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On Thursday, June 28, 2012 the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate of the Affordable care Act (aka Obama Care). The dense opinion was authored for a 5- 4majority by Chief Justice John Roberts. Justices Kennedy, Alito, Scalia and Thomas strongly dissented. However, a Court speaks through its majority. The Majority opinion upheld the mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, not under the Commerce Clause, but as an exercise of Congress' power to tax. The Obama Administration initially argued that the penalty for non-compliance with the Affordable Care Act's mandate to purchase...

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod joins Roman Catholic officials in opposing proposed federal guidelines that would force many religious organizations to pay for contraceptives through health insurance, the synod’s president said Monday. “The church shouldn’t be forced to act against its Christian conscience,” the Rev. Matthew Harrison told The State Journal Register during a visit to the convention of the synod’s Central Illinois District at the Crowne Plaza Springfield. Harrison, 50, said the 2.3-million-member synod doesn’t oppose contraception overall, but it does oppose the emergency-contraception products known as Plan B and Ella because of the possibility that they can prevent a...

LCMS President Issues Statement in Response to U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Health Care Reform Legislation ST. LOUIS, June 28, 2012—In response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling today to largely let stand the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, issued the following statement: “In light of today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), we remain opposed to the controversial birth control mandate, which is one of the requirements included in the law. “The Court’s...

FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION:Putting Beliefs into PracticeAn Open Letter from Religious Leaders in the United States to All Americans Dear Friends, Religious institutions are established because of religious beliefs and convictions. Such institutions include not only churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship, but also schools and colleges, shelters and community kitchens, adoption agencies and hospitals, organizations that provide care and services during natural disasters, and countless other organizations that exist to put specific religious beliefs into practice. Many such organizations have provided services and care to both members and non-members of their religious communities since before the Revolutionary...

Here is minute and a half video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlRen8yzaw&feature=player_embedded The HHS Mandate is a direct attack on our first liberty and an assault on all people of faith. We MUST stand together to defeat it. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. St.John Fisher,pray for us! St.Thomas More,...

As readers of this column will know, I write often about religious freedoms in your country and even abroad. And lately there has been much in the news about how the healthcare overhaul instituted by the Obama Administration has affected those religious freedoms.Religious institutions, including Catholic schools, charities and hospital, are not exempt from the new healthcare mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees. Many have raised their voices in opposition to this requirement that religious institutions and individuals violate their own basic moral teaching in their health plans. Most of...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:June 21 marks the beginning of the “Fortnight for Freedom” events, the campaign for religious liberty being conducted by the nation’s bishops. Fair-minded persons may disagree with this effort, but there is something unseemly going on when those who work for a George Soros-funded group are quietly providing talking points to the media.John Gehring is an official at Faith in Public Life, and it is his organization that lives off the bounty of the left-wing atheist billionaire, Mr. Soros. On June 7, Gehring sent a memo to his buddies in the media (a...

Religious Freedom Reaffirmed; US Bishops Unanimous Reiterate Protest at Mandate to Cover Abortifacients, Contraception ATLANTA, Georgia, JUNE 14, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reaffirmed by a unanimous voice vote Wednesday a recent statement of the USCCB Administrative Committee regarding the federal government mandate that would require religious employers to provide free insurance coverage for abortifacients, sterilization and contraception.At the end of their hour-long discussion of religious freedom in the United States, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of USCCB, asked the body of bishops if it would be willing to declare its approval of “United for Religious Freedom,”...

Chicago Rally for Religious Freedom Takes a New "Twist" CHICAGO -- This Friday, June 8, at noon local time across the country, tens of thousands of Americans, in over 150 cities coast to coast, took to the streets in public protest against the HHS Mandate during the second nationwide Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally. This time the flagship rally held at Chicago’s Federal Plaza took an interesting twist—suddenly transforming from a formal political rally to a Swing Dance festival! Media pundit and blogger, Jill Stanek, danced unannounced on stage to a Jazz Band at the end of her speech....

The Obama White House and its allies in the media continue to pretend that the controversy over the HHS mandate is all about keeping women from accessing birth control, a claim that’s absurd on its face. For instance, Obama appeared in Iowa on Thursday and tossed out this bit of demagoguery: We don’t need another political fight about ending a woman’s right to choose, or getting rid of Planned Parenthood — (applause) — or taking away affordable birth control. No one is trying to take away “affordable birth control.” For that matter, no one is attempting to “get rid” of...

Launched in Britain, apologetics-training program seeks to give Catholics the skills to spread the faith while disarming opponents.   WASHINGTON — Media coverage of the Health and Human Services “contraception mandate” debate has intensified demand for appealing arguments that win minds and hearts, yet effective spokesmen and women for Catholic teaching are in short supply, giving an edge to those who spin the bishops’ position as a “war on women.” Enter Austen Ivereigh, a British Catholic journalist, community organizer and onetime spokesman for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the now-retired archbishop of Westminster. Troubled by the British bishops’ struggle to counter partisan...

The timing may be off with this post, but there is an observation I've been meaning to point out with regard to Barack Obama's HHS Mandate on religious institutions. Barack Obama in defending the mandate has suggested that it has no impact on "Freedom of Worship". So, exactly where does "Freedom of Worship" appear in the Constitution? It doesn't. The First Amendment provides for "Freedom of Religion". No one to my knowledge has called him out on this significant distinction. Freedom of Religion of course provides for living one's life in concert with the principles of your faith. It unambiguously...

The oldest Catholic university in America has invited a top pro-abortion politician, Kathleen Sebelius, to speak at its graduation awards ceremony on May 18.  She will be a “great inspiration to our students,” promised Judy Feder, professor at Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute. (see link) In the wake of the unjust Obama/HHS mandate, however, the scandalous invitation is like a deliberate poke in the eye to Catholics.   After all, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is responsible for unleashing a fierce persecution against the freedom of the Church – the Obamacare mandate – which forces Catholic individuals and...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another “Occupy” movement has just rocked the United States of America - but with a very different message. Tens of thousands of men and women gathered in 146 protests on Friday, joining a grassroots effort that organizers say grew far beyond expectations. The rallies were held to protest the Obama administration mandate forcing religious universities, charities, and other groups to pay for abortifacient drugs and other birth control for students and employees. But while the purpose of the Occupy protests last Fall was sometimes criticized as being somewhat hazy, the message of this event...

In addition to the 15 Catholic bishops scheduled to speak at Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom locations, countless other influential speakers from all walks of life will also be addressing rallies throughout the country this Friday, March 23. The speakers at the more than 130 Rally sites represent a wide array of backgrounds and professions, including members of Congress, physicians, college presidents, pastors, radio hosts, law professors, heads of organizations, publishers, religious sisters, pregnancy resource directors, and rabbis

Do They Know Who They’re Messing With? FaithMarch 16th, 2012 David Catron During a recent conversation about the HHS anti-conscience mandate, a friend who is neither Catholic nor particularly religious asked the following rhetorical question about the Obama administration:Do these people know who they’re messing with?Her point, of course, was that the Church has spent nearly two millennia crushing attempts by secular rulers to dictate the way it carries out its charitable ministries. Commanding Catholic hospitals to fund sterilizations, contraceptives, and abortifacients isn’t like twisting the arm of some roundheel congressman. It’s going to take more than the usual...

Hello Everyone, By now you've probably heard about the huge controversy going on over the Administration's "HHS" Mandate. The U.S. Department of Health and Human services "HHS" is now mandating that all employers provide free contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans. The HHS provided a "religious exemption" so narrow that it would exclude Catholic hospitals, universities and charities, forcing these institutions to act in direct opposition to Catholic teaching through the health care plans they provide. That's right, the Administration will now decide what "counts" as a religious institution in this country. In fact, not even Jesus...

Nikki Cole’s upbringing was unremarkable; her father was the manager of a smallish manufacturing plant in the Midwestern town where they lived, and her mother was mostly stay at home although she volunteered two days a week at the county hospital. Nikki and her two siblings all attended the local Catholic schools through high school. High School is where Nikki had come to vegetarianism. Initially Nikki came to feel that it was unnecessary for animals to die for her meal when there were so many healthier alternatives that would meet her nutritional needs. At the time that Nikki grew up...

When the left savages the right, it's OK. When America's top conservative questions why taxpayers must subsidize the sex life of a coed, the sky falls in. Bill Maher, call your office. When the late, great Andrew Breitbart was asked in a Twitter conversation whether he'd apologize for his website's posting of a video of a speech by Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod that led to her forced resignation, Breitbart replied, "Apologize for what?" Breitbart knew the sensitivities and the hypocrisy of the left when their sacred cows and double standards were under attack. Hell hath no fury, he knew,...

At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius confirmed the fears of many pro-life advocates who worry that the recent HHS mandate requiring all insurance plans to cover contraception and sterilization, regardless of an employer’s moral objection, is just the beginning.The same statutory authority of the Administration to mandate contraception could just as easily mandate abortion on demand. The Administration believes in essence that employers are not really paying for contraceptives or abortion since they would be cheaper than providing for prenatal care, childbirth or child care.In an exchange with pro-life Congressman Tim...