lower receiver. My friend was able to see what the deputy/detective wrote on the evidence list regarding the firearm descriptions. The shotgun was listed as a “hunting shotgun,” the pistols were listed by their caliber, and the two ARs were listed as “tactical assault rifles.” What was even more strange is the detective then listed all the accessories on the ARs, including red dot sights, laser sights, foregrips, 30 round magazines, etc. It should also be stated one of those ARs was his fiancée’s, and the deputies claimed it was shared ownership and therefore had to be confiscated. A hunting knife was also confiscated. No magazines or ammunition were confiscated. In addition to the confiscations, the deputies attempted to question my friend and his fiancée. I didn’t get specific details on the questions asked. They refused to answer any questions without an attorney present. When my friend stated, “This is bullshit,” one of the deputy detectives remarked, “Look man, I’m just doing my job.” The icing on the police-state-cake was a notice to appear before a judge for “an evaluation of mental competency.” The judge will decide if he has to see a state psych. Keep in mind, too, if during the time between now and the judge’s decision, another search warrant could be executed. If they find any “deadly weapons” in his house, he’ll be charged with a FELONY and arrested. Ohio revised code is extremely vague on the definition of a “deadly weapon,” maybe intentionally so. Like Brandon Raub, there were no criminal charges, no suspicions of criminal activity. Unlike Brandon Raub’s case, however, the state of Ohio won’t allow law enforcement to involuntarily commit a person unless there is an immediate need to do so, such as holding a gun to their head or another person’s head. Ohio law requires a judge to make the decision on having a person evaluated for mental illness. Of course, you’re then evaluated by a state-appointed psych, and that isn’t exactly going to play out in your favor. Had my friend lived in Virginia, he may be sitting in a metal hospital (prison) right now. Or worse.
Steve- this man is an Army combat veteran, a Purple Heart recipient, a Christian working for a Christian company, his father is a pastor and a police officer, he has no criminal record aside from a speeding ticket many years ago, and no psychiatric problems, no PTSD, etc. He’s not on any medication. He and his fiancée have three children, and their wedding is in 30 days. Heck, he even quit smoking earlier this year until this assault on his freedom happened. He is an upstanding person with strong values and a good heart. This should not be happening, and yet it is. We know why he was raided, but we don’t know why he was raided, if you know what I mean. There is no indication of anybody filing a complaint against him, and no indication of who asked for the judge’s signature or why.
My friend does have a lawyer (after shelling out $2500…Thank God he and his fiancée have good jobs and live responsibly so they could have money saved up for an emergency. Of course, that money was earmarked for prep items like food, clothing for their kids, etc.) The lawyer will be filing motions tomorrow. I told him to keep on his lawyer and to be extremely aggressive with discovery- find out how far up these orders came from, because I can assure this wasn’t a local operation. He has only lived in the county for five weeks! When I hung up with my friend at around 21:30, I told him to be safe and that we’d be praying for him.
[TWG: Well, it seems not ALL of our justices are Obama-loving fascists. Glad they released this man, but please don't forget what they've done. This is not over, by a long shot. Keep a VERY close eye on your State legislature as they try to manipulate the local laws that stopped them in this particular case.. You can bet the vermin are very busy today trying to figure out a way they can do this to us all and get away with it. You can read my previous post about this HERE The Honorable Judge in this case should be thanked, and those responsible for putting this brave and honorable Veteran Marine in this situation should be punished. By the way...... this is precisely one of the reasons why I deleted my fakebook account. Not only did they receive "stimulus money" from the Marxist regime, they've aligned themselves with them and have managed to change privacy policies in order to enable this sort of thing. Zuckerman and the facebook corporation are in bed with the enemies of this Nation. They've got a debt to pay for all that "stimulus money" they stuffed into their pockets.]
A former Marine who was forced into a psychiatric ward for anti-government Facebook postings has been freed from the hospital by a Virginia circuit court ruling handed down Thursday.Judge Allan Sharrett dismissed the case against Brandon Raub, 26, who had been detained by government officials in Richmond, Va., and transferred to a VA hospital in Salem, Va. The judge called the petition to continue Raub’s forced detention “so devoid of any factual allegations that it could not be reasonably expected to give rise to a case or controversy.”John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, the civil rights firm that defended Mr. Raub, called the verdict pleasant surprise to a “bizarre” case that seemed more in line with a police state than free America.
Have you seen this NASA photo before? It is real.. a composite of the Helix Nubela taken by the Hubble Telescope, entitled God’s Eye. And for most of us it is a reminder that someone is watching…
Most Americans have always thought that our nation, the Founding Fathers and our Constitution were God inspired.
And many have seen the correlation between our demise and turning our back, as a nation, on God.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Thursday fell short in an effort to ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus as Republicans and Democrats made an election-year appeal for women's votes.
The legislation would have made it a federal crime to perform or force a woman to undergo a sex-based abortion, a practice most common in some Asian countries where families wanting sons abort female fetuses.
It was a rare social issue to reach the House floor in a year when the economy has dominated the political conversation, and Republicans, besieged by Democratic claims that they are waging a war on women, struck back by trying to depict the vote as a women's rights issue.
"It is violence against women," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., of abortions of female fetuses. "This is the real war on women." (So why aren’t the feminists screaming about this?)
The White House, most Democrats, abortion rights groups and some Asian-American organizations opposed the bill, saying it could lead to racial profiling of Asian-American women and subject doctors who do not report suspected sex-selection abortions to criminal charges.
"The administration opposes gender discrimination in all forms, but the end result of this legislation would be to subject doctors to criminal prosecution if they fail to determine the motivations behind a very personal and private decision," White House spokeswoman Jamie Smith said in a statement. "The government should not intrude in medical decisions or private family matters in this way."
The bill had little chance of becoming law. The Democratic-controlled Senate would likely have ignored it, and the House brought it up under a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. The vote was 246-168 - 30 votes short of that majority. Twenty Democrats voted for it, while seven Republicans opposed it.
The bill's author, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said before the vote that regardless of the outcome, the point would be made. "When people vote on this, the world will know where they really stand."
Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House's No. 2 Democrat, said he thought the bill was introduced because "somebody decided politically that this was a difficult place to put people in."
The legislation would have made it a federal offense, subject to up to five years in prison, to perform, solicit funds for or coerce a woman into having a sex-selection abortion. Bringing a woman into the country to obtain such an abortion would also be punishable by up to five years in prison. While doctors would not have an affirmative responsibility to ask a woman her motivations for an abortion, health workers could be imprisoned for up to a year for not reporting known or suspected violations of the ban on sex-based abortions.
An earlier version of the bill also made it illegal to abort a fetus based on race.
"We are the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn't restrict sex-selection abortion in any way," said Franks, who has also collided with abortion-rights groups recently over a bill he supports to ban abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Franks and others say there is evidence of sex-selection abortions in the United States among certain ethnic groups from countries where there is a traditional preference for sons. The bill notes that while the United States has no federal law against such abortions, countries such as India and China, where the practice has contributed to lopsided boy-girl ratios, have enacted bans on the practice.
Lawmakers "who recently have embraced the contrived political rhetoric asserting that they are resisting the artificial `war on women', created by Team Obama for political purposes for his upcoming election bid, must reflect on whether they now wish to be recorded as being defenders of the real escalating war on baby girls," said National Right to Life Committee legislative director Douglas Johnson. (Let us remember that both President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius have always supported late term and partial birth abortions. Senator Obama even voted against giving the tiny survivors or abortions comfort after the procedure, which is barbaric!)
His group, in a letter to lawmakers, said there are credible estimates that 160 million women and girls are missing from the world due to sex selection.
But the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that favors abortion rights, said evidence of sex selection in the United States is limited and inconclusive. It said that while there is census data showing some evidence of son preference among Chinese-, Indian- and Korean-American families when older children are daughters, the overall U.S. sex ratio at birth in 2005 was 105 boys to 100 girls, "squarely within biologically normal parameters."
NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan said that while her group has long opposed reproductive coercion, "the Franks bill exploits the very real problem of sex discrimination and gender inequity while failing to offer any genuine solutions that would eliminate disparities in health care access and information."
Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, said the bill fosters discrimination by "subjecting women from certain racial and ethnic backgrounds to additional scrutiny about their decision to terminate a pregnancy."
"Doctors would be forced to police their patients, read their minds and conceal information from them," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
Republicans also used the bill to continue their ongoing criticism of Planned Parenthood, founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger who endorsed abortion for racial purification, citing a video taken by the group Live Action purporting to show a Planned Parenthood social worker advising a woman on how to determine if her fetus was female before she terminated the pregnancy.
h/t Jim Abrams, June 1, 2012 6:50 am
The passing of this anti-sex-selection abortion law would have been more symbolic than anything else, for nobody would have gone into a clinic and said we want to terminate this pregnancy because of the gender of the fetus, especially after the law passed. As Gretchen Carlson of Fox and Friends said: “Who would ever have thought that America, the United States, would need a law like this?” But with the surfacing of now several videos showing that this despicable practice was not just an isolated incident and now the fact that Congress could/would not pass a bill banning gender selection abortion coupled with progressive politicians trying to turn this “real” ‘war on woman’ into a political shame… we sadly see that we definitely need this law! After this vote we can no longer call the practices of China barbaric; we have defined our own culture as the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn't restrict sex-selection abortion in any way! We have fallen a long way from the the God fearing people that founded our country!
As the polls indicate, pro-choice Americans are at record low and partial birth abortions and gender selection is unthinkable to most Americans; plus the Catholic Church has brought suit against the Obama Conception Mandate of ObamaCare… yet unless you watch Fox news, participate in the conservative blogosphere or perhaps receive a publication for your church, synagogue or a pro-life group you probably don’t know about any of this. the media is silent… blacked out in support of President Obama and his administration. This alone should be a huge flag of how they will handle the news between now and election and worry us all… blacked out news, distortion of their opponents and issues they oppose and slanted favorable news of Obama and Progressive candidates and issues… sounds a whole lot more like the USSR vs. the USA.
What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
Many feel he United States has fallen from grace… You be the Judge!
Many ask themselves how we got here… When is the last time you took your kids and grandkids to church? Are they teaching from scripture there? And how can a modern translation of the Bible, The Voice Bible (Paperback: The Voice New Testament), that changes the nouns for God, Jesus Christ and angels to Eternal One, the Anointed One and a messenger of God and then offers a “watered down” version of the Gospel. Was it T.S. Eliot who said the less people read the Bible the more they translate it?” He also said something like ‘Watered down Christianity is worth nothing.’
Hot Air - posted at 8:41 am on May 29, 2012 by Ed Morrissey:
Want to see a real war on women? Not one defined by the opposition to the imposition of a Hubby State and subsidies, but one in which women of the future are systematically eliminated? Live Action went undercover last month at a number of abortion clinics across the nation to expose how the abortion industry assists and even encourages gender-selective abortion, a global trend that has eliminated tens of millions of girls before they ever draw breath outside the womb. The video also shows a Planned Parenthood counselor in Texas explaining to a young mother how to defraud Medicaid:
Sign the petition NOW to stop the killing of girls, just because they are girls! www.ProtectOurGirls.com
Over 100 millions girls are missing today. These girls were victims of gendercide. The war on baby girls begins in the womb.
AUSTIN, May 29 -- Today, Live Action released a new undercover video showing a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Austin, TX encouraging a woman to obtain a late-term abortion because she was purportedly carrying a girl and wanted to have a boy. The video is first in a new series titled "Gendercide: Sex-Selection in America," exposing the practice of sex-selective abortion in the United States and how Planned Parenthood and the rest of the abortion industry facilitate the selective elimination of baby girls in the womb.
"I see that you're saying that you want to terminate if it's a girl, so are you just wanting to continue the pregnancy in the meantime?" a counselor named "Rebecca" offers the woman, who is purportedly still in her first trimester and cannot be certain about the gender. "The abortion covers you up until 23 weeks," explains Rebecca, "and usually at 5 months is usually (sic) when they detect, you know, whether or not it's a boy or a girl." Doctors agree that the later in term a doctor performs an abortion, the greater the risk of complications.
The Planned Parenthood staffer suggests that the woman get on Medicaid in order to pay for an ultrasound to determine the gender of her baby, even though she plans to use the knowledge for an elective abortion. She also tells the woman to "just continue and try again" for the desired gender after aborting a girl, and adds, "Good luck, and I hope that you do get your boy."
"The search-and-destroy targeting of baby girls through prenatal testing and abortion is a pandemic that is spreading across the globe," notes Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action. "Research proves that sex-selective abortion has now come to America. The abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, is a willing participant."
Six studies in the past four years indicate that there are thousands of "missing girls" in the U.S., many from sex-selective abortion. The U.K., India, Australia, and other countries ban sex-selective abortion, but the U.S., save for three states, does not. On Wednesday, Congress will debate the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act (PRENDA), which would ban sex-selective abortions nationally. "Planned Parenthood and their ruthless abortion-first mentality is the real 'war on women'," says Rose. "Sex-selective abortion is gender discrimination with lethal consequences for little girls." The complete, unedited video and transcript can be viewed at www.ProtectOurGirls.com, a hub of research and information on sex-selective abortions.
Live Action is a youth led movement dedicated to building a culture of life and ending the human rights abuse of abortion. They use new media to educate the public about the humanity of the unborn and investigative journalism to expose threats against the vulnerable and defenseless.
For further information, please contact Dan Wilson or Jameson Cunningham with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at (703) 739-5920 or (800) 536-5920 and email at media@liveaction.org More information at LiveAction.org.
“This was a multi-state, national investigation demonstrating that this is a widespread problem across our country,” Live Action president Lila Rose told The Daily Caller in an interview Monday.
“First of all, the statistics and studies indicate that we are adding to the growing problem across the world of sex-selective targeting of unborn girls for abortion. We are going to be demonstrating — starting with this video from Texas — that the abortion industry in the United States is aiding and abetting this horrific problem.”
The first in what Live Action says is a series of videotaped incidents exposing American abortion facilities’ willingness to assist in sex-selection abortions took place at a South Austin, Texas Planned Parenthood clinic. In the footage, a Planned Parenthood counselor appears to readily assist and advise a Live Action actor who said she was trying to obtain an abortion if her baby is female.
“In this video, what is astounding is that Rebecca, the Planned Parenthood counselor, starts arranging with the actor about how to get a late-term abortion,” Rose said. “To wait until her pregnancy is so developed that — and using Medicaid for this, using the state to pay for the ultrasound to determine the gender, and then to do a late term abortion if it was a little girl.”
Welcome to the real war on women. This one has real casualties, too. But even if one supports abortion rights for whatever purpose, should taxpayer dollars flow to organizations that offer advice on how to defraud Medicaid?
We’ve covered the Catholic Church’s ongoing battle with the Obama administration over contraception health care mandates for quite some time. Over the weekend, though, the stand-off took an unusual turn, as Catholic churches across America read a letter to congregants that perfectly encapsulated the church’s stance against the impending federal requirements.
The Church’s vocal arguments against the Obama administration are centered upon a Health and Human Services Department requirement that employers must include contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in health-care coverage. While this requirement doesn’t apply to houses of worship, it will force Catholic colleges, hospitals and other Christian groups to provide these drugs despite their faith-based opposition to them.
Many of these organizations, despite not being, themselves, churches, are intrinsically rooted in religious belief systems that stand firmly opposed to medications and procedures that would terminate the life of an unborn child. These deeply-rooted moral codes, which drive the groups’ work, will be impeded, Catholic leaders say, should the Obama administration continue with its planned mandate.
Recently, the federal government made one small concession surrounding the requirement, as officials decided to give church-affiliated hospitals and organizations another year before they will be forced to comply with the coverage restrictions.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan (AP)
“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, recently said.
Over the weekend, the Catholic Church’s letter went beyond simply issuing oppositional rhetoric to media. Instead, priests read an open note to congregations across the country, dubbing the administration‘s take on women’s health and religious violations as an attack on their faith. In the letter, Bishops highlighted what they called “an alarming and serious matter,“ as their words contended that the federal government has ”dealt a heavy blow” to the Catholic population.
In it, Catholic leaders went on to say that the Church “cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law,” as it violates the Catholic conscience. Additionally, the church says that it is faced with a difficult decision — either comply and violate its faith or drop coverage for employees and suffer the consequences. The letter urges congregants to take action and to call Congress in an attempt to overturn the regulation.
I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people — the Catholic population — and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.
In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.
We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.
And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience,to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration’s decision.
Sincerely yours in Christ, +Alexander K. Sample Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample Bishop of Marquette
This is the latest development in the spat between the federal government and the Catholic Church. While contraception is a major problem dividing the two parties, other developments have added to the relational deterioration. Among the developments, the Department of Health and Human Services decided to end funding to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last year.
Pope Benedict XVI (AP)
Rather than continuing to allocate money to a special program the bishops group oversaw to assist victims of modern-day slavery (i.e. human trafficking), the administration, instead, chose to give the funds to three non-Catholic groups. The bishops conference had refused to refer trafficking victims to receive contraceptives or abortions, so the American Civil Liberties Union sued and HHS decided to provide funds to groups that would refer women for these services.
Then there’s gay marriage — another contentious issue. The administration’s stance of not defending traditional marriage also contradicts Catholic teaching.
As for the health care regulation — a tenet that abortion-rights groups heralded when it was introduced last summer — there’s no telling how the situation will end, as the Church seems adamant about its refusal to comply.
In September, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the regulation “an unprecedented attack on religious liberty.” In November, The Catholic Advocate PAC launched an attack campaign against the Obama administration as well. To these responses, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said late last year that the Church’s “conscience thing” puts woman at risk (yes, she’s a Catholic).
In the end, there will be dire results, it seems, should the administration proceed as planned.
Tyndale House is a Bible publisher, but the administration believes it shouldn’t qualify for an exemption because it initially earns a profit on its published materials…before directing 97 percent of that profit to non-profit religious charities and causes.
We’ve covered 
