Freedom of Religion
This is scary, incomprehensible, and calls for serious prayer. Many of us may have thought in the past that the people warning us about the possibility of our cherished religious freedoms being taken away were a group of people on the fringe of things; people who over reacted to some isolated incidents strung together by right wing news groups to whip up some overly emotional people. If that is what you thought in the past, I say to you, these folks are more right than most of us want to admit. Why do I say this? Because now some of the most respected scholars and law professors in our nation have come together to sue our own federal government over freedom of religious conscience issues that are a part of the Affordable Health Care Act. When colleges and universities like Liberty University, Notre Dame, Wheaton, Biola, Grace (Winona Lake), and others join together for a religious freedom issue, it is historic. There are 24 law suits from 45 different institutions, and it’s growing. The Act demands these institutions do things that are direct violations of their religious conscience. It mostly concerns birth control, the “morning after” pill, and abortion.
Most say if the government can impose this on universities, it is only a matter of time until it is imposed on churches and it is scary to think what the church may be “required” to do. There are already many catholic adoption agencies that have chosen to close their doors than to be required by government to provide adoption to couples whose homes or life styles are deemed inappropriate for raising children. Catholic hospitals have said they will close rather than be forced by our government to provide abortions or the “morning after” or “week after” pill. The bishops of these hospitals say they will not sell these hospitals to other health care providers because that would constitute “material cooperation with an intrinsic evil”. Approximately one third of the hospitals in our nation are run by catholic organizations. These hospitals would be lost to the national health care network altogether. Also, the Affordable Health Care Act puts 30 million people into the health care system that are not now in it. With one third of the hospitals lost to the health care system, and 30 million people being added, the system will totally collapse. Affordable health care takes on a whole different meaning.
Everything has changed. We may have thought it would never happen here. It is happening right in front of us and it is scary. Why do I say to all this? It is time to pray like never before.
This issue has the potential to affect Fairview Missionary Church. Employees of the Missionary Church are in a pool of employees of Missionary Churches who together form our own self-insurance policy for health insurance, just like Notre Dame and many religious institutions. Now our policy states that abortion coverage is not included. If this law goes into effect and someone insured under our policy wants an abortion, there is nothing we could legally do about it.
The principle of freedom of religious conscience goes all the way back to the Pilgrims and the Mayflower and is the foundation of our nation. It is not an overstatement to say if our own government can try to force religious people to violate their Godly conscience, the very foundation of our nation is being shaken.
We must pray hard and change direction fast.These issues change almost weekly in the news. These issues challenged by the lawsuits were first to be decided in August 2012 but the government decided to put it off for one year to study it. Frankly, they put it off so it would not be an election issue. According to the news on Tuesday of this week, Liberty University’s case has the potential to go before the Supreme Court yet this fall.
A reminder… be thankful and praise God we live in a nation where we can legally question our own government. In much of the world this would not even be an issue, the government would just do as it pleased with the people.
I invite you to attend the Freedom of Religion Rally on Saturday, October 20, at 1:00 p.m. at the National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana (west side of I 69 at County Road 11 A, across from the action park). If all goes according to prayers and plans, I will be there.
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