Service, not Servitude
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has expressed deep disappointment with plans by the Obama administration to force employers to pay for insurance coverage for contraceptives and embryocidal drugs and services despite moral objections. A spokesman for the group stated that freedom of conscience is “not a grant from the state” and that the new regulations “trample on our most cherished freedoms and set a dangerous precedent.” [News release]
Responding to news that the Obama administration will continue plans to force employers to pay for employee insurance coverage for contraceptives and embryocidal drugs and services, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has characterized the decision as an unprecedented attack on religious liberty. The Conference promises to continue working to reform the law. [USCCB News Release] Cardinal Designate Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and USCCB president, has issued a video calling for people to let the government know that they want “religious liberty and rights of conscience restored.”
A panel of 13 ‘experts’ chaired by Mr. Justice Seán Ryan of the High Court of Ireland is to study a European Court of Human Rights ruling on abortion and advise the government what should be done in response [News release; Irish Times]. Four members of the panel – Mary O’Toole, Dr. Peter Boylan, Dr. Deirdre Madden, and Ailish Ní Riain – have been identified by anti-abortion groups in the country as having previously indicated that they favour legalizing abortion or reducing restrictions on it. [Life Institute 16 Jan 2012, 20 Jan 2012]
Addressing American bishops at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI warned of “grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism.” He voiced special concern about “certain attempts” to limit freedom of religion. “Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” [Text of address]
The Freedom of Conscience Act, a bill that passed the South Carolina House of Representatives last year, is to be considered by the state senate. It is a procedure-specific statute that focuses on embryonic and foetal research and acts that cause the death of an individual. [Post and Courier]