Category: United States

Insuring Religious Liberty: Obama Care, Ronald Reagan, and the Crisis of Conscience in America Today

Reformed Theological Seminary
Charlotte, North Carolina
2 February, 2012

Dr. Michael A. Milton

We were told this would not happen. We were told to just let the bill pass and read it later. Well, we are reading it now. And the fine print doesn’t look good for religious freedom.  Perhaps you have heard about last Sunday’s “pulpit protest” by Roman Catholic priests around the nation over the administration’s mandated health care program which will require Catholic institutions — universities, hospitals and seminaries to “tow the line” regarding national health care mandates; notably, the requirement to provide insurance that will promote contraception and ultimately abortion.

The protest is unprecedented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But make no mistake. This is not a Catholic issue only. It is not a contraception issue. It is a religious liberty issue. It is an American issue.

Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was spot-on when he preached, “we cannot, we will not, comply with this unjust law. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build (America) … Or to have the posterity stripped of their God given rights…” This Presbyterian says, “Amen,” to that Catholic bishop.

As the next chancellor and CEO of one of America’s largest protestant seminaries, I can tell you that the Obama health care mandate is already having an enormous impact on our ministry. Yet until this latest revelation, the impact has mostly been financial. In a word, this thing is going to be extraordinarily expensive.

Now, unless there is a wholesale repeal of this Act or unless there is dramatic and immediate steps taken to curb the government’s prying into the consciences of religious institutions like our seminary, or other similar religious organizations that appeal to a Higher Law than Man’s, we will have a constitutional crisis on our hands. I realize that those are heavy words. But we must all realize that this is a weighty matter.

It is interesting that Ronald Reagan’s 101st birthday (February 6th, 1911) is going to be celebrated as this crisis unfolds before us. He had something to say about how government mandated medicine steals liberty. Back in 1961 then actor and General Electric spokesman, Ronald Reagan, warned America:

“One of the traditional ways of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine…”

Reagan went on to describe how a secularist government would use national health care to advance other leftist agendas. He also went on to quote a founder who warned against the loss of liberty through gradual intrusion of a meddling government:

James Madison warned, “Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” (James Madison, speech in the Virginia ratifying convention on control of the military, June 16, 1788 in: History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788, Vol. 1, p. 130 [H.B. Grigsby, ed. 1890]).

If liberty and freedom were a government-issued right then it would have the prerogative to take it back. But liberty and freedom, as our founders declared, come from God. To meddle with those rights of conscience is to return to the crisis of human rights that gave rise to this nation. Unless these violations of religious rights are expelled, now, they will bring ruin to this nation.

It is time for Americans to speak up for religious freedom while there is still time. Thank God for the Catholic Bishops and priests who did. We all must. For you can’t lose just a little liberty. You lose — we lose — all of it when we lose any of it.

Contact: Lyn Perez, 407-366-9493

President Obama announces promise to accommodate objecting employers

President Barack Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius held a news conference today and promised to revise a regulation that has ignited a firestorm of protest across the United States. However, the details provided in the White House “Fact Sheet” suggest that the administration is simply reaffirming the existing regulation while making a promise work with objecting institutions to find a compromise during a one-year grace period.  This is essentially what Secretary Sebelius announced  on 20 January.  What is new is the suggestion that coverage might be offered by insurance companies without the active participation of employers who object.  When developing the proposal, the administration did not consult with the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has been the most determined and vociferous critic of the regulation.

The proposal was not published in the United States Federal Register on 10 February, as promised by the White House “Fact Sheet”.

 

American Catholic Medical Association questions offer of accommodation

The Catholic Medical Association states that the proposed accommodation being offerd by the Obama administration to employers who object to providing insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs “appears to fall far short of addressing the fatal flaws in the original rule.”  [CMA news release]

 

US Catholic bishops question promised HHS revision

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a statement responding to President Obama’s announcement that the HHS regulation that stirred a firestorm of protest will be modified.  The bishops note that they were not consulted by the administration, that the details of promised modification are unclear, and that it will require “careful moral analysis”.  However, based on their initial  understanding of the proposal, they state that it “continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions.”  They insist that only the revocation of the HHS mandate will afford “the only complete solution to this religious liberty problem.” [USCCB statement]

Michigan Takes Lead Role in Lawsuits Against Unconstitutional Obama Health Care Mandate

Schuette Heads Up Multi-State Effort With Becket Fund To Defend Religious Liberty, First Amendment

NEWS RELEASE

Attorney General of Michigan

Contact: John Sellek or Joy Yearout, 517-373-8060

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette today announced Michigan will be the lead state in an effort to defend religious liberty in three separate lawsuits filed by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty on behalf of two colleges and a religious broadcasting network challenging onerous administrative health care regulations recently handed down by the Obama administration.

“We cannot compromise religious liberty.  We cannot undermine constitutional protections.  We cannot trample freedom of religion in the United States of America,” said Schuette.  “This mandate is an unconscionable intrusion on religious liberty and undermines the constitutional rights of millions of Americans with deeply held beliefs.

“Not only will many schools, hospitals and charities be ordered to provide services that violate their conscience, but to add insult to injury, they will have to pay for those they find morally repugnant.  This is a radical attack on the First Amendment that cannot stand.”

As described in The Becket Fund’s complaints filed in federal courts in the District of Columbia, Colorado and Alabama, the challenges relate to Obamacare regulations that force thousands of religious organizations to violate their deepest beliefs by mandating what the organizations must include in their employee health plans, or face steep government fines.  Although the Obama administration has provided thousands of exemptions for other groups, including many large corporations, it has persistently refused to give the same accommodation to religious organizations exercising their First Amendment freedoms.  Schuette’s office will coordinate the drafting and filing of an amicus brief in defense of religious liberty.

On January 20, 2012, the Obama Administration announced that it would not change its mandate forcing religious employers to purchase and provide health care services that violate their religious beliefs and moral convictions.  The decision was announced in spite of concerns expressed by a wide spectrum of religious leaders and employers.

The cases challenging the rule are Bemont Abbey College v.  Sebelius, Colorado Christian University v. Sebelius, and Eternal Word Television Netwprl v. Sebelius. A briefing schedule has not yet been issued in those cases yet, but Michigan expects to file its briefs later this year.

Schuette’s involvement in The Becket Fund cases is the latest effort to defend religious liberty for Michigan citizens:

·In 2011, Schuette file joined The Becket Fund to file an amicus brief on behalf of seven other states in support of religious liberty in a significant case involving the right of religious organizations to manage their religious employees without government interference.  In January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously (9-0) upheld the right of religious organizations to manage their religious employees without government interference in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission et al.

· Schuette also filed an amicus brief in support of Julea Ward, a former Eastern Michigan University student who is suing the university in federal court for violating her constitutional rights after she was dismissed from a graduate counseling program due to her religious beliefs.  On January 27, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th District agreed Ward had a right to trial and reversed the lower court ruling dismissing her case.