August 1 is a day of reckoning. It is on this day that the Obama Administration will enforce its unprecedented and outrageous contraception, sterilization and abortifacient mandate against religious employers such as Catholic charities, schools and hospitals.
The mandate, which is a provision of Obamacare, forces virtually all health plans to provide free coverage for these immoral services and provides no meaningful exemption for most employers who have religious objections to them. The mandate went into effect last August for most employers.
Religious employers, like those mentioned above, were given a one year moratorium before the mandate would take effect. The Obama Administration said it would use this time to find a way to accommodate the religious freedom concerns expressed by these employers. Thus far, the Administration has failed to do so.
With this looming August 1 deadline, and our fundamental religious freedoms at stake, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is escalating its efforts to oppose implementation of the mandate. These efforts take three forms: legislation, litigation and education/prayer.
On the legislative front, the bishops have been urging Congress to pass the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940). This bill would apply to Obamacare the same conscience protections that have existed in other areas of federal law for decades.
The Bishops are urging Catholics to contact their members of Congress and to urge them to take action to protect conscience rights and religious liberty! More information on this effort is available online at www.nchla.org.
On the litigation front, 31 lawsuits have been filed against the mandate by for-profit employers. To date, of the 26 for-profit plaintiffs that have obtained rulings touching on the merits of their claims against the mandate, 19 have secured injunctive relief from its enforcement.
There have been 30 lawsuits filed against the HHS mandate by non-profit employers, including by religious organizations such as hospitals, charities, religious colleges, and Catholic dioceses. To date, no non-profit case has been decided on its legal merits.
The only rulings on these non-profit employers have been on procedural issues such as timing. That is, the Court saw no harm to the employer until the mandate went into effect. Of course, on August 1 the mandate will go into effect and these religious employers will be harmed by having to choose between violating their religious/moral beliefs and facing oppressive fines. Undoubtedly, these cases will be reasserted on or shortly after August 1.
Finally, on the education/prayer front, the U.S. Bishops are urging parishes and dioceses to participate in the second "Fortnight for Freedom" between June 21 and July 4. The Fortnight is a "two-week period of prayer and action, to address many current challenges to religious liberty, including the August 1, 2013 deadline for religious organizations to comply with the HHS mandate, Supreme Court rulings that could redefine marriage in June, and religious liberty concerns in areas such as immigration and humanitarian services."
On its website, www.fortnight4freedom.org, the bishops provide many excellent resources to assist parishes and dioceses in celebrating the Fortnight. These include fact sheets and other educational resources on religious freedom and the numerous threats to it nationally and internationally in addition to numerous prayer resources.
In light of this unprecedented call to prayer and action on behalf of religious freedom, some may wonder "is religious freedom really under attack in our nation"? The answer, which is addressed and substantiated in one of the Fortnight fact sheets, is a resounding "yes"! This fact sheet cites Pope Benedict’s recognition last year that "various attempts to limit the freedom of religion in the U. S. are particularly concerning."
"The threat to religious freedom," the fact sheet continues, "is larger than any single case or issue and has its roots in secularism in our culture. The Holy Father has asked for the laity to have courage to counter secularism that would ‘delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.’"
You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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