Protestant pastors oppose Obama contraception mandate: FRC launches letter-writing campaign with 2,500 already signed on
Today the Family Research Council will hold a press conference at 12p in the heart of the Bible Belt – the Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee – to announce the launch of a letter writing campaign by Protestant pastors and Christian leaders opposing Obama’s contraception mandate.
This is not a Catholic issue. This is a religious freedom issue. As a matter of fact, as Catholic Philly reported on February 14, and another recent poll indicated, Evangelicals oppose the contraception mandate more than any other religious group…
At the press conference FRC will announce the letter has already been signed by over 2,500 Christian pastors and leaders. Please forward a link to your pastor and ask him/her to sign.
Feb.20, 2012 11:26 am |
Contraception, Health care, The Church |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj0L2ep0Zdc
I’m saddened that secular individuals seem to have such little respect for the liberties and freedoms upon which our nation was founded.
The more deeply I grow in my Catholic faith, the more I find I have in common with Evangelicals.
Musicbringsjoy – ditto… :)
Well I’m glad “protestants” are speaking out! This isn’t a “Catholic” assault. This is an assault on all of us who have faith and want our religious liberties protected. First they come for the Catholics, and then they come for us “protestants”.
Sydney-
It’s not just an assault on people of faith. It’s an assault on Americans in general and our original governing principles. Freedom is for everyone, and secularists fail to recognize this at their peril.
The bright spot in all this is seeing faithful Christians come together!
I’m surprised to see “White Catholics” and “White Mainline Protestants” come in with such high percentages, quite honestly. And I wonder where “Catholic daily Mass-goers” or “Catholic Latin Mass-goers” would be percentage-wise on this chart. Pretty high, I’m guessing. :)
And yes, agree with xilasea, this seems really to be a Constitutional issue.
I’m not really “for” a Religious Exemption, because I consider the whole thing to be an affront to the First Amendment. The whole rule MUST be stricken.
Suppose I am a Catholic (or Evangelical, or Flying Spaghetti Monster.. Etc.) owner of a Machine shop. I do not support Abortion, Amniocentesis for Sex or Disability discrimination, nor contraception. I refuse to pay money for these things, and I also don’t agree that people should adopt Chimpanzees. I should be able to accommodate my conscience any way I wish.
Freedom and Liberty means that I can live, work, and run my business in keeping with my conscience. This rule is not an affront to Catholic beliefs, it is not an affront to Evangelical beliefs, nor an affront to worship of Pirates, it is a breakage of the basic American Compact and Contract that our Government has made with our Citizens way back when the Constitution was approved and adopted.
Medbob, I agree. I think you accurately described the real problem and what every American should be concerned about.
Lutherans for Life, which includes more than just the LCMS, issued a statement today:
20 Feb 2012
Lutherans For Life stands firmly with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Roman Catholic Bishops, the Southern Baptist Convention, other Evangelical leaders, and other religious organizations in strongly opposing the recently-promulgated Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rules requiring that religious organizations provide contraception and abortifacients to their employees.
The morality of contraception is not the issue. The issue is religious freedom as given by God and secured by the First Amendment to the Constitution. The proposed HHS rules directly infringe free exercise of religion by requiring religious groups to do what many believe God forbids them to do. Not only Roman Catholics, but many others as well, oppose contraception; and many Lutherans oppose on religious grounds any so called “contraceptive” that in reality is an abortifacient in nature and could destroy a developing human being. These religious groups, and the many individuals who support them, should not be compelled to subsidize a practice they believe to be immoral and, in some instances, murder.
The remaining statement — six paragraphs in all — can be seen on the LFL site:
http://www.lutheransforlife.org/article/lfl-statement-on-the-mandate-of-the-department-of-health-and-human-services/
Exactly MedBob. What’s really bad is that when I explain to vocal supporters of this (most of whom have been just reading off of their email propaganda instructions) that this same power could be used to require all insurance plans to drop coverage for contraceptives, they act like I didn’t say anything. I wonder if they even think about that. Our culture is such that people won’t stand on a principle, but they will stand on a benefit to themselves. They don’t care if that same power could be used against them tomorrow. This was easily predicted 220 years ago when our nation’s founders described how dangerous it is to replace civil society with a government that you can use to take things from one group to give them to another. Obamacare as a concept has to go, because we should all see already how it will pit groups and people against each other. Watch as powerful disease lobbies can forcibly extract bigger slices of the perceived pie and people and families from little-known diseases with no lobbies can’t do that.
“that this same power could be used to require all insurance plans to drop coverage for contraceptives”
Yes Chris. And this same power could be used to drop ovarian cancer screenings and testicular cancer screenings from insurance coverage. And much more.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204795304577220950656734864.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
xalisae is correct. The government cannot force any business to provide any certain product, whether its reasons are religious or otherwise. You can’t force a pharmacy to provide contraceptives if it does not wish to, or force a vegan restaurant to serve you baby-back ribs.
It seems that when liberals (as a group) like/want something, they find a way to declare that thing a “right” that all people deserve and must have. I just don’t understand the absolute greedy blindness that many of my friends display in discussions on this topic! Pick any freedom listed in our constitution/bill of rights, and you must realize that these protections go both ways!
Oh, my favorite non-answer so far: “well, if you can object to birth control based on your religious beliefs, then I shouldn’t have to pay taxes because I’m a pacifist”
You’re right Xalisae. Very true. I think the point I was trying to make is that some Christians who aren’t Catholic don’t seem very concerned. They see this as a “Catholic issue” and as you pointed out, its not.