Category: ChristianityNonCatholic

Can Atheists and Muslims Support Freedom of Conscience Together?

 Religion and Politics

Qasim Rashid and Chris Stedman

Thomas Jefferson once wrote: “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

For many of us, it’s easy to appreciate Jefferson’s eloquently stated advocacy of religious freedom of conscience, as well as the idea that all individuals should be able to express religious or nonreligious positions independent of others’ beliefs. Likewise, at the United Nations, both the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the binding International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee “freedom of thought, conscience and religion” to all individuals. But, in spite of international agreements and Jefferson’s beautiful words, the reality is that these tenets are often forgotten. . . . Read more

 

Two more lawsuits against U.S. federal government filed by Evangelical colleges

The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed suit on behalf of Grace College and Seminary of Winona Lake, Indiana, and Biola University of Mirada, California.  Both are Evangelical Christian colleges that object to the Health and Human Services regulation that requires them to provide health insurance coverage for students and employees for contraception, embryocides and sterilization. [ADF news release]

Evangelical college joins lawsuit against U.S. federal government

In response to a regulation that requires employers to pay for insurance for contraceptives, embryocides and sterilization, despite moral or religious objections, Wheaton College of Illinois has filed a lawsuit against Department of Health and Human services.

Different denominations protest Obama administration’s mandate

A statement from a Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Prostestant religious leaders in Pennsylvania  supports universal access to health care, but protests the federal government’s plan to force objecting religious employers to provide health care insurance for contraceptives, surgical sterilization and embryocidal drugs and devices.  A number of the signatories have no moral objection to contraception. [Post-Gazette]

Catholics and Evangelicals issue statement defending religious freedom

Evangelicals and Catholics Together, an ecumenical fellowship established almost twenty years ago, has published “In Defense of Religious Freedom” in the March issue of First Things, a journal of religion and public affairs. [National Catholic Register] The document  responds to growing concerns about the security of freedom of conscience and religion in the United States and elsewhere.  The document was co-written by 11 prominent Evangelical Christians and nine well-known Catholics and is substantially supported by over 45 others from both denominations.