A SPECIAL NOTE: TODAY marks 5 days before the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision that spearheaded the legalizaion of the abortion of the unborn in America. I am in the midst of a 40 day period of prayer and (limited) fasting to honor the memory of the over 55 million ! unborn that have been murdered and the tens of millions of their mothers, fathers, and siblings who have been victimized by this great American Holocaust.
CHALLENGE: If you have not already determined it, please CALL YOUR PASTOR and ask you that, as a pro-life church (which I trust yours describes itself), how will yuor church recognize Sanctity of Human Life Sunday NEXT SUNDAY, Jan. 20th, as will thousands of other pro-life churches in America. If he says he has no plans to do so, ask him why not. Please let me know what you learn.PLEASE PRAY: 1.) For the girls/women each day contemplating an abortion; the abortionists and their staff; the crisis pregnancy centers seeking to serve the women facing unplanned pregnancies. 2) For the passage of even more state laws that will effectively help to limit the number of abortions being performed. 3.)The defunding of Planned Parenthood that performs over 300,000 abortions (about 1/3 the toal) for profit and still receives almost 1/2 billion dollars in federal tax dollars. 4.) That one day America might finally pass a constitutional amendment promoting the Sanctity of Every Human Life - in effect oulawing both abortion and euthanasia. 5) For churches/Christians being pro-life- not just claiming to be but demonstrating it conclusively by their actiions.
"Restoring the Value of Life" - watch a great 5-min. video and sign a petition. http://www.restoringthevalueoflife.org/?utm_source=Impact+e-Newsletter&utm_campaign=96d3f2a4b3-Impact_Newsletter_1_11_2012&utm_medium=email
"F.A.Q." - Confused and looking for answers? Find answers to some of the questions that are asked most frequently about abortion and regnancy at - http://www.restoringthevalueoflife.org/index.php/f-a-q/
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Did you know that yesterday [Jan. 16] was Religious Freedom Day in America? It didn’t get a lot of attention, since President Obama was busy signing executive orders, but he also put out a proclamation on religious freedom. “Because of the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, each of us has the right to practice our faith openly and as we choose,” the President wrote [1]. “As we observe Religious Freedom Day, let us remember the legacy of faith and independence we have inherited, and let us honor it by forever upholding our right to exercise our beliefs free from prejudice or persecution.”
That’s one heck of a proclamation from an Administration whose actions have attacked religious liberty for Americans. The best-known example is Obamacare’s Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that employers pay for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans. This has caused business owners to face excruciating decisions [2] between complying—and violating their consciences—or facing massive fines.
The sad fact is, under President Obama, Americans have been forced to fight for their religious liberty in the courts. More than 110 plaintiffs are fighting the HHS mandate, and that’s hardly the only religious liberty battle being waged. The Supreme Court [3] has already rebuked the Administration for its attacks on religious liberty—and it did so unanimously:
Words that don’t match deeds from this President simply add insult to the many injuries his Administration has caused people of faith in the past four years.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Research assistant Sarah Torre contributed to this article.
That’s one heck of a proclamation from an Administration whose actions have attacked religious liberty for Americans. The best-known example is Obamacare’s Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that employers pay for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans. This has caused business owners to face excruciating decisions [2] between complying—and violating their consciences—or facing massive fines.
The sad fact is, under President Obama, Americans have been forced to fight for their religious liberty in the courts. More than 110 plaintiffs are fighting the HHS mandate, and that’s hardly the only religious liberty battle being waged. The Supreme Court [3] has already rebuked the Administration for its attacks on religious liberty—and it did so unanimously:
"The Administration argued in a recent Supreme Court case, Hosanna Tabor v. EEOC, that religious employers should not have the ability to maintain the integrity of their institutions through religious hiring practices. In an embarrassing incident for the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court dismissed the Department of Justice’s argument, unanimously ruling in favor of institutional religious liberty [4].''Americans are battling at the state level as well. In Illinois, a court battle finally came to an end, upholding pharmacists’ [5] right to practice their profession in accordance with their beliefs. And the drive toward redefining marriage—now under consideration in the Supreme Court—has already begun to affect people who disagree [6] by interfering with their rights to practice their faith. Heritage’s Andrew Walker notes:
''As Heritage has pointed out, the redefinition of marriage [7] and expansive non-discrimination laws [8] will be used to marginalize those with dissenting viewpoints. In Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Illinois, Catholic Charities and other religious social service agencies have been forced to shut down [9] adoption and foster care services for refusing to place children with same-sex couples."These trends are disturbing, but they are hardly new in the scheme of history. As Jennifer Marshall, Heritage’s director of domestic policy studies, wrote in “Understanding American Liberty [10]”:
Authoritarian governments—whether religious or secular—have long sought to curb or even to extinguish religious liberty. On the other hand, the limited American government established by our Constitution respects the institutions of our civil society—including, especially, religious institutions. The American Founders believed that strong religious congregations and vibrant faith communities were essential to ordered liberty. As a result, Americans have long enjoyed the fullest religious liberty in the world, and we have reaped the benefits of a flourishing civil society rooted in that religious freedom.Religious Freedom Day commemorates the anniversary of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom [11], written by Thomas Jefferson and passed by the state assembly in 1786. Jefferson wrote that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion.” [This is supposedly the same person who advocated the "separation of church and state.' - Not!]
Words that don’t match deeds from this President simply add insult to the many injuries his Administration has caused people of faith in the past four years.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Research assistant Sarah Torre contributed to this article.
Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org
URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/01/17/obamas-religious-freedom-proclamation/
URLs in this post:
[1] wrote: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/religious-freedom-day-2013-president-obamas-proclamation_n_2487414.html
[2] excruciating decisions: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/01/01/beware-obamacares-looming-conscience-cliff/
[3] Supreme Court: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/25/adding-insult-to-injury-obama-admin-refuses-to-protect-religious-liberty/
[4] unanimously ruling in favor of institutional religious liberty: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/11/supreme-court-decision-in-hosanna-tabor-a-major-win-for-religious-freedom/
[5] pharmacists’: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/12/13/a-win-for-religious-freedom-in-illinois/
[6] people who disagree: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/01/12/the-giglio-smear-when-faith-is-called-bigotry/
[7] redefinition of marriage: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/10/same-sex-marriage-and-the-threat-to-religious-liberty?query=Same-Sex+Marriage+and+the+Threat+to+Religious+Liberty
[8] expansive non-discrimination laws: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/same-sex-marriage-and-threats-to-religious-freedom-how-nondiscrimination-laws-factor-in?query=Same-Sex+Marriage+and+Threats+to+Religious+Freedom:+How+Nondiscrimination+Laws+Factor+In
[9] Catholic Charities and other religious social service agencies have been forced to shut down: http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2009/12/same-sex-marriage-would-force-departure-of-catholic-charities?query=Same-Sex+Marriage+Would+Force+Departure+of+Catholic+Charities
[10] Understanding American Liberty: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/understanding-american-liberty
[11] Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: http://www.vahistorical.org/sva2003/vsrf.htm
Copyright © 2011 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
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''Defying the Obama Administration on Religious Liberty'', Amy Payne, January 9, 2013 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/01/09/hobby-lobby-defying-the-obama-administration-on-religious-liberty/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email;
''...The Obama Administration’s outrageous position is that business owners’ rights to religious freedom end when they walk into their workplaces, claiming that “for-profit, secular employers generally do not engage in any exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.”
''...The Obama Administration’s outrageous position is that business owners’ rights to religious freedom end when they walk into their workplaces, claiming that “for-profit, secular employers generally do not engage in any exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.”
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