Obama uniting Christians . . . against him.

ITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, April 20, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – An organization representing one million Christians in southwestern Pennsylvania has pledged its support for the Roman Catholic bishop and asked the Obama administration to change the law requiring religious institutions to provide contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans.

The Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, a group representing 2,000 congregations and 26 denominations in ten counties in the region, released a statement last Friday expressing anxiety about the HHS mandate.

The diverse body said its opposition did not spring from theological opposition to birth control but out of respect for American traditions enshrined in her founding document.

“Our deep concern overt his mandate does not arise from the varying convictions we have about the moral content of the mandate, but from our common commitment to the right of religious freedom that all people of faith expect to enjoy in this country,” the statement reads. “The Constitution of the United States guarantees every religious institution and its affiliated bodies the inalienable right to define its own identity and ministries and to practice its own beliefs, not just freedom of worship.” (Emphasis in original.)

The ObamaCare regulation puts faithful employers “in the untenable position of a) violating their consciences, b) ceasing health insurance and paying ruinous fines, or c) withdrawing entirely from providing social services to the wider community that have long been a hallmark of their social justice ministry.”

“Creating gaping holes in the public welfare safety net is in and of itself an immense injustice,” it says.

It concludes by asking the Obama administration “to alter the ‘Preventative Services Mandate’ to broaden the religious exemption within it so that both the constitution right to the free exercise of religion…may not be impaired.”

The two-page document was signed by 18 prominent clergy, including Roman Catholic Bishop Lawrence Brandt of Greenburg, Bishop Kenneth Price of The Episcopal Church, and Archbishop Melchizedek of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).

Other signatories represented the African Methodist Episcopal (AME), American Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Lutheran (ELCA), Presbyterian Church-USA, United Church of Christ (UCC), Byzantine Catholic, and Orthodox Church.

At a press conference last week Anglican Archbishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, Roman Catholic Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, and CASP executive director Rev. Donald Green explained that some churches declined to sign the statement because their church requires unanimous consent. The local United Methodist bishop refused to sign the statement because he believed it violated his denomination’s social teachings.

They also clarified that, while their statement affirms “the moral imperative of providing healthcare for all,” it does not endorse a national health care system – especially one that threatens to put Catholic Charities out of business. They said providing health care is a command God gave the Church.

The joint press conference signals growing ecumenical opposition to the HHS mandate.

On Tuesday, nearly 1,400 members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod sent letters to the Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend saying they stand with him on his fight against the mandate.

The full CASP press conference may be viewed here.

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Totally epic must-see video of priest denouncing HHS mandate

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Hospital told nurses: assist with abortions or lose your job

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So many legal violations here, they’re hard to count. This one pretty much speaks for itself. Lifenews reports:

“Pro-life nurses shouldn’t be forced to assist in abortions against their beliefs,” Bowman told LifeNews. “No less than 12 nurses have encountered threats to their jobs at this hospital ever since a policy change required them to participate in the abortions regardless of their religious objections. That is flatly illegal.”

According to a copy of the complaint ADF sent LifeNews, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey was “demanding that the Nurses must assist abortions in violation of their religious objections or they will be terminated. Defendants have illegally coerced some of the Nurses to train to assist abortions already, and Defendants are presently scheduling the others to do so.”

“UMDNJ’s coercion of the Nurses is a blatant violation of federal and state law, which explicitly prohibit UMDNJ from penalizing employees including Plaintiffs because they object to assisting abortions,” the complaint says.

The nurses are asking the federal court to declare their rights under law and enjoin UMDNJ from continuing to mandate that they or similarly situated employees assist in abortions. Because UMDNJ’s federal tax funding is also conditioned on UMDNJ not discriminating against employees’ civil rights when they object to assisting abortions, the nurses also seek an order requiring UMDNJ to disgorge the nearly $60 million in federal health funding that it received in 2011. They also want an order requiring that UMDNJ be disqualified from receiving additional federal health funding unless and until it demonstrates compliance by ceasing its illegal coercion to assist abortions. Plaintiffs also seek statutorily authorized attorneys fees and costs, and other relief deemed appropriate by the Court.

A spokesman for the hospital told Fox News that it was not yet aware of the lawsuit and, thus, had no comment.

Bowman told the news outlet that the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey had been doing abortions for decades without forcing nurses to assist, until recent weeks.

“The hospital passed a policy and put one of the nurses who did abortions in a supervisory position and started forcing nurses to assist in abortions out of the blue,” Bowman said. “It’s in complete violation of federal and state law – that says you can’t force people to assist abortions.”

Bowman told Fox News the hospital agreed to meet with the nurses but, when the nurses showed up to the meeting with legal counsel, the meeting was canceled.

“The hospital told the nurses they have no regard for their religious beliefs,” he said. “They were going to be assigned to these abortions or they would be terminated.”

A dozen nurses have filed a lawsuit against their employer, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which told them they had to either assist in abortions or risk losing their jobs.

The Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 nurses in New Jersey who work for a hospital receiving federal health funds who were told they needed to assist abortions or be terminated from their employment. The mandate violates several federal conscience laws and state law, ADF senior legal counsel Matt Bowman tells LifeNews.

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Catholic Bishops Target Obama on Religious Freedom in the US

Catholic bishops across the U.S. want the Obama administration to take notice that it is destroying religious freedom and the rights of believers in America.

US Catholic bishops recently formed an ad hoc committee specifically aimed at addressing religious freedom in the U.S. The decision to challenge the president this way is a historic one, as this is the first time bishops in America have formed such a widespread group to address religious freedom in the country.

Among the religious liberty issues the group is unhappy with the Obama administration include: county clerks facing legal action for refusing to participate in same-sex unions; the administration's attack on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and the attack on the “ministerial exception,” which protects the right of religious institutions to choose their own spiritual leaders and teachers regardless of anti-discrimination laws.

In a letter obtained by The Christian Post, the Rev. Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York, wrote to the American bishops after the September’s meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He writes: “We are now committed regarding the urgent need we face to safeguard religious liberty inherent in the dignity of the human person.”

“I wrote to President Obama to object to the continuing threats to religious liberty in the context of the effort to redefine legal marriage promoted by his Administration. …If we do not act now, the consequences will be grave.”

“In its many and varied applications for Christians and people of faith, is now increasingly and in unprecedented ways under assault in America. This is most particularly so in an increasing number of federal government programs or policies that would infringe upon the right of conscience of people of faith or otherwise harm the foundational principle of religious liberty,” he said in the letter.

Bishop William Lori, who was selected to chair the new committee, says the bishops are serious about the new campaign and will seek the help of lawyers, added staff, lobbyist and experts in the area of religious freedom.

“This ad hoc committee aims to address the increasing threats to religious liberty in our society so that the Church’s mission may advance unimpeded and the rights of believers of any religious persuasion or none may be respected,” Lori said.

Archbishop Dolan also stressed in his letter that "...as shepherds of over 70 million U.S. citizens we share a common and compelling responsibility to proclaim the truth of religious freedom for all, and so to protect our people from this assault which now appears to grow at an ever accelerating pace in ways most of us could never have imagined.”

Dolan also said the committee will work closely with national organizations, charities, ecumenical and interreligious partners and scholars “to form a united and forceful front in defense of religious freedom in our nation. And its work will begin immediately.”

He said that there have been multiple private letters sent to President Obama about his administration’s violations against religious liberty, but none of those letters received a response.

Time Magazine reports that despite the heated rhetoric, legal observers think the uproar about religious liberty could be politically motivated.

“To a certain extent, we are seeing a reply of the Freedom of Choice Act here,” Richard Doerflinger, who heads up pro-life activities, told Time.

“There is a lot of political ground to be made by having a campaign even if you are expecting a different outcome. But Health and Human Services must think the Catholics and other religious groups are fools.”

He says many of these issues really are a “great imposition on religious freedom and the right of conscience by the government that he has seen in years.”

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