Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has pledged to overturn the HHS contraception mandate that he says takes €œparticular aim€ at Catholics. | The religious exemption for the mandate would not cover most Catholic hospitals, universities, and charitable organizations, despite Catholic teaching that the use of these procedures and drugs is sinful and objectively immoral.
Despite the concerns over religious freedom raised by religious leaders around the nation, HHS refused to allow an exemption for religious employers, as they had hoped. Instead, the recent decision only moved the deadline for them to comply...
Last month, Health and Human Services issued an unprecedented blow to religious freedom — a mandate that requires all organizations, regardless of religious or moral beliefs, to provide contraception (including abortifacients) and sterilization in employees’ healthcare plans.The Catholic Church teaches that contraception and abortion are wrong, harmful and contrary to the creative plan of God (The Catechism of the Catholic Church numbers...
GateHouse Media, Inc.: The recent conflict between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration is minimally about contraception, modestly about abortion and overwhelmingly about religious freedom. | Framing this simply as an out-of-touch church opposing contraception is grossly mistaken. The new health care bill is trying to outflank established conscience protections by denying them to faith-based organizations that provide health insurance.
GateHouse Media, Inc.: The very religious freedom upon which our country was founded is being threatened. Forcing people to do something which is against their religious beliefs is exactly what is taking place. No person is being forced to work at a place that does...
I am fed up. The Obama administration is attacking my faith in an unprecedented way with the recent mandate and attack on conscience in Obamacare. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in an act of mockery, has given those opposed to her recent mandate one year to figure out how to violate conscience. The choice is to violate the law and pay heavy fines or violate conscience.
The Maine Prayer Caucus, affiliated with Pray USA, misrepresents its goals in the article "LePage, top Republicans form Prayer Caucus," (Jan. 18). | The caucus says its goal is simply to "preserve the Judeo-Christian heritage of our nation and protect American religious liberty." I believe the real goal is to have our national government develop a Christian biblical world view.
Supporters of the bill say it protects religious freedom . The ACLU disagrees. "It's a license for child welfare agencies to make decisions based on religious beliefs, rather than a child's needs," ACLU attorney Leslie Cooper told the Washington Post.
DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that Mitchell County's steel wheels ordinance violated a Mennonite's right to religious freedom . “We... hold that the application of the Mitchell County road protection ordinance to Matthew Zimmerman...
Catholic Communications: Obama's speech came amid harsh criticism of his administration for policies that are being described as hostile to religious freedom , notably a new federal mandate that all health plans, including those at church-run hospitals, colleges and service...
Religious groups that oppose the new contraception mandate say it forces people of faith to choose between upholding church doctrine and serving the broader society. | The Obama administration's decision requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control was bound to cause an uproar among Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, no matter their beliefs on contraception.
The “price to be paid,” he said, could be in terms of religious freedom and also financially. “If I think about these fines that it seems the government will impose upon us, well that is money I could use in my Catholics schools, it's money I could use...
Last weekend, Cardinal O€™Brien wrote a letter to the Catholic Churches of the Archdiocese Baltimore that warned of attacks on the Catholic faith. Freedom of religion is a founding principle of our great nation, but it seems that our government no longer cares.
When it comes to one new federal health care mandate, many of us feel something is wrong. How many will speak out? The government wants to require our Catholic colleges, hospitals and charities to provide employees with free abortifacient drugs...
Private child placement agencies might soon have legal backing to deny adoption or foster care to prospective parents for religious or moral reasons. | Two bills creating a so-called "conscience clause"
In response to a complaint lodged by the Freedom From Religion foundation, the Jackson County Board of Education recently voted to allow the individual known as €œBible Man€ to continue his monthly assemblies at area schools. Horace Turner has been leading the assemblies for over 30 years.
The Prophet modeled a new society based on tolerance and religious freedom . Every faith was free to practice their beliefs freely without any hindrances. Their religious rights and places of worship should be respected. Abdulsalam, an Islamic scholar...
President Romney won't be forcing nuns to dole out free diaphragms in violation of their religious freedom and the Constitution that guarantees it. In fact, under him there won't be any health-care reform at all. (Yes, I refuse to call that reform...
A Catholic Bishop in Joliet is criticizing a recent ruling about contraceptions made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ruling requires some religious institutions to pay for contraceptions for employees. | Diocese of Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon said the ruling is against the teachings of the Catholic Church.
However, there are many more, including his denial of religious freedom and his failure to defend marriage and the family and society founded upon it. His words at the National Prayer Breakfast call us to pray for him. However, we will not be fooled...
EEOC as “a ringing victory for those who believe in religious freedom .” Marisa M. Kashino of the Washingtonian's Capital Comment Blog notes that several Justices regularly make time to meet with children and students visiting the Court.
Alicia Cohn: Keywords:... “I don't know where he got his law degree from because one of the most cherished constitutional principles, in fact one of the cornerstone ones when this country was founded and framed through the Constitution, was the issue of religious freedom .
Keywords: “It's not the issue of contraception, but religious freedom ,” said Sister Carol Keehan. “It's not about preventing women from buying anything themselves, but telling the church what it has to buy, and the potential for that to go further.
You can't teach Tibetan in schools anymore and there is no religious freedom . We want an independent Tibet that our history tells us we had." Younger generations of Tibetans remain hopeful for the future and, with a new government-in-exile...
When it comes to reproductive health in America, progress often seems like a one-step-forward-two-steps-back kind of situation. But let's start with some rare good news: in January, the Obama administration announced that most employers would have to cover birth control in their employee health plans with no co-pay - enraging religious groups, which had hoped for a broad exemption for church-run businesses. | This rule is a straightforward...
It's a well-known fact that Mikey Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation are the bane of the Air Force Academy. | But is MRFF such an enemy that an academy leader put out the word to run a counter-insurgency against the nonprofit? | More recently, we reported in August that AFA superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael Gould wrote in an e-mail that the best course in dealing with e-mails from Weinstei...
Jackson County Superintendent Ken Harding talks with board president Dana Moore during a recent meeting regarding faith-based activities in the school system. | Did the Jackson County Board of Education make the correct decision in allowing faith-based activities to continue in schools in the system? | Members of the Jackson County Board of Education now have the task of figuring out the specifics for religious activities in the school system.
"The recent disturbing decision in Washington represents a real threat to all Americans' right to religious freedom... We cannot be silent in the face of this unjust edict." | Gustavo-Siller asked all San Antonio pastors to read it at their parish masses this weekend. | Powered by Broadcast Interactive Media. | Please take a moment to review the available e-mail newsletters has to offer.
The Iowa Supreme Court will announce its decision Friday on whether it believes a Mitchell County road protection ordinance violates First Amendment religious rights. | The family of Matthew Zimmerman claims the "steel wheels ordinance" violated his religious freedom and is unconstitutional. | The ordinance, adopted in 2009, says steel-wheeled tractors cannot be driven on the county's paved roads.
It is in the hopes of recapturing this entire lost world that the Church urges that "Christians, in respect of religious freedom and of the common good of all, should seek to have Sundays and the Church's Holy Days recognized as legal holidays." But legality alone will not transform our culture of "total work." For that we must pray: Dona nobis Domine otium sanctum! Lord give us holy leisure!
Last Sunday, the Catholic Church declared war on President Obama. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida quickly took up the cause, signaling the outlines of a serious religious rumble to come in 2012.
The Obama administration recently passed a mandate requiring most United States employers to provide health care plans that cover contraceptive services for female employees free of charge. | The problem is some religious faiths, such as Catholicism, do not permit the use of contraceptives by their practitioners. Because the president did not grant an exemption for these groups, their religious freedom is being impeded.
Is Obama losing the Catholic vote? | Catholic teaching opposes the use of contraceptives. Wuerl acknowledged the clergy and the faithful have been at odds over the teachings on contraceptive use. But on this policy he said both are in lockstep over what is being perceived as a violation of religious liberties. | Wuerl is calling his congregants to action, asking them to call congress and the White House to express their displeasure.
The battle continues over the fate of a controversial Jesus statue in northwestern Montana. | The Freedom From Religion Foundation announced Wednesday it will file suit against the National Forest Service. The Forest Service announced Tuesday they would re-issue a special use permit for the statue, and the foundation doesn't agree with their decision.
Under the Obama health care plan, employers that provide health insurance to employees must buy coverage for contraceptives and sterilization. (Nicholas Eveleigh, Getty photo / September 18, 2011) | A few weeks ago, Rick Santorum got some criticism for saying the U.S. Supreme Court erred in saying states may not outlaw contraception.