Religious liberty
Top court may hear N.Y. lawsuit over prayers
USA Today
May 6, 2013
David Cortman, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, said using prayer to open public meetings is a long-standing American tradition that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. "Nonetheless, new legal attacks by people and activist groups claiming to be 'offended' by the way private citizens voluntarily pray have created significant confusion in the lower courts," he said.
US bishops name religious freedom advocate as spokeswoman
CNA
April 30, 2013
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has hired religious liberty attorney and mother of six Kim Daniels as spokesperson for conference president Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. The bishops' conference said April 29 that it "welcomes" Daniels, who brings with her experience as director of Catholic Voices USA, a lay Catholic organization that "works to bring the positive message of the Church across a broad range of issues to the public square."
Explaining the Outliers in the HHS Mandate Cases
Mark Rienzi in Virginia Law Review
April 22, 2013
Ongoing conflict over the contraceptive mandate promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") has resulted in more than two dozen lawsuits by profit-making businesses and their owners seeking protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"). To date, the businesses and their owners are winning handily, having obtained preliminary relief in seventeen of the cases, and being denied relief in only six.
Cruz Was Right: HHS Mandate Puts Religious Liberty Under Assault
William Saunders and Mary Novick in LifeNews
April 15, 2013
Is "the freedom to worship" the same as "freedom of religion"? No it isn't. The freedom of religion entails much more than being able to "worship;" it includes being able to live out your faith. And that means to conduct your affairs - for-profit or nonprofit -so as to honor your deepest beliefs.
Americans Continue to Oppose Obamacare’s HHS Mandate
Heritage Foundation Foundry - Sarah Torre
April 11, 2013
On Monday, hundreds of thousands of public comments flooded the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as individuals and groups expressed concern with the Obama Administration's continued trampling on a fundamental freedom. Many public comments expressed continued opposition to the coercive HHS mandate that requires almost all employers to provide health insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs and devices, contraception, and sterilization-regardless of moral or religious objection. After more than a year of public outrage, over 50 lawsuits against the anti-conscience mandate, and a federal judge's demand that HHS fix its coercive mandate, the Administration published a "notice of proposed rulemaking" (NPRM) on February 6.
Federal appeals court grants Hobby Lobby’s request to speed court case
Associated Press
March 30, 2013
A federal appeals court in Denver has granted Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.'s request for the entire court to hear its legal challenge over part of the Affordable Care Act that requires the company to cover emergency contraceptives for its employees. Typically, appeals cases are heard by a panel of three judges, but Hobby Lobby had asked the full court to hear the case - a request that federal appeals courts seldom grant, said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is defending Hobby Lobby in its lawsuit.
Threats against Religious Freedom in Our Country
U.S.Commission on Civil Rights hearing
March 29, 2013
Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke of "...a pattern of government coercion that includes the current administration's HHS mandate, which violates the religious identity and mission of many religiously affiliated or inspired public ministries; interfering with the conscience rights of medical providers, private employers and individual citizens; and attacks on the policies, hiring practices and tax statuses of religious charities and ministries. Why is this hostility happening? I believe much of it links to Catholic and other religious teaching on the dignity of life and human sexuality."
Senate Democrats Vote Against Conscience Protections From HHS Mandate
LifeNews
March 22, 2013
Maureen Ferguson, Senior Policy Advisor with The Catholic Association, decried the vote in comments to LifeNews.
"The Senate today voted against the First Amendment and religious freedom in a vote forcing Americans to pay for abortion products in their health care plans," she said. "People of faith should not be forced to buy health plans that include products that so flagrantly conflict with their religious faith."
USCCB Says Administration Mandate Violates First Amendment Freedoms Of Religious Organizations And Others
USCCB
March 20, 2013
No exemption or accommodation is available at all for the vast majority of individual or institutional stakeholders with religious or moral objections to contraceptive coverage. Virtually all Americans who enroll in a health plan will ultimately be required to have contraceptive coverage for themselves and their dependents, whether they want it or not.
God and the Profits: Religious Liberty for Money-Makers
Witherspoon Institute
March 19, 2013
The Bible says “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” The Constitution doesn’t. When considered in the light of religious teachings, actual business practices, and the law's treatment of for-profit businesses in other contexts, it is clear that there is no inherent disconnect between earning profits and exercising religion. For this reason, there is no principled basis for excluding profit-making businesses and their owners from the protection of our religious liberty laws.
FLEMING: Pushing back against Obamacare’s overreach
Washington Times
March 12, 2013
Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo still remembers the gruesome images of the dismembered body of the child whose abortion she was forced to observe. Ms. Cenzon-DeCarlo, a nurse at a hospital in New York City, was required by her employer to assist in the abortion of a 22-week preborn baby. The hospital knew her long-standing opposition to abortion, yet threatened her job and her nursing license if she did not take part.
VIDEO: Victims Speak Out for Conscience Rights Act, H.R. 940
U.S. Congress news conference video
March 11, 2013
"We cannot--we will not--compromise." --nun who runs network of Catholic Hospitals
Religious leaders applaud new conscience protection bill
EWTN
March 7, 2013
Catholic leaders and advocates of religious liberty threw their support behind newly proposed federal legislation that would offer additional conscience protection in the realm of health care. Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor for The Catholic Association, said, "A pluralistic and tolerant society should not force a healthcare worker to participate in abortion procedures, nor a Christian employer to provide abortion-inducing drugs for employees."
God and the Profits: Is There Religious Liberty for Money-Makers?
Mark Rienzi, Columbus School of Law, CUA
March 7, 2013
This article offers a comprehensive look at the relationship between profit-making and religious liberty, arguing that the act of earning money does not preclude profit-making businesses and their owners from engaging in protected religious exercise.
Proposed Health Care Conscience Rights Act — ‘Last and Only Hope’?
National Catholic Register
March 5, 2013
Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo, a New York state nurse who was forced to participate in an abortion at 22-weeks gestation or risk losing her job and nursing license, told members of Congress that the experience still haunted her dreams. Cenzon-DeCarlo was among several Catholic women who were invited to a March 5 briefing for House members on the proposed Health Care Conscience Rights Act of 2013.
Black, Fortenberry & Fleming Introduce Health Care Conscience Rights Act
Rep. Diane Black press release
March 5, 2013
Today, Congressmen Diane Black (R-TN), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), and John Fleming, M.D. (R-LA) held a press conference to announce the introduction of theHealth Care Conscience Rights Act (HCCRA). This legislation would protect Americans’ First Amendment rights and would stop the Obama Administration’s assault on religious freedom.HCCRA offers reprieve from ongoing violations of our First Amendment, including full exemption from the Obama Administration’s Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate and conscience protection for individuals and health care entities that refuse to provide, pay for, or refer patients to abortion providers because of their deeply-held, reasoned beliefs. Click here to read the bill text.
Birth Control Mandate Threatens Religious Freedom
Frank Wright in Christian Post
March 3, 2013
"Restrictions on religious freedom anywhere, are threats to religious freedom everywhere," said Wright, who has guided the National Religious Broadcasters for the past 10 years.
VA Passes Law to Bar Universities From Forcing Christian Clubs to Allow Non-Christian Leaders
Christian News
February 27, 2013
Legislators in Virginia have passed a law that seeks to protect the right of Christians and other religious groups on university and college campuses to create their own membership criteria and to elect as leaders only those of the same faith.
Members of Congress File Legal Brief on HHS Contraception Mandate
Orrin Hatch
February 20, 2013
"Religious freedom is an issue our country was founded on, and it's not a Democrat or Republican issue. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has time and again ignored calls to stop the implementation of a policy some organizations or businesses are morally opposed to."
Not a Real Olive Branch: Obama’s phony compromise on contraception
Wesley. J. Smith in The Weekly Standard
February 11, 2013
The issue here is not contraception, but the demolition of limited government. If the Obama administration can force the private sector to provide a free product to help the government circumvent a constitutionally protected freedom, what can it not do?
What the contraception fight is about
Jonathan Imbody in The Washington Post
February 8, 2013
Mr. Obama undermined any pretense of a compelling health justification for a government mandate by unwittingly observing that 99 percent of women already access contraceptives. His health department dismissed concerns of economic consequences, blithely contending that preventing babies is cheaper than having them.
HHS ‘accommodation’ nothing more than a gimmick
Leonard Leo in The Washington Times
February 8, 2013
We are now entering at least Round Three in the administration's ongoing efforts respecting abortion and contraception services under Obamacare, and it is dividing Americans in a culture war that smacks more of politics than a well-intentioned crusade for women's health.
Wassup with the HHS Mandate?
Kim Daniels in National Review Online
February 6, 2013
Most objecting religious employers are in the same position they were before Friday, faced with a choice between giving up their religious beliefs or facing crippling government fines.
Abortion pill mandate gives the illusion of compromise
Alan Sears in The Washington Examiner
February 6, 2013
The Obama administration is attempting to divide the faith community by issuing a minor amendment to Obamacare's abortion pill mandate. The mandate itself forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception under threat of heavy penalties.
Obama’s new contraception rules try to fool Catholics
M. Gerson in Washington Post
February 6, 2013
The administration has never shown a particularly high regard for institutional religious liberty. In this case, the administration views access to contraception as an individual right to be guaranteed by the government, and institutional religious rights as an obstacle and inconvenience. But the First Amendment, it is worth remembering, was designed as an obstacle and inconvenience to the government.
Another Non-Accommodation
Jim Capretta in National Review Online
February 5, 2013
On the contrary, it is a renewed statement by the administration that it will not allow religious institutions or believers to dissent from the prevailing secularism of the day.
Missed opportunity on the HHS mandate
Kim Daniels in Catholic Voices USA
February 5, 2013
The administration admits as much, stating that "this proposal would not expand the universe of employer plans that would qualify for the exemption beyond that which was intended in the 2012 final rules." In other words, colleges, hospitals, and most social service organizations are still not exempt from the mandate.
New Obama rule would spare churches but not believers
The Washington Examiner
February 3, 2013
It remains remarkable that the Obama administration ever thought it appropriate to create a religious exemption so narrow and meaningless that even Catholic Charities, the Catholic University of America and the Archdiocese of Washington would not have qualified.
A New Round of Intolerance
Yuval Levin in NRO
February 1, 2013
So basically, the religious institutions are required by the government to give their workers an insurer and that insurer is required by the government to give those workers abortive and contraceptive coverage, but somehow these religious employers are supposed to imagine that they're not giving their workers access to abortive and contraceptive coverage.
Evangelicals most concerned about religious freedom in US
Deseret News
January 29, 2013
Brian Walsh, executive director of the American Religious Freedom Program, explained that every faith tradition believes their values are the best, and every faith should have the freedom to express that preference in determining public policy. "What they don't get to have is government promoting their religion."
Obama ‘freedom to worship’ assaults First Amendment
Jonathan Imbody in The Washington Times
January 28, 2013
The first American Congress enshrined religious liberty pre-eminently in the Bill of Rights. Many of those leaders and their fellow patriots who ratified the First Amendment had risked everything they owned and their very lives to win those freedoms. They also recognized that threatening one group’s freedoms, by either restricting or establishing a faith, threatens the freedoms of everyone.
Employers challenging health law contraceptive provision
Washington Post
January 20, 2013
At the same time, "the business cases are moving quickly," said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, one of the groups coordinating the challenges to the law. By Duncan's count, there are 14 cases filed by business owners who say the law forces them to choose between running their companies and following their religious beliefs. In nine of those cases, courts have issued injunctions until the conflicts can be decided on their merits.
Most Americans are Concerned About Restrictions in Religious Freedom
Barna Group poll
January 18, 2013
A new study conducted by Barna Group shows millions of adults-particularly active Protestants-are concerned religious liberties are under threat. The research, conducted in partnership with Clapham Group, included 1,008 adults from across the religious spectrum, representing the nation's population from the most active to the most skeptical.
The Seventh Circuit Blocks the HHS Mandate for a Private Business
NRO
December 29, 2012
Late yesterday afternoon, the Seventh Circuit granted an emergency injunction against the HHS mandate - preventing its enforcement against an Illinois business and its owners.
Religious conservatives’ uphill battle
M. Gerson commentary in Washington Post
November 15, 2012
President Obama's first term was a period of unexpected aggression against the rights of religious institutions. His Justice Department, in the Hosanna-Tabor case, argued against the existence of any "ministerial exception" to employment rules. Obama tried to mandate that Catholic schools, hospitals and charities offer insurance coverage for contraceptives and abortifacients. His revised policy still asserts a federal power to declare some religious institutions secular in purpose, reducing them to second-rate status under the First Amendment.
IRS not enforcing rules on churches and politics
New York Times
November 3, 2012
Last month, more than 1,500 pastors, organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom, endorsed a candidate from the pulpit and then sent a record of their statement to the IRS, hoping their challenge would eventually end up in court. The Alliance has organized the event, called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," since 2008. The IRS has never contacted a pastor involved in the protest.
Obama Administration: Business owners have no religious freedom rights
Breitbart
October 29, 2012
Lori Windham, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the non-profit, public interest law firm that represents Hobby Lobby, said, "The Green family is asking to continue to live their faith by not paying for drugs that might cause abortions." Windham charged that the DOJ is claiming "that the Greens must comply- and pay for abortion-causing drugs- or pay millions of dollars in fines."
Windham observes that the Obama administration has already exempted others from health plans, yet it is forcing a family-owned business to violate the tenets of that family's faith.
What About Religious Freedom? The other consequences of Obamacare
Weekly Standard commentary by W.J. Smith
October 22, 2012
Obamacare won't just ruin health care. It is also a cultural bulldozer. Before the law is even fully in effect, Health and Human Services bureaucrats have begun wielding their sweeping new powers to assault freedom of religion in the name of their preferred social order.
Summer of Intolerance Regarding Same-Sex Marriage Bleeds into Fall
Heritage Foundation commentary by Dominique Ludvigson
October 18, 2012
Gallaudet University put its chief diversity officer, Angela McCaskill, on paid leave last week for the offense of joining 200,000 other Marylanders in signing a petition supporting a ballot referendum over Maryland’s recently adopted same-sex marriage law.
Obama Mandate: The Gravest Threat to Religious Freedom in 226 Years
American Thinker commentary - K. Blackwell and B. Morrison
October 7, 2012
James Madison famously said that the people are right to take alarm at the "first advance on their liberties." The Obama mandate will force us to violate our consciences. President Obama famously said that he doesn't know when human life begins, but he's willing to force us to collaborate in the destruction of innocent human lives.
Blunt Amendment: Protections For Religion, Conscience Long Established
Hartford Courant commentary by Rep. N. Johnson
October 5, 2012
Strong pro-choice representatives and senators, women and men, have understood the value of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Until the Affordable Care Act dramatically limited protection, it was seen as essential in a democracy that guarantees religious freedom.
Obama administration: Bible publisher isn’t religious enough
Alliance Defending Freedom
October 2, 2012
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Tyndale House Publishers filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate. Tyndale House is one of the world’s largest privately held Christian publishers of books, Bibles, and digital media. The publisher is subject to the mandate because Obama administration rules say for-profit corporations are categorically non-religious, even though Tyndale House is strictly a publisher of Bibles and other Christian materials.
Obama Commitment to Religious Freedom ‘Worrisome’
Washington Times commentary by Paul Rondeau
September 28, 2012
The unelected Secretary Sebelius of HHS then imposed rules that redefined religious freedom to the point that, as Cardinal Wuerl explained, "HHS's conception of what constitutes the practice of religion is so narrow that even Mother Teresa would not have qualified."
HHS mandate allows minors free contraception, sterilization
CNA
September 25, 2012
Minor children on their parents' health care plans will have free coverage of sterilization and contraception, including abortion-causing drugs, under the controversial HHS mandate - and depending on the state, they can obtain access without parental consent. Matt Bowman, senior counsel for the religious liberty legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, said the mandate "tramples parental rights" because it requires them to "pay for and sponsor coverage of abortifacients, sterilization, contraception and education in favor of the same for their own children."
Thousands join grassroots women's movement opposing HHS mandate
CNA
September 23, 2012
Thousands of women across the country are leading grassroots efforts to make their voices heard in opposition to the federal contraception and sterilization mandate. The Women Speak for Themselves movement is driven by “things that women are deciding to do on their own,” said Meg McDonnell, who has been assisting the group from early in its existence.
The HHS Mandate’s Other Victims – The Needy
The Bell Towers commentary by C. Mattox
September 20, 2012
The Obama Administration's mandate that religious employers provide contraception, abortifacients and sterilization for their employees is a monumental attack on religious liberty: never before has our government chosen to force American citizens to violate their consciences so directly. Yet while Alliance Defending Freedom successfully makes the case that this law violates employers' religious freedom, the potentially devastating impacts of this mandate on others should not be ignored.
Common Ground or Not, Let’s Do What’s Right
FRC blog by Rob Schwarzwalder
August 29, 2012
Some well-meaning souls are calling for Christians to stand-down in the battle for our culture and simply be nice to everybody. In practical terms, this means abandoning the unborn, their mothers, marriage and the family, and religious liberty to those who would harm them.
Wheaton HHS lawsuit dismissed
World Magazine
August 27, 2012
"The government has now re-written the 'safe harbor' guidelines three times in seven months, and is evidently in no hurry to defend the HHS mandate in open court," said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Wheaton.
HHS Mandate “Serious” Threat to Religious Liberty
Heritage Foundation video - J. Marshall
August 26, 2012
In the video, Marshall stresses that the infringement of religious freedom under Obamacare is only beginning: “We will see other conflicts with conscience in the future. So the only real solution for the religious liberty problem under the HHS mandate is the repeal of Obamacare.”
Test of fire
Media Research Center
August 23, 2012
Some things are more important than high gas prices or a faltering economy. They are life, marriage and freedom. Will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire?
An Open Letter to President Obama
TownHall.com commentary by Casey Mattox
August 18, 2012
What is the breadth and scope of the religious liberty you believe ought to be respected? Do you believe religious liberty stops where Planned Parenthood's financial needs begin? Should Americans be forced to pay for that which violates their conscience and the tenets of their faith?
Now is the time to act on the HHS mandate
CNA commentary by Most Rev. James D. Conley
August 16, 2012
Unless Catholics continue to fight in the courtroom, in the voting booth, and on our knees in prayer, religious liberty in the United States will quickly erode and fade into the annals of our history. Now is the time to protect the legacy that began the American experiment. Now is the time to bring religious freedom to the forefront of the American legal system once more.
Obamacare’s Attack on Religious Rights of Entrepreneurs
Secondhand Smoke blog by Wesley J. Smith
August 10, 2012
The government claims that:
1) Seeking profit is a wholly secularist pursuit;
2) Hence, once we go into business, we lose our religious freedoms in the context of those activities;
3) Meaning that all who engage in such secular undertakings must accede to the precepts of secular ideology;
4) Which the government establishes through the passage of laws and promulgation of regulations.
Is religious freedom being intentionally eroded?
Turtle Bay and Beyond commentary by Wendy Wright
August 9, 2012
Soon after President Obama took office, astute observers noticed a one word change in official pronouncements. That one word carries huge implications, yet arrived with no explanation. This mystery may now be understood as what's behind some of the most contentious international and domestic policy decisions of the Obama administration - the contraception mandate and aggressive promotion of homosexuality in other countries.
Is Religious Freedom Necessary for Other Freedoms to Flourish?
BQO commentary by Thomas Farr
August 7, 2012
America's founding generation identified religious freedom as "the first freedom" because they saw it, in effect, as a precondition for the other freedoms. James Madison wrote that each of us has rights that flow from the duty we owe God. "This duty is precedent, both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governour of the Universe."
Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction in HHS Mandate Fight
Heritage commentary by J. Marshall and D. Ludvigson
July 29, 2012
Accepting the Administration’s logic would limit the application of religious freedom to individuals alone, acting within their houses of worship on weekends. It would effectively push religion out of every sphere of public life and restrict the free exercise rights of adherents to live out their faiths in their day-to-day lives. The Administration does not appear to perceive religion as something that people of faith strive to live out daily in every aspect of their lives, however imperfectly.
Abortion, Conscience, and Health Care Provider Rights
Public Discourse, by E. Christian Brugger
July 26, 2012
This framework—our moral knowledge—is not merely an affectively supported matrix of subjective beliefs, but the basic apprehension of a set of propositions asserting truths pertaining to what is good, choiceworthy, and consistent with human well-being.
HVAC and the HHS Mandate
NRO interview with Matt Bowman
July 26, 2012
The basic principle in this case is the same as in other cases: that Congress does not let federal agencies punish people of faith for abiding by their faith, without passing the most demanding test known to federal law. We believe that in this case the government does not even come close to justifying its refusal to exempt religious objectors. This is because Congress provided secular exemptions for millions of employees, and it could easily give out more free contraception itself if the political will existed.
Challenges to Obama administration’s birth-control mandate piling up in court
The Hill
July 26, 2012
Ashley McGuire with the Catholic Association, a group that promotes activism against the mandate, said Catholics see the policy as "bullying" their faith. "People in the pews may not agree with all of the Vatican's teachings," she said. "But they love their priests and they love their bishops. They see the mandate as a violation of the church's authority to act according to its conscience."
The President’s Pelvic Politics
Indep. Women's Forum - Connie Marshner
July 24, 2012
A charitable interpretation may be that Obama just doesn’t understand this. After all, he grew up unchurched, so how would he know Christians who live to serve? A more cynical reading of the situation is that Obama wants to compel religious hospitals and colleges to set aside their religious principles in order to follow his pelvic politics.
The HHS Mandate: Not an Academic Debate
National Review commentary by K.J. Lopez
July 20, 2012
For Wheaton, the violation of conscience lies in the inclusion of abortion-inducing drugs in the HHS mandate — further evidence that at the heart of the debate is not access to contraception but the erosion of religious liberty. “We were surprised that the federal government is using the term ‘contraception’ to refer to drugs that are widely recognized as having an abortive effect,” Ryken explains. “The secretary of Health and Human Services has been on record publicly as saying these are drugs that prevent implantation of a fertilized egg."
An Evangelical-Catholic Stand on Liberty
Wall St. Journal commentary by P. Ryken and J. Garvey
July 19, 2012
On Wednesday, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the trustees of Wheaton College joined The Catholic University of America in filing a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services. They did so because the HHS mandate requiring the college to provide and subsidize insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs violates the conscience of the school and its members, and denies their First Amendment freedom of religion.
State Department To Downplay Religious Oppression
Investor's Business Daily editorial
July 17, 2012
Religious institutions see the universities, hospitals, charities and other social services they perform as part and extensions of their faith. The government believes they are impediments to its growing power over every facet of our lives. As a result, these religious institutions and the freedom on which they are founded, are in serious jeopardy.
Religious Freedom Under the Gun
Weekly Standard commentary by Thomas A. Farr
July 16, 2012
Given the Obama administration's consistent downgrading of religious freedom at home and in foreign policy, this move may be part of a larger reprioritization in human rights policy in favor of the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. Whatever one thinks of that initiative, however, the failure to promote religious freedom abroad is likely to have significant humanitarian and strategic consequences for the United States.
What the Fortnight really meant
CNA commentary by Maureen Ferguson
July 16, 2012
Should people of faith have to surrender their First Amendment rights just because it is an election year? Should battles over fundamental Constitutional rights wait until after elections are over? Remember the Church did not ask for this fight.
Religious freedom and conscience rights in America
Richard Doerflinger interview on Christian Doctors Digest
July 13, 2012
Christian Medical Association CEO Dr. David Stevens interviews Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the HHS mandate in the Affordable Care Act, conscience rights and religious liberty.
Religious Freedom and the HHS Mandate: A Conversation with Representatives
Video of Georgetown U. symposium
July 13, 2012
On Thursday, June 28 at 10:00 AM, Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) joined Congresswoman Diane Black (R-TN), Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), and Congressman Dan Lipinksi (D-IL) for a public forum at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall. The topic: the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate and its implications for individual liberty and religious freedom. Rep. Fortenberry also discussed his Freedom2Care-supported bill, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179).
Omaha Stacy vs. HHS
National Review Online commentary by K. Lopez
July 11, 2012
Thomlison is 31 and suffers from Crohn’s disease, a chronic gastrointestinal condition that threatened her life when she was a teenager. This patient is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by seven state attorneys general in response to the Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring employers, regardless of their religious convictions, to provide insurance coverage for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.
ObamaCare decision does not stop fight against abortion pill mandate
Townhall commentary by Steve Aden
July 10, 2012
The fight against the abortion pill mandate is a fight for religious freedom, whereas the ObamaCare case revolved primarily around the constitutionality of the health care legislation as a whole. Freedom of conscience itself is at stake with the abortion pill mandate.
Religious Freedom Under the Gun
Weekly Standard
July 9, 2012
The empirical work of sociologists Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke, for instance, shows that religious freedom is highly correlated with the consolidation and longevity of democracy, and with other goods, such as economic development, the equality of women, and the absence of violent religious extremism. The Obama administration has paid little attention to these data.
Why Should You Care About Religious Liberty?
Independent Women's Forum commentary by Connie Marshner
July 6, 2012
When people are not virtuous there is more and more government control of everybody. As the moral capital of the past disappears, more and more bad things happen, and human misery increases. Moral capital must be continuously renewed in the hearts and minds of men and women.
Fortnight for freedom homily: We belong to God
Washington Post reprint of sermon
July 5, 2012
The purpose of religious liberty is to create the context for true freedom. Religious liberty is a foundational right. It’s necessary for a good society. But it can never be sufficient for human happiness. It’s not an end in itself. In the end, we defend religious liberty in order to live the deeper freedom that is discipleship in Jesus Christ.
Obamacare’s Many Victims
Heritage Foundation commentary by Sarah Torre
July 5, 2012
Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate displays the Administration’s offensively constricted view of faith in public life, affording the narrowest religious exemption in federal law that effectively only applies to formal houses of worship. Schools, soup kitchens, health clinics, and countless other “Good Samaritan” groups are left completely unprotected by the exemption simply because they serve vulnerable individuals without regard to their creed or background.
Eternal Vigilance for Religious Liberty
National Review Online commentary by Grace Marie Turner
July 4, 2012
It is outrageous that the bishops must go to federal court to protect the constitutionally protected first freedom, but our country’s history abounds with examples of the need for eternal vigilance.
HHS mandate challengers receive unlikely support
CNA commentary by Kim Daniels
July 3, 2012
In her separate opinion – joined by Justice Sotomayor, Justice Breyer, and Justice Kagan – Justice Ginsburg notes that beyond the provisions directly at issue in the healthcare case, other constitutional provisions limit the power of the federal government: “A mandate to purchase a particular product would be unconstitutional if, for example, the edict impermissibly abridged the freedom of speech, interfered with the free exercise of religion, or infringed on a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause.”
Friends, foes of health care ruling react
Town Hall
June 29, 2012
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List: "From the outset, Obamacare is fundamentally flawed legislation because it makes American taxpayers complicit in the deaths of countless unborn children. Today's decision to uphold the individual mandate to force individuals to purchase health care plans that offend their conscience is incredibly disappointing."
It's 2010 again
World Magazine
June 29, 2012
Christian Medical Association director David Stevens warned that forcing employers and individuals with faith-based convictions to subsidize abortion or life-ending contraceptives would lead to “huge faith fines on those of us who resist.”
What to expect post-ObamaCare ruling
One News Now
June 29, 2012
Dr. Gene Rudd, senior vice president of the Christian Medical Association (CMA), says the high court decision basically endorses the healthcare law, which will lead to a severe encroachment on the rights of conscience and the exercise of religion.
The fight against Obamacare isn't over yet
Washington Examiner commentary by Casey Mattox - ADF
June 29, 2012
The first of Obamacare's hammers has already fallen, targeting religious freedom. And attention must now turn to the dozens of cases around the country aimed at stopping what is known as the Health and Human Services, or HHS, mandate -- the requirement that qualifying insurers and self-ensuring employers pay for sterilizations, abortifacient drugs and contraception, or else pay a fine.
Religious Liberty Takes Center Stage
Daily News commentary by Mark Rienzi
June 29, 2012
Nothing in the court’s opinions directly addressed the religious-freedom challenges brought in the 23 lawsuits challenging the HHS mandate that all employers must provide insurance coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and drugs and devices that cause early abortions. In fact, every justice who voted to uphold the law was quite clear that Congress’ exercise of its taxing power remains subject to other constitutional guarantees like the right to religious freedom.
NCBC Response to the June 28 Ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court
National Catholic Bioethics Center commentary
June 28, 2012
From the perspective of social justice, this law jeopardizes the principle of subsidiarity, which, like the principle of federalism upon which our Constitution was written, holds that services ought to be provided by those social agencies and instrumentalities of government that are closest to the point of delivery. Tremendous dangers lie in health care being orchestrated by the highest level of social organization, our federal government.
What's Behind The Mandate?
Crisis Magazine commentary by Gerard Bradley
June 26, 2012
It is easy to see already that “equal sexual liberty” is a natural predator of Catholic institutions, which are standing contradictions of almost all that the new orthodoxy proposes. What is not so apparent, however, is why the new orthodoxy has so totally eclipsed considerations of conscience, tolerance, and liberty in the thinking of self-identifying liberals such as Barack Obama.
ObamaCare Mandate Is Worse Than You Think
Alliance Defense Fund video
June 21, 2012
"You knew it was bad, but it's worse than you think. ObamaCare includes plans that fund elective abortions, charges people for life-saving drugs while making life-ending drugs free, and seriously fines those who do not comply..."
Dust Off Your Law Books President Obama
Forbes commentary by Christen Varley
June 7, 2012
Religious freedom and liberty activists, along with faith leaders, policy advocates and politicians across the country are petitioning members of Congress to live up to their oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America by voting to protect religious freedom.
ObamaCare and the War on the Church
Commentary magazine article by Jonathan S. Tobin
May 31, 2012
Allowing their institutions to abstain from providing contraception coverage does not make the church a law unto itself or impose its views on others; it merely leaves them alone.
Religious liberty at stake in battle over contraception rule
CNN commentary by Mary Matalin
May 25, 2012
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This is the first line of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Apparently, this now only applies to the certain instances for which President Barack Obama sees fit.
Protecting our Catholic conscience in the public square
Washington Post op-ed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl
May 23, 2012
Imagine the church's surprise, then, to be told by the federal government that when a Catholic organization serves its neighbors, it isn't really practicing its religion. That is the unacceptable principle at the heart of a mandate, issued in February by the Department of Health and Human Services, that requires religious organizations to provide health-care coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures, even if their faith teaches that those drugs and procedures are wrong.
Lawsuit, what lawsuit?
Washington Times evaluates new coverage of anti-mandate lawsuits
May 23, 2012
Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell has seen a lot of media abuse in his time as the master monitor of the liberal press. Now, he's seen the very worst: The broadcast networks "all but spiked the largest legal action in history to defend our constitutionally protected religious freedom," the analyst says, citing CBS, ABC and NBC for skimming over news that 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations filed a lawsuit Monday against the Obama administration.
Lawsuits Challenging Contraception Rule Get Little Play
Roll Call: Senator Blunt considers intervening
May 23, 2012
Republican leaders might be trying to avoid getting re-entangled in the culture wars, but Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairman Roy Blunt on Tuesday said he is considering intervening in a legal challenge to a proposed federal contraception rule brought by Catholic organizations.
Lawsuits swarming over healthcare, religious conscience
OneNewsNow
May 23, 2012
Greg Baylor, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, says the outcry against the mandate is justifiable and understandable. "They're basically saying, Hey, if you're a religious organization that's out there in the world, serving the world, hiring people who don't necessarily share your religious commitments, you're not entitled to freedom of conscience."
Obama's grand miscalculation with Catholics
Fox News commentary by Maureen Malloy Ferguson, Ashley McGuire
May 22, 2012
In the most comprehensive survey conducted on the issue yet, Washington-based public opinion firm QEV Analytics recently found that some 50% of regular churchgoing Catholics heard a statement during Mass setting forth the bishops' serious misgivings about the insurance mandate. Of all the Catholics who heard this statement, most apparently agreed with it.
HHS doesn't speak for me, or many women
Washington Post commentary by Helen Alvare
May 22, 2012
HHS is further suggesting that rather than allowing female employees of religious institutions to seek contraceptive coverage, a government-approved entity will simply provide it to them and all their female beneficiaries (minors included) “automatically” — and without any co-pay to tip off minors’ parents. This isn’t freedom. This is coercion, along with the undermining of parents’ duties and rights respecting their children.
Our Religious Freedom - video
Chancellor Jane Belford of Archdiocese of Washington explains lawsuit
May 22, 2012
Chancellor Jane Belford of the Archdiocese of Washington explains the significance of the lawsuit filed to protect freedom to practice religion. Chancellor Belford details why the suit is necessary in light of the attempt of the government to redefine what is a religious institution. She explains that under the new definition that the work of Mother Teresa no longer would qualify as the work of a religious institution.
Catholic dioceses, colleges sue over Obama mandate
Washington Examiner
May 21, 2012
NEW YORK (AP) - Dozens of Roman Catholic dioceses, schools and other institutions sued the Obama administration Monday over a government mandate requiring most employers to provide birth control coverage as part of their employee health plans.
Catholics nationwide preparing 'Fortnight for Freedom' events
Catholic News Agency
May 20, 2012
Various initiatives are planned throughout the country in response to the U.S. bishops' call for a "Fortnight for Freedom" June 21-July 4 to encourage prayer, education and public action about religious freedom. The initiative was created in response to several moves by the Obama administration that are threatening the Church's religious freedom.
Healthcare mandate endangers religious freedom
The Hill commentary by Jim Nicholson
May 18, 2012
This radical policy change will be devastating to religious organizations who are working to provide critical services to Americans in need. These institutions may now be forced to pay huge fines, be subject to unelected bureaucrats' defining their status, limiting their work, or even shutting them down altogether. This would not just impact the organizations themselves, but the millions of needy Americans whom these organizations serve.
Religious Liberty--Obamacare's First Casualty
Heritage Foundation video
May 18, 2012
The controversy over the Obama Administration's anti-conscience mandate and the fight for religious liberty only serves to highlight the inherent flaws in Obamacare. This conflict is a natural result of the centralization laid out under Obamacare and will only continue until the law is repealed in full.
Good for religion, good for America
New York Times commentary by Mark Rienzi
May 10, 2012
Our nation has often benefited from religious individuals and institutions who were free to bring their religious perspective into the public square, whether by arguing for fair labor laws, advocating better treatment for immigrants, or providing food, shelter and health care to those in need. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and our civil rights movement often made expressly religious calls for the equal treatment of African-Americans.
The Religious Battle of Vanderbilt
Wall Street Journal commentary by John Murray, 4th Presby. School
May 10, 2012
The legislation follows Vanderbilt's decision to stop recognizing campus religious organizations that require their leaders to accept certain religious beliefs on which they are founded. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Vanderbilt Catholic, Navigators and other groups-ministering to about 1,500 students-would effectively be moved off campus in the name of "nondiscrimination."
The Mother of All Freedom
National Review Online commentary by Kathryn Jean Lopez
April 19, 2012
We insist upon the civilly-protected freedom for the practice of religion and freedom for the free exercise of conscience because they are inherently human freedoms. No person may become the pawn of the State no matter how small or diminished; no matter how inconvenient. If we loose sight of the dignity of the person, all else will unravel. Peace will not last, for the violation of conscience makes any other human violation and tyranny justifiable.
Is Conscience Partisan?
Public Discourse commentary by Richard Doerflinger
April 15, 2012
During his final illness Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, stating, "I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field, and I'll continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone."
Pastor Rick Warren Decries Obama Contraception Compromise
National Journal
April 8, 2012
Influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren said Sunday that he is not satisfied with the Obama administration's compromise on a requirement that religious-affiliated organizations provide contraception coverage to employees, and said religious freedom is at stake. "The issue here is not about women's health," Warren said on ABC's This Week. "There is a greater principle, and that is do you have the right to decide what your faith practices?"
Ringing a Bell for Liberty
National Review Online interview: Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
April 2, 2012
"Nothing guarantees that America's experiment in religious freedom, as we traditionally know it, will survive here in the United States, let alone serve as a model for other countries in the future," Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia writes in the new e-book, A Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and the Next America.
Will the Obamacare Decision Affect the HHS Mandate?
National Review Online commentary by Mark Rienzi
April 2, 2012
Last week's Supreme Court arguments over the Affordable Care Act focused on the constitutionality of the individual mandate and the expanded Medicaid entitlement. Could those cases also affect the religious-liberty lawsuits challenging the HHS abortion/sterilization/contraception mandate, which are now pending in many federal district courts? The short answer is: Maybe.
Contraceptive mandate uniting people of all religious and political stripes
Newsweek commentary by Mary Kate Cary
March 29, 2012
That HHS ruling brought home what everyone already suspected about the president's healthcare law: that it is confusing, unnecessary, massive in scope, full of coercive mandates, and will increase costs. And as the implementation stage of the law unfolds, this mandate will be only the tip of the iceberg.
Put on your shoes; we can win this one
Breakpoint commentary by Chuck Colson:
March 19, 2012
This is a battle that is both crucial and winnable. The important thing is to keep the focus on where it belongs: religious freedom. The early polls where a reaction to the media's initial announcement that this was all about contraception, but the Catholic Bishops and everybody else has been working hard to educate them. And you need to continue to educate people that this is about religious liberty.
If they can do this, what can they not do?
Kansas City Star commentary by E. Thomas McClanahan
March 10, 2012
The White House has needlessly bought itself a great deal of trouble and a likely Supreme Court case. As with so much that this administration has done, the latest debate again prompts the question: If they can do this, what can they not do?
No mandate exemption for religious groups
Washington Times commentary by Richard Doerflinger
March 7, 2012
The Washington Times persists in reporting that the Obama administration has "agreed to exempt religion-affiliated universities, charities and hospitals" from its contraceptive coverage mandate ("Limbaugh apology garners bipartisan approval," Web, Sunday). However, this is not the case. On Feb. 10, the administration's controversial mandate and its incredibly narrow religious exemption were finalized "without change."
House Judiciary Committee holds hearing on contraceptives coercion
"Executive Overreach: The HHS Mandate Versus Religious Liberty"
February 28, 2012
The Judiciary Committee held a hearing Feb. 28, 2012 entitled, "Executive Overreach: The HHS Mandate Versus Religious Liberty" Watch video clips:
- Rep. Sandy Adams' exchange with witnesses Jeanne Monahan, Asma Uddin & Bishop Lori
- Witness Jeanne Monahan's exchange with Chairman Lamar Smith
- Witness Bishop Lori's exchange with Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner
- Witness Asma Uddin's exchange with Rep. Trent Franks (Part 2)
- Witness Bishop Lori's exchange with Rep. Ted Poe
Contraception, Against Conscience
New York Times op-ed by Michael P. Warsaw
February 21, 2012
Religious liberty isn't even the only thing at risk; the mandate also threatens the financial viability of any organization that disagrees with the administration's politics. They could be forced to stop offering health insurance and be saddled with fines, which are immense competitive disadvantages. They'll have to take money away from their core missions to pay fines. They'll lose employees who can't afford to work for employers who offer no health insurance. They'll lose donors who are scared off by the penalties. The end result: organizations that agree with the administration or are willing to compromise their beliefs will thrive. Organizations that don't will shrink or die.
Sen. Marco Rubio interview on contraception mandate
FOX News video
February 8, 2012
FOX News host Greta Van Susteren interviews Florida Senator Marco Rubio about the administration's coercive contraception mandate.
