Last week, scores of influential Catholic and Christian groups publicly backed the principles underlying the lawsuits filed on May 21 by Catholic dioceses and groups against the Obamacare drug and device mandates. The announcements should add considerable pressure on the Obama White House to rescind or amend HHS regulations ordering faith-based groups to engage in health care activities totally contrary to the congregations' religious doctrines.
On June 11, over 150 faith-based organizations joined in a letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius, expressing "grave concern" over the impact that the Obamacare mandate will have on religious freedom. The Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, a Washington,D.C.-based coalition, organized the letter. It was signed by aid organizations, including World Relief and the U.S. branches of the Salvation Army and World Vision, Inc, as well as by the National Association of Evangelicals; the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; the Baptist Bible College & Seminary; and the North American Baptist Conference. Legal organizations involved in lawsuits against the Obamacare mandate, such as Liberty Counsel and the American Center for Law and Justice, also signed the letter. They wrote:
As leaders and supporters of faith-based service organizations, we write to express our grave concern about the two-class concept of religious organizations that has been created by your department and other federal agencies in connection with the contraceptives mandate of the health insurance regulations for preventive services for women.
But we are united in opposition to the creation in federal law of two classes of religious organizations: churches--considered sufficiently focused inwardly to merit an exemption and thus full protection from the mandate; and faith-based service organizations--outwardly oriented and given a lesser degree of protection. It is this two-class system that the administration has embedded in federal law via the February 15, 2012, publication of the final rules providing for an exemption from the mandate for a narrowly defined set of "religious employers" and the related administration publications and statements about a different "accommodation" for non-exempt religious organizations.
On June 14, the Catholic Heath Association, the largest groups of Catholic-based hospitals in the U.S., delivered a crushing blow to any hopes that the Obamacare mandates would find any approval among leading Catholic-based organizations. The Catholic Health Association, the largest group of Catholic-affiliated hospitals and nursing homes in the country, issued a letter opposing the HHS mandate. The CHA's opposition is especially damaging to the future of Obamacare because (a) it represents 600 hospitals and hundreds of nursing homes (one of every six patients in the U.S. is cared for in a Catholic hospital); and (b) it supported the enactment of Obamacare and was a key player in votes for the law by Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House.
CHA President, Sister Carol Keehan, wrote in the letter that, "we continue to believe that it is imperative for the Administration to abandon the narrow definition of "religious employer" and instead use an expanded definition to exempt from the contraceptive mandate not only churches, but also Catholic hospitals, health care organizations and other ministries of the Church."
In other words, the Obamacare mandate would force CHA-member institutions to either turn away non-Catholic patients or close. That's what numerous Catholic social services organizations have said - hospitals, nursing homes, AIDS clinics, and local clinics for the poor could all close.
These letters are precursors to the next stage of lawsuits against Obamacare by faith-based social service organizations, unless the White House amends or rescinds the current version of the mandate or the Supreme Court throws out the entire law.
The 43 Catholic dioceses, organizations and universities that sued the Obama administration on May 21 invoked their 7th Amendment rights and demanded that local juries h.... It would be better if push doesn't come to shove, but if it does, the nation will see why the Founding Fathers were unanimous in including this "sacred" and "inviolable" right in the Bill of Rights.
Comment
Comment by John Smith on June 18, 2012 at 8:53pm There is no such thing or person as a "lukewarm" Catholic- either you are, or are not Catholic.
The Catholic Church does not cash federal checks to run Catholic hospitals.
I know of no Catholic doctrine which states: women are second class citizens.
The 5th Commandment states: Honour thy father and thy mother.
Perhaps you are confusing Catholicism with Islam which treats women as property and common chattel?
Comment by Carolyn Hamilton on June 18, 2012 at 8:49pm Monica, so you think bo can just come in and make new rules? There are laws on the books that
have been in play since day one.. Why would we allow this man in our W.H. to come in and turn us
all upside down.. He cannot change the laws. Working in the Hospitals don't make you have lesser
health care...You act as though we should give up our Religious Freedom, and our rights.. Not me.
Comment by KathleenSt on June 18, 2012 at 8:41pm @Monica: this is not about women; it's about religious freedom.
Comment by KathleenSt on June 18, 2012 at 8:40pm IF SCOTUS rules Obamascare is constitutional, then they face a barrage of religious freedom cases.
They best end the whole damn thing -- no more lawsuits from Junior's ill advised dictorial behavior.
Comment by Monica Babcock on June 18, 2012 at 8:15pm Jean, i'm a luke warm catholic and since thecatholic church takes federal money to run its hospitals and employs people who may not be strict catholics the church put itself in this mess. when you take federal money you have to obey the rules. also, why should working for the church make you have lesser health care? women are not second class citizens as the church wants us to be.
Comment by John Wiant on June 18, 2012 at 7:46pm If Obama isn't a smart guy, he is either the luckiest guy in the world or he has some incredibly smart people working for him because: He couldn't have possibly lined up more birds to kill with one stone than this issue has done. He erased the entire Abortion issue (temporarily), and he fired up some of the most obnoxious and UN-touchable among his base: Left Wing Radical Progressive Women, and he managed to flatly SUGGEST that He and Big Government are now a choice (away from) HE and the Church; God. Since we all know Obama is going after that one World Global position of King of the World, he sure can't have some whiny Christians getting in his way.
Not only is this NOT ABOUT contraception; it is about just about everything BUT contraception.
Comment by Carolyn Hamilton on June 18, 2012 at 6:50pm JPS
What in the world are you talking about.. A Cult Religion...The Mormon Religion is not a cult and I find that
appalling. I guess you think writing in Jesus, will help to rid the Country of obama? You are giving votes to him
by signing Jesus's name. Go ahead, its people like you that will cost us the election and have another four or a lifetime of the dictator. You best think very hard on what your doing...
Comment by Norma J. Sears on June 18, 2012 at 6:12pm Yes. I hate the fact that taxpayer's have to pay to defend him though.
Comment by Andrew Cochran on June 18, 2012 at 6:04pm The Alliance Defense Fund, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the ACLJ (Jay Sekulow's group) - all these and more are among what I can the "Trial Lawyers for Religious Liberty." And Thank God for them!
Comment by Kristin Fecteau on June 18, 2012 at 5:58pm oh no, I thought lawyers were only evil, running around filing frivolous lawsuits. You mean there are some decent Christian law firms and lawyers, fighting for Religious Freedoms??? How about that!
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