Tag: "conscience and religious liberty"

The Endless Ages of Purim
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The Endless Ages of Purim

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Every age carries within it the seeds of its ruin.

An Uncomfortable Religion
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An Uncomfortable Religion

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the controversy surrounding Indiana’s “religious freedom” law. Debates on this issue ultimately boil down to a question of liberty v. justice. Christian business owners invoke their First Amendment right to exercise their conscience when it comes to whose patronage they […]

Stemming the Tide of "Progress"
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Stemming the Tide of “Progress”

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Many people, when they hear talk of the growing “war on Christianity,” roll their eyes and dismiss the charges as mere political hyperbole designed to fire up the values voters come election time. While it’s true that one’s Christian identity is currently not grounds for explicit political or legal persecution, there is a subtler process […]

Little Sisters vs. Goliath
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Little Sisters vs. Goliath

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It’s a story about how freedom is all. I speak of the Little Sisters of the Poor, an international congregation of Roman Catholic nuns who have devoted their lives to caring for the elderly poor. I am lucky to know more about this remarkable organization than many. In 2007, I wrote a column about Gorman […]

Liberty v. Ideology: Which Will Prevail?
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Liberty v. Ideology: Which Will Prevail?

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Those concerned with the preservation of religious liberty in America are keeping a keen eye on the Supreme Court in 2014. The august body of jurists that comprise America’s highest court will be reviewing some cases that speak to the very heart of our nation’s political and civil heritage. Namely, are a person’s religious beliefs […]

Obama Admin Doubles Down on Little Sisters of the Poor
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Obama Admin Doubles Down on Little Sisters of the Poor

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In a reply filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, the Obama administration is arguing that a group of nuns that has objected to the HHS birth control and abortifacient mandate has no grounds to challenge the mandate since they are already exempt from it as a religious organization. However, lawyers for the nuns have pointed […]

Fluke's Gimmick
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Fluke’s Gimmick

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Sandra Fluke was once a law student at Georgetown University. One day, in 2012, the Speaker of the House of Representatives—pro-abortion Catholic Nancy Pelosi—held a Congressional hearing specifically to hear testimony from one witness. That witness was Sandra Fluke. According to reports, Fluke had been blocked from testifying at a House Oversight and Government Reform […]

Catholic Bishops Say ENDA Could ‘Punish’ Traditional Religious Views
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Catholic Bishops Say ENDA Could ‘Punish’ Traditional Religious Views

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A bill to forbid “discrimination” against homosexuals and transgender employees could “punish” those who hold to traditional views about sexuality and biology, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) warns. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would penalize employers accused of discriminating against gay, bisexual, or transgender employees. But the Catholic bishops and other Christian critics […]

Mock ‘Marriage’ and the Death of Freedom
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Mock ‘Marriage’ and the Death of Freedom

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While poorly decided U.S. Supreme Court cases are a dime a dozen, prior to last Wednesday, two stood out among the most wretched and constitutionally groundless in American History. First was the 1857 Dred Scott decision. Among other things, it robbed African-Americans of both their U.S. citizenship and their dignity. Next came the 1973 ruling […]

Is Religious Freedom <em>Really</em> the Issue?
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Is Religious Freedom Really the Issue?

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Religious Freedom is an important issue.  But, it’s the WRONG defense in the fight over Obama’s mandate. And here is a perfect explanation why that is so, found in one of the comments in this YouTube clip: “…As you may know Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in blood transfusions.  Do you think a Jehovah Witness […]

Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò
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The Apostolic Nuncio Explains It All

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Religious freedom, persecution, and martyrdom in the age of Obama. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, is a well-traveled man, having served in Iraq, Kuwait, Great Britain, Strasbourg, Nigeria and, now, the United States. As a churchman and a diplomat, the Archbishop is in a unique position to analyze […]

Re-imagining Shepherds
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Re-imagining Shepherds

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What comes to your mind when you hear the familiar Bible passage from Luke 2:8-10, where the angels appear to the shepherds to proclaim the birth of a savior and His peace? Do you picture cute, little, cherub-faced boys and girls? Do you imagine shepherds that look like those sappy Precious Moments figurines you see […]

Conscience Rights in 15 Seconds
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Conscience Rights in 15 Seconds

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How would you explain the right to follow one’s conscience? It’s become a huge issue in the U.S. with the Obama administration requiring employers to pay for insurance that covers abortion and contraception. Even more directly, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has told governments that “laws and policies that impede access […]

The Homosexualist Movement: Another Threat to Religious Liberty
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The Homosexualist Movement: Another Threat to Religious Liberty

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Please forgive me for waxing apocalyptic, but lately I’ve been thinking an awful lot about the end times prophecy that speaks of how those who refuse to worship evil will be impeded in the free exercise of commerce simply because of their beliefs. Why, you may ask? In case you haven’t noticed, that persecution is […]

Dear "Pro-Choice" NYer, You Got What You Asked For
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Dear “Pro-Choice” NYer, You Got What You Asked For

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Dear “Pro-Choice” NYer, You wanted to do whatever you wanted to do with your body, and then claim you had a right to kill your own children when you conceived them because it was just so unfair for anyone to expect you to let a child ever use you against your will. You said you […]

The Obama Nullification Doctrine
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The Obama Nullification Doctrine

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In December 1828, South Carolina had 5,000 copies of John C. Calhoun’s “Exposition and Protest” printed and distributed throughout the state. A defiant document, Calhoun’s “Exposition” outlined a theory of constitutional interpretation first adumbrated in the infamous Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which asseverated the right of states to declare “null and void” acts of the […]

Refusing to Render Unto Caesar That Which is God's
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Refusing to Render Unto Caesar That Which is God’s

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“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.  For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  Acts […]

You Should Be Worried!
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You Should Be Worried!

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“He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem, and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.  He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him.” (Acts 9:29, NAB) When St. Paul began traveling throughout the Roman Empire, truly going into the culture of death in order to proclaim […]

United for Religious Freedom
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United for Religious Freedom

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A Statement of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops March 14, 2012 The Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered for its March 2012 meeting, is strongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day. In our […]

Now is Not the Time For Silence or Compromise
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Now is Not the Time For Silence or Compromise

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Ever since the Obama administration chose to ramrod a policy that is anathema to Catholic doctrine, we have seen all sorts of machinations emanating from the media, twisting and mollifying the argument in order to remove clarity from exactly what it is Obama is attempting to do. We have heard that since so many Catholics […]

Pharaoh and the Midwives
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Pharaoh and the Midwives

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Watching how Great Britain deals with the ethical issues surrounding health care is instructive for a few important reasons. First, we both have a Judeo-Christian foundation to our cultures; we have inherited much of our legal system from theirs; they introduced socialized medicine over sixty years ago, and finally, they legalized abortion six years before […]

Tell Your Senator: Stop HHS Mandate!
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Tell Your Senator: Stop HHS Mandate!

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The Obama administration’s attack on religious liberty is intensifying. It now claims the right, under the new HHS Mandate, to force hundreds of thousands of Catholics, working in thousands of Catholic organizations, to violate their conscience and the teachings of their faith on the Life issues. The new Mandate is particularly alarming to us at […]

Pharmacists' Conscience Rights Upheld in Major Court Victory
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Pharmacists’ Conscience Rights Upheld in Major Court Victory

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Today, religious liberty gained a resounding victory. A federal court in Tacoma, Washington, struck down a Washington law that requires pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill even when doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The court held that the law violates the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. “Today’s decision sends a […]

The Contraception Mandate Fix: Fact vs. Fiction
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The Contraception Mandate Fix: Fact vs. Fiction

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If you read the emails and tweets coming from abortion-rights members of congress and pro-abortion feminist groups you have probably heard that Senator Blunts amendment will prevent women from obtaining contraception. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) claims making birth control inaccessible is by male design to set us back to the dark ages when there […]