Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
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.
Trevor Phillips, the chairman of Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, has said that religious believers should not be free to adhere to their own tenets when acting in the public domain. “Once you start to provide public services that have to be run under public rules, for example child protection, then it has to go with public law,” he said. He agreed with the court ruling that forced the closure of all Catholic adoption agencies in Britain because they objected to adoption by persons identified as homosexual. [The Telegraph]
Representatives of Judaism and Christianity appeared before the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to explain the reasons for their opposition to the Obama administration’s plan to force employers to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs.
Some committee members protested because only two women appeared as witnesses. However, Dr. Laura Champion explained, “This is not about politics, this is not about contraception, and this is not about depriving women of health care. Rather, this is personal. This is about my daily life as a physician, a Christian, and a Medical Services Director.”
John H. Garvey, President of the Catholic University of America, said that the regulation “makes hypocrites of us all, in the most important lessons we teach.” Dr. Allison Garrett of Oklahoma Christian University told the Committee that the alternative scheme proposed by the administration “does not present a workable solution. The Administration has not yet proposed anything new. . . All the Administration has offered to do is to discuss the issue further.”
The Committee heard from ten witnesses.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic chaplains in the U.S. military, asked them to read to their congregations at mass a pastoral letter protesting the Obama administration’s plan to force employers with over 50 employees to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. The letter, like many of those from other US Catholic bishops read from pulpits across the country, stated, “We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.”
The Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent an e-mail ordering Catholic chaplains not to read the letter, directing them to mention it in bulletins and have printed copies available. A number of chaplains are reported to have disobeyed the order, while others contacted the Archbishop. The Archbishop spoke to the Secretary of the Army, who confirmed that the Chief of Chaplains had acted improperly. As a result of the discussion with the Secretary, a censored version of the letter was read to congregations. The original is available on the military archdiocese website. [CNS News]