Tag: "conscience and religious liberty"

Supreme Court Filing: Obamacare Compels Individuals to Pay for Abortion Coverage
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Supreme Court Filing: Obamacare Compels Individuals to Pay for Abortion Coverage

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by on Feb 17, 2012 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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The individual mandate not only forces individuals into private purchases, it also effectively mandates personal payments for surgical abortion coverage without exemption for individual’s religious or moral objections.  This is the argument presented by seven medical organizations in an amicus brief filed Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court by lead counsel Bioethics Defense Fund (BDF), […]

Pres. Obama, the Right Not to Do Wrong, and Politics of Ruse and Delay
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Pres. Obama, the Right Not to Do Wrong, and Politics of Ruse and Delay

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by on Feb 17, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice
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No one can be rightly coerced by the state to be directly complicit in the commission of a wrong. This goes for any businessman, employer, insurance company, or individual, regardless of faith. After three weeks of outcry from religious leaders regarding its Health and Human Services contraception insurance mandate, the Obama administration announced a “compromise” […]

Freedom of the Church Impaired at the European Court of Human Rights
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Freedom of the Church Impaired at the European Court of Human Rights

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by on Feb 16, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice
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On January 31st 2012, the third section of the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in the case of Sindicatul Pastorul cel bun c. Roumanie (no. 2330/09) whereby it determined that the refusal to register a trade union established within the Orthodox Church was contrary to freedom of association guaranteed by Article 11 […]

What If We Removed Wartime Conscience Exemptions?
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What If We Removed Wartime Conscience Exemptions?

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by on Feb 16, 2012 in Featured, Government & Politics
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Last Friday, President Obama responded to Catholic bishops’ concerns over his controversial mandate compelling Catholic institutions to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing pharmaceuticals. Many media sources reported Obama’s action as an “accommodation,” with some describing it as a “reversal.” It is hardly that. Many Catholics find it arguably worse. Without dissecting the president’s action, the […]

Bishops Renew Call To Legislative Action On Religious Liberty
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Bishops Renew Call To Legislative Action On Religious Liberty

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by on Feb 10, 2012 in Featured, The Shepherd's Voice
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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have issued the following statement: The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare. That is why we raised two serious objections to the “preventive services” regulation issued by the U.S. […]

White House Misrepresents Its Own Contraceptive Mandate
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White House Misrepresents Its Own Contraceptive Mandate

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by on Feb 09, 2012 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics, The Shepherd's Voice
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The Obama administration, to justify its widely criticized mandate for contraception and sterilization coverage in private health plans, has posted a set of false and misleading claims on the White House blog (“Health Reform, Preventive Services, and Religious Institutions,” February 1). In what follows, each White House claim is quoted with a response. Claim: “Churches […]

A Petition For All Freedom Loving People to Sign
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A Petition For All Freedom Loving People to Sign

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by on Feb 09, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice
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Certainly by now you’ve heard that the present Administration, through the Health and Human Services Department, is mandating that all employer healthcare insurance plans provide coverage for procedures which violate the beliefs of the Catholic Church, and Catholic institutions. Basically, the new rules require the Church, and the institutions operating faithfully under the aegis of […]

Catholics Unite: We Are Not Second-Class Citizens
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Catholics Unite: We Are Not Second-Class Citizens

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by on Feb 08, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice, Life Issues & Bioethics
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Sometimes, an outside force attacks the Catholic Church in such a way that it creates a swathe of very public unity amongst Catholics.  These attacks are rare in this country.  However, the Obama administration, with the inexplicable boorish tenacity we’ve come to expect from them, has truly risen to the occasion. Back in December, PRI […]

Senator Marco Rubio Introduces Bill to Overturn HHS Mandate
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Senator Marco Rubio Introduces Bill to Overturn HHS Mandate

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by on Jan 31, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice
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The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty applauds Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) for introducing a bill protecting the conscience of millions of individuals against the Obama Administration’s abortion-drug mandate. Unlike other pending bills that address conscience issues, Senator Rubio’s bill—The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012—is narrowly focused and establishes a firm religious exemption in the […]

Obama Tampering with Conscience
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Obama Tampering with Conscience

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by on Jan 30, 2012 in Columnists, Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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In March of 2010, I had the opportunity to preach to members of Congress and their staff who were gathered at the worship service held inside the Capitol just prior to the vote on Obamacare. In that sermon, I told them that Christianity transforms politics and government, because every human being in Christ has access […]

Christian University Joins Monks in Fight Against Fed's Contraception Mandate
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Christian University Joins Monks in Fight Against Fed’s Contraception Mandate

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by on Jan 09, 2012 in Featured, Law & Justice
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Last month, Colorado Christian University (CCU) became the first interdenominational Christian college to challenge in federal court a new “Affordable Care Act” (aka “Obamacare”) mandate for abortifacients (drugs which induce abortions). Colorado Christian joins the monks at Belmont Abbey College pushing back against government intrusion into personal religious convictions that is unprecedented in the health […]

Legal Settlement: Pro-Life Nurses Will Not Be Forced to Assist With Abortions
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Legal Settlement: Pro-Life Nurses Will Not Be Forced to Assist With Abortions

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by on Dec 27, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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Twelve pro-life nurses have reached a successful agreement with their employer, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, who they claimed in a lawsuit required them to participate in abortions or lose their jobs. U.S. District Judge Jose Linares said he would “continue to monitor the situation,” according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, […]

Is Righteousness in Government Possible?
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Is Righteousness in Government Possible?

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by on Dec 06, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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Righteous: acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin – according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it is the exemplification of a justice The fundamental principle of justice—in law, in governing, in treating all peoples with equity—is the cornerstone of a humane society. It is important to understand […]

House Investigates Obama Admin Decision to Deny Bishops Grant Over Abortion
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House Investigates Obama Admin Decision to Deny Bishops Grant Over Abortion

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by on Dec 02, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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Yesterday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a two-hour hearing investigating whether the Obama administration denied grant money to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops because of its religious objections to abortion. Under the Bush administration, the bishops received a five-year $19 million grant to help victims of human trafficking. The grant was first […]

I’m Thankful for…That Conscience Thing
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I’m Thankful for…That Conscience Thing

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by on Nov 24, 2011 in Columnists, Featured, Live in Christ
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This year, as we gather to give thanks for all God’s goodness to us, I’ll be offering thanks for something for which I never thought to offer thanks before.  Thanks to Nancy Pelosi, I’m thanking God for my conscience. Ms. Pelosi, it seems, would rather I don’t have a conscience, or “that conscience thing,” as she […]

Pelosi Blasts Catholics on Abortion: They ‘Have This Conscience Thing’
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Pelosi Blasts Catholics on Abortion: They ‘Have This Conscience Thing’

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by on Nov 23, 2011 in Featured, Government & Politics, Life Issues & Bioethics
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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted Catholics for fighting for the right not to perform or fund abortions, describing their abhorrence for supporting abortions as “this conscience thing,” in remarks to the Washington Post. Last month, during a debate in the House over a bill to stop abortion funding in the health care […]

Nurses: Hospital Still Pressuring Us to Do Abortions Despite Court Order
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Nurses: Hospital Still Pressuring Us to Do Abortions Despite Court Order

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by on Nov 17, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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Twelve nurses at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) said on Monday that the hospital is continuing to pressure them to perform abortion-related services, despite a restraining order issued by a court Nov. 3. “In October, we were suddenly confronted with a choice between our faith and our jobs,” said Fe […]

Obama is Alienating Catholic Voters
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Obama is Alienating Catholic Voters

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by on Oct 14, 2011 in Columnists, Featured, Government & Politics
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Catholics make up about a quarter of the American electorate and have backed the popular-vote winner in every presidential election since 1972. That track record continued through 2008: While weekly churchgoing Catholics slightly favored Sen. John McCain, Catholics as a whole backed President Barack Obama by a margin of 54 to 45 percent. Given the […]

Obama Plays Catch-22 with Religious Groups
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Obama Plays Catch-22 with Religious Groups

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by on Aug 03, 2011 in Featured, Law & Justice
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Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses the dilemma that the Obama administration has created for religious employers: [On Monday], the Obama administration mandated that all health insurance plans cover contraceptives and sterilization for women, though it made an exception for religious employers. But did it? Not really. To wit: a religious employer is defined, in […]

USCCB: HHS Must Think Catholics are Fools
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USCCB: HHS Must Think Catholics are Fools

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by on Aug 03, 2011 in Featured, Life Issues & Bioethics
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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sharply criticized a new HHS “preventive services” mandate requiring private health plans to cover sterilization and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including drugs which can abort a child before and after implantation in the womb, with no co-pay. “Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a […]

Smearing Bachmann
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Smearing Bachmann

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by on Jul 22, 2011 in Columnists, Featured, Government & Politics
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Move over, Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann is the new bogeyman — er, woman — of the left. She opposes pornography and abortion. She’s stingy with the taxpayer money entrusted to her. There are even rumors that she gets headaches — really, really bad headaches. As for her family values, well, yes, Bachmann and her husband […]

CL24 - hbratton notxt
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Czech Case Affirms the Duty of Conscientious Objection

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by on Jul 07, 2011 in Featured, Law & Justice
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The European Court of Human Rights just emphasised unanimously that “no one should show total, blind obedience to orders which so flagrantly infringed not only the principles of national legislation but also internationally recognised human rights, in particular the right to life.” (from the Court press release) This is the fundamental basement of the right, […]

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The Role of Conscience — Vocation of Catholic Health Care Professionals? (Part 2)

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by on May 23, 2011 in Catholic Bioethics, Featured
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How are Catholic health care professional to act, morally and professionally, in a culture where legislative mandates diminish the exercise of the moral conscience of the clinician and threaten human dignity and freedom?  The following principles are offered to guide moral action of health care professionals when confronted with a decision to disregard mandated unethical […]

CL26 - hbratton notxt
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The Role of Conscience — Vocation of Catholic Health Care Professionals? (Part 1)

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by on May 20, 2011 in Catholic Bioethics, Featured
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  When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.1777).   We live in a culture where health services are driven by moral relativism, commodification of the human person, the technological imperative, profitability in health services, the creep of utilitarian and impersonal ethical paradigms, escalating […]