Anti-Hobby Lobby Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate

Current Events, Religious Freedom, ,

The following is a news alert from the American Family Association:

Following last week’s Hobby Lobby ruling by the Supreme Court that Hobby Lobby does not have to pay for employee’s abortion drugs and coverage under ObamaCare, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and his liberal comrades wasted no time introducing an “Anti-Hobby Lobby” bill. Read Harry Reid’s racist comment about the Supreme Court.

Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mark Udall (D-CO) quickly introduced legislation this week to completely ignore the rule of law under the Constitution and employ Obama-style politics.

Reid has promised to bypass all committees to put this on the “fast track.” This means a vote could take place as early as next week.

Under Murray’s Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act, the attack against Hobby Lobby goes much deeper than even ObamaCare does. It specifically strikes at the heart of religious liberty by nullifying the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and completely terminating exemptions for all business, even those run by Christians with deeply held convictions about abortion.

This bill dictates that employers cannot interfere in their employee’s decisions about contraception and other health services through discrimination by (from Sen. Murray’s website):

  • Banning employers from refusing to cover any health coverage – including contraceptive coverage – guaranteed to their employees and dependents under federal law.
  • Stating that all federal laws do not permit employers to refuse to comply with the ACA requirement, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
  • Including the exemption from the contraceptive coverage requirement for houses of worship and the accommodation for religious non-profits.

This is a very demented and hate-filled attack on Hobby Lobby and people of faith everywhere. The Democratic leadership in the Senate is firmly resolute in promoting their evil agenda on two fronts. One is the killing of unborn children. The second is forcing Christians to pay for murder.

TAKE ACTION

Urge your senators to reject Harry Reid and Patty Murray’s vindictive attempts to force Christians and Christian business owners to violate their faith.

Please urge your senators to reject the “Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act.”

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Supreme Court Sides with Religious Liberty

Abortion, Religious Freedom, ,

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a good ruling upholding Americans’ religious liberties.

As we have written before, the federal Department of Health and Human Services promulgated rules under Obamacare requiring businesses to pay for sterilization, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs1. The problem is many Americans–and American business owners–have strong, religious objections to paying for these services.

The issue has never been whether or not an employer can bar an employee from using contraceptives or abortion-inducing drugs, but whether or not the federal government can force an employer to pay for those drugs. For instance, Hobby Lobby–one of the plaintiffs in today’s ruling–does not, to our knowledge, fire employees for using contraceptives or abortifacients; the owners simply do not want to be required to pay for these drugs, because doing so violates their deeply-held religious convictions.

The Supreme Court ruled, today, that Hobby Lobby, Conestoga, Mardel, and other “closely held, for-profit corporations” can and do have religious liberties under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This ruling makes sense for the following reasons:  (more…)

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The State House Needs God, Too!

Religion, , ,

The following blog post is by Family Council staff member Luke McCoy.

Proverbs 29:2 (NASB) reads, “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, people groan.”

If a world were described in which controversial, political topics that had religious basis were no longer a threat to people of faith, would you consider that a work of God’s people or Jesus’ second coming? For many centuries we have seen that when good people do nothing, evil prevails. It could also be said that when good men do nothing, very little good—if any—gets done.

So, why do so many Christians excuse themselves from influencing their local, state, and federal government?

(more…)

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