This wave is only beginning: A Baptist college has joined a growing list of schools and other organizations and filed suit against the federal government over Obama’s healthcare mandates.
Islamic debate: Islamic protesters throw eggs at a speaker in an attempt to silence him during a lecture on freedom of speech.
On Washington’s birthday: A Jewish congregation’s letter to George Washington welcoming him to Rhode Island in 1790.
Washington had come to Rhode Island in celebration of that state’s ratification of the Constitution. This paragraph, written by these immigrant Jews, speaks directly to today’s far less tolerant government and society that now believes it has the right to squelch religious freedom:
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People ~~ a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance ~~ but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: ~~ deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine.
One private religious company explains why it will refuse to go along with the Obama administration’s mandate on contraceptives.
The administration’s supporters say that by opposing the rule, religious employers like EWTN are guilty of trying to coerce our employees and impose our values on them. But we are simply choosing not to participate in the use of these drugs. Our 350 employees, many of whom are not Catholic, freely choose to work here and can purchase and use contraception if they want to. They are aware of the values we practice, and I hear regularly from Catholic and non-Catholic employees alike how much they love working for an organization that is defined by its Catholic beliefs — beliefs that we think result in a better workplace and more expansive benefits over all.
Instead, it is the government — which does not accept EWTN’s religious choice and can punish that choice by imposing fines — that is coercing us. But under the Constitution and federal religious liberties law, we cannot be forced to give up our beliefs as the price of participation in the public square. That is why the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed a lawsuit on our behalf seeking to overturn this illegal mandate.
Once again, whether or not you agree with the Obama administration’s policy, the mandate is unconstitutional. The federal government is expressly forbidden from imposing its will in this manner by the 1st Amendment.
More than 2500 religious leaders released a letter yesterday condemning the Obama administration’s healthcare mandate as ““a severe blow” to religious liberty.
Obama’s war on religious liberty.
I would simply say that this is a war on liberty. You take away someone’s freedom to pray or practice their religion as they wish, you also take away their liberty. And if you can take their liberty, you can take anyone’s. For those who like the idea of forcing every insurance company and private institution to provide contraceptives, remember, if this administration gains that power, future administrations will have that power as well. And there is no guarantee that those future administrations will impose policies you agree with. To paraphase an old quote, “First they came for the Catholics, and I did nothing, because I wasn’t a Catholic…”
“Occupy Wall Street protesters have been occupying federal property for months, but when we kneel in prayer, the police are called in and we are arrested.”
All they did was quietly pray, in front of the White House. How dare they?
Obama administration has decided that volunteering will work to forgive a student loan — as per the law that Congress passed — as long as that volunteer work is not for a religious organization.
Congress created the loan forgiveness program in 2007 to encourage graduates to enter the public service field. In exchange for that service, the remaining balance of student loans would be considered repaid after 120 full payments.
To qualify for the loan forgiveness, one must now work for a federal, state or local government agency or organization, including public water, bridge or housing districts, or nonprofit organizations designated as tax exempt by the Internal Revenue Service.
More and more, it is obvious that this administration and those who support it are hostile to religion (except for Islam), hostile to freedom, and focused on gathering all power and control to the federal government.
Several Catholic lay organizations have now filed suit against the new Obamacare regulations requiring them to provide contraception services in violation of their religious beliefs.
“EWTN’s lawsuit is important because the network is not a church. They are a lay-run organization, and they have a right to live by and practice their faith and project the messages they want to project. For the government to say that only churches have religious liberty — but individuals do not — is contrary to what the First Amendment is all about.”
The worldwide Islamic war on Christians.
A fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.
A rabbi speaks out in defense of the Catholic Church and against the Obama administration.
Therefore, as a Rabbi, an Orthodox Jew, and an American, I stand with the Catholic Church and its right to freedom of conscience. If President Obama can force Catholics to pay for abortions, then no religious belief is safe in America, and an America in which religious beliefs are not sacrosanct is an America that is unsafe not only for Jews but for all people of conscience — whether people of faith or secularists.
Religious liberty is such an inconvenient thing: Obamacare vs. the Catholics.
And then there’s this: An affront Catholics agree on.
And this: The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America has announced its unanimous support of the Catholic Church and opposition to the Obama Administration over the new Obamacare regulations.
My question is this: if Obama should back down before the election and cancel these odious regulations, will the liberal church leaders forget the whole thing and support him again, or will they finally wake up and see him for what he is: an arrogant power-hungry politician eager to force his will on everyone, regardless of their beliefs?
Modern academic debate: Arizona State University (ASU) has blocked access to a petition-hosting site right after university officials discovered the site includes a petition calling for lower ASU tuitions.
We don’t need no stinkin’ First Amendment: On Sunday the Army acted to silence its chaplains from reading the Catholic letter condemning the Obama administration’s requirement that churches pay for abortions and contraception in violation of their religious principles.
A victory for free speech: The Dearborn, Michigan Christians who were arrested for handing out Christian literature at a Muslim event have won a $100,000 settlement from the city.
Gotta have my KGB: Under an initiative that came out in November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun monitoring journalists.
Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency.
