Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has praised the willingness of Catholic bishops to go to jail rather than conform to the HHS regulation requiring them to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives, surgical sterilization and embryocides. Mohler said, “[E]veryone who stands both for the sanctity of human life and for the mandate of religious liberty must express outrage in whatever form is available to us to the president of the United States.” [Associated Baptist Press]
Category: News
US bishops encourage protests, promise defiance of new law
Catholic bishops in the United States are having letters are being read to their congregations to encourage protests against the Obama administration’s regulation that will force employers to pay for insurance coverage for contraceptive, and embryocidal drugs and devices. Bishop Zubick of Pittsburgh wrote that the federal government has basically told Catholics, “To hell with you!”, while Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo, Ohio, stated, “We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law.” The Archbishop of New Orleans has also issued a letter to his congregations. However, some individuals and organizations publicly identified as Catholic are asserting their support for the new regulations, and it is reported that some of them have been providing employees with coverage for contraception for years. [Toledo Blade; Times Picayune; Christian Post]
Jewish groups warn US federal government plan harms freedom of religion
Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for federal government affairs and Washington director of Agudath Israel, has criticized the Obama administration’s decision to force employers to pay for contraceptive, and embryocidal drugs and devices even if they object to doing so for reasons of conscience. Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, expressed concern about the notion that religious belief that does not remain “insular” is not really religious belief. [JTA News; OJC News release]
Council of Europe asserts that euthanasia “must always be prohibited”
In a document addressing the issue of advance directives, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe included the statement, “Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited.” While the document is not legally binding on member states of the European Union, it has persuasive weight. It thus seems less likely that health care workers who object to euthanasia will be pressured to participate in the procedure. However, the document makes no reference to assisted suicide. [Resolution 1859 (2012)]
US Catholic bishops urge support for freedom of conscience and religion in US
Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, speaking to a pro-life rally on behalf of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities, challenged the decision of the Obama administration to force employers to pay for contraceptives and embryocidal drugs and services. At stake, he said, “is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for conscience and religious liberty.” Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and president of the Conference, joined him in denouncing the government’s plans[USCCB News release]. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Archbishop Dolan asked, “How about some respect for Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease?” In a newspaper column, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, “To force all of us to buy coverage for sterilization and contraceptives, including drugs that induce abortion, is a radical incursion into freedom of conscience.”