Religions Unite in Opposition to the Obama Mandate

A vote is expected this week on the Blunt amendment in the U.S. Senate to establish conscience rights and overturn the Obama mandate on birth control, morning after pill and sterilization which is an unprecedented and outrageous attack on religious liberty. What President Obama has managed to do is unite a wide swath of religions across the country in opposition. Religious leaders are keenly aware that today’s assault on Catholics is tomorrow’s assault on them.

Here is a sampling of comments by a variety of religious leaders:

Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod: “…we believe and teach that freedom of religion extends beyond mere houses of worship. We must be able to exercise our faith in the public square….We deem this recent government mandate as an infringement upon the beliefs and practices of various religious communities…..this mandate will have the effect of forcing many religious organizations to choose between following the letter of the law or operating within the framework of their religious tenets.”

Rev. Mark G. Schroeder, President, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod: “We also encourage our members, as many others in various denominations and church bodies have done, to recognize and speak out against this clear threat to the blessing of religious liberty American citizens have enjoyed since the founding of the nation. We also confess and affirm that if the government directs us to do something in clear violation of the will of God, we must obey God rather than men.”

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, Yeshiva University: “In refusing to extend religious liberty beyond the parameters of what the administration chooses to deem religious conduct, the administration denies people of faith the ability to define their religious activity. Therefore, not only does the new regulation threaten religious liberty in the narrow sense…..but also the administration impedes religious liberty by unilaterally redefining what it means to be religious.”

Dr. Craig Mitchell, Associate Director of the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement, Southwester Baptist Theological Seminary: “When Thomas Jefferson talked about a wall of separation between church and state, he was opposing persecution of people for their beliefs, but that is exactly what this mandate does…..If the purpose of government is to serve its people, then this rule is wrong.”

Dr. Samuel W. Oliver, President,East Texas Baptist University: “If the government is allowed to go down this road, where will it end? ….Today, the Administration is trying to force us to provide our employees with abortion causing drugs….If the government can force Catholic monks to dispense birth control, what can’t it do? If the government can decide that East Texas Baptist University is not religious enough to have the right to religious liberty, what can’t it do? If this administration can just decide that religious beliefs are less important than its chosen policy goals, what can’t it do? These questions are frightening. And that is why religious organizations and people of will from all across the spectrum are joining together out of concern that this mandate threatens to erode one of our most precious rights, our religious liberty, guaranteed to us by the First Amendment.”

Barbara Lyons