O. S. Hawkins, the President of GuideStone Financial Resources, says that President Obama’s statement on the new healthcare law excludes the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, and its financial arm provides health insurance to about 60,000 people, including pastors and missionaries (source). Here’s the statement from GuideStone:
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It’s not just a Catholic thing
Even though the media are trying to sell the new healthcare law as a Catholic issue, it is not. The new law requires all employers to pay for birth control methods that include surgical sterilization and abortion inducing drugs. The only groups who get an exemption are churches. Every other employer must provide this coverage. So this is more than a Catholic issue, it is a Protestant issue, a Jewish issue, an Orthodox issue, and an issue for every other religious group you can think of. But there is one facet of this dispute that has been largely overlooked. This is not just a religious liberty issue for groups, but…
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Another Pro-choicer Misses the Point
Ann Taylor Fleming contemplates what’s at the heart of the recent uptick in the culture war over abortion. She writes: Compared with all the hard issues at the heart of this political year, nothing has come close in terms of the vigor and anger generated by matters relating to the reproductive health of women. That’s where the long-simmering culture wars have come to rest: atop the female body. Fleming believes recent dust-up is surrounding the new health care law is about people who want to deny women their sexual freedom by limiting their access to abortions. It is the standard logic of feminism and the sexual revolution. It’s all about…
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Time to petition the government for the redress of grievances
Chuck Colson joins a Roman Catholic and a Jew to protest the new healthcare rule requiring religious groups to fund contraceptives, surgical sterilization, and abortion. Their article appears in The Wall Street Journal, and they write: Instead of encouraging the different faith communities to continue their vital work for the good of all, the Obama administration is forcing them to make a choice: serving God and their neighbors according to the dictates of their respective faiths—or bending the knee to the dictates of the state… At this critical moment, Americans of every faith, as guardians of their own freedom, must, in the words of the First Amendment, “petition the government…
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First Effort to Repeal Healthcare Rule Fails in Senate
From The Hill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wasted no time in blocking Republicans’ first attempt at offering legislation in the Senate to repeal the Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that would require employers to provide health insurance that includes contraceptives even if they are morally opposed to it… Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), however, accompanied the amendment to the floor and decried the “odious” outcome of the president’s decision… “Republicans are trying to reaffirm that basic right [of freedom of religion],” said McConnell… “Frankly, I never thought I’d see the day,” concluded McConnell. “[I] never thought I’d see the day when the elected representatives of the…
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The Media Only Told Half the Story
Mollie Hemmingway has been doing some fantastic reporting on media bias in the wake of the controversy involving the Komen foundation and Planned Parenthood. Today at CNN.com, she writes that the media have only told half the story. She writes, The media bought Planned Parenthood’s public relations campaign hook, line and sinker. Planned Parenthood argued that Komen’s decision to stop funding was “political.” This was the way most media outlets framed the entire story. But logic dictates that it’s not more political to stop funding Planned Parenthood than it is to keep funding it. We’re talking about the country’s largest abortion provider, an organization that performs 330,000 abortions a year.…
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Chuck Colson Calls Christians to Civil Disobedience against U. S. Government
Many reports have identified President Obama’s recent HHS decision as a problem only for Roman Catholics. This is an error. The new healthcare law requires a violation of conscience for all pro-life Christians since some of the “birth control” methods included in it cause abortions. It’s not just Roman Catholic hospitals and universities that are affected, it’s all Christian hospitals and universities. Chuck Colson rightly calls on Evangelicals to stand with Roman Catholics in civil disobedience to this law for as long as it stands. That’s right. He’s calling on Christians to risk fines, prison, or other penalties in faithfulness to our convictions about protecting the unborn. In Colson’s own…
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More on the Media’s Abortion Blinders
Prominent journalism professor, Jay Rosen, says that the Komen foundation lost its status as a non-political organization when it defunded Planned Parenthood. He says that Komen’s claim, “We don’t do politics,” ceased to be true “when the board took the decision to cut off Planned Parenthood.” I don’t think he realizes it, but this statement reveals as much about Rosen as it does about Komen. For pro-choicers, perhaps, the Komen foundation was not viewed as a political organization before they defunded Planned Parenthood. But that is not the point of view of pro-lifers. Planned Parenthood is the main engine for abortion in the United States. For prolifers, Komen became political…
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Albert Mohler Explains Why the Supreme Court May Not Hear the Proposition 8 Gay Marriage Case
After the 9th Circuit court of appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage, it was widely assumed that the case would end up before the Supreme Court. I said as much myself yesterday. Albert Mohler explains that this may not in fact be the result. For the entire explanation, listen below: [audio:http://albertmohler.com/media/audio/totl/Podcast/20120208_TheBriefing.mp3] By the way, if you’re not signed up for Mohler’s daily podcast “The Briefing,” you need to be.
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Gay Marriage Case Likely Headed to the Supreme Court
This is big news but not surprising. It’s not surprising because the 9th Circuit court of appeals is the most liberal Court in the land. Everyone would expect this particular court to uphold a lower court’s decision to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage. What is significant about today’s decision is that this means that the case will almost certainly go before the Supreme Court. If so, the Court’s ruling has the potential to be every bit as epoch-making and divisive as Roe v. Wade.