A leading evangelical figure in the U.S. has warned that Christians will “end up in jail” if the Obama administration does not reverse its decision to require religious institutions, including Catholic hospitals and charities, to offer employees birth control coverage as part of their health care insurance.
Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC),said:
“They are saying that a woman’s right to have free contraceptive services and free abortifacients trumps the deeply held religious convictions of Catholics and Baptists and others. That’s a war on religion.
“We want the law changed, or else we’re going to write our letters from the Nashville jail, just like Dr. King wrote his from the Birmingham jail.”
Backlash
The policy, which will impose a strict obligation on religious employers to offer free contraception, including abortion-inducing drugs, has infuriated Catholics across the country, who have united to criticise Obama’s refusal to exempt those with a conscientious objection from the new rules.
“The administration is refusing to allow those who believe that abortion is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being to follow faithfully the dictates of his or her conscience on a matter as grave as the death of an unborn child” said Dr Land in an open editorial written in conjunction with Dr. Land and Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research at ERLC.
“We consider this callous requirement by the Obama administration to be a clear violation of our nation’s commitment to liberty of conscience and a flagrant violation of our constitutional protection to freedom of religion” they said.
The proposals have also been criticised by 59 non-Catholic religious leaders who have signed a letter to Barack Obama in conjunction with Dr Land stating, that “religious organizations beyond the Catholic community” had “deep moral objections” to the new rules - particularly the requirement to offer abortifacients such as Plan B, Ella, and the IUD to employees under the proposed scheme.
Stand Up
Dr Land is urging Catholic bishops and evangelicals across the country to “preach from the pulpit” on the dangers and seriousness of the initiative and demand “legislation guaranteeing that it won’t happen again.”
“It is now in the providence of God. Our responsibility is to stand and say, ‘We will not comply with this. We want the law changed. We will not comply” he said.
Comment
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:
“This move by President Obama is symptomatic of the way that precious freedoms in the West are being increasingly trampled underfoot by politically correct orthodoxy. Liberalism has developed a very nasty totalitarian edge.
“Employers must not be forced to offer abortion-inducing drugs against their will. Any such obligation would mark the end of true religious freedom in the U.S. and must be opposed.”
Source
Resource
Christian Concern: Religious Freedom