We have all become painfully aware of the firestorm surrounding the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate which forces religiously associated hospitals, institutions of higher learning, agencies and other institutions to pay for contraceptives and other medical procedures that go against the teachings of many of the religious faiths in our nation. Opposition to the mandate has often been presented in the media as coming solely from the Roman Catholic community. However, protest against the mandate has come from across the religious spectrum, Jews, Baptist, Evangelicals and some mainline Christian denominations have joined Catholic leaders in condemning the HHS mandate as an infringement on religious freedom.
In a feeble response to quell the rising firestorm of criticism of the mandate, administration spokespeople responded that “people are still free to worship as they wish.” The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not just freedom of worship. In this freedom of religion people of faith should not be forced to violate their sacred teachings in order to maintain their religious outreach in the community in their adoption agencies, publications, justice ministries, schools and the numerous other good works.
In an excellent piece this past week in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Joe Watkins, a board member of Conscience Cause, pastor of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, the oldest African American Lutheran church in Philadelphia and former associate director at the White House Office of Public Liaison, excoriated the Obama administration’s mandate and said, “Not only is this mandate a blatant disregard of our First Amendment rights, it is an egregious attack on our religious liberty as a people. If we allow this to stand, ‘the free exercise of’ beliefs will become part of our nation’s history, instead of one of our most treasured foundations.”
Pastor Watkins added, “The importance of this cause supersedes the divisions among our various religious communities. We will stand with our religious brothers and sisters of all faiths in opposing this mandate. We remain united in our efforts to restore religious freedom to our country and end this un-American assault on one of our nation’s core values.” Well said!
The bishops of the United States recently issued their statement on Religious Liberty titled, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.” They said, “We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be contradictory and should instead be complementary. That is the teaching of our Catholic faith, which obliges us to work together with fellow citizens for the common good of all who live in this land. That is the vision of our founding and our Constitution, which guarantees citizens of all religious faiths the right to our common life together.”
Our bishops have called for “A Fortnight For Freedom,” from June 21 to July 4. “We suggest that the 14 days from June 21— the vigil of the feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More — to July 4, Independence Day, be dedicated to this ‘fortnight for freedom’ — a great hymn of prayer for our country… Dioceses and parishes around the country could choose a date in that period for special events that would constitute a great national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty.”
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will be offering “A Fortnight for Religious Freedom Religious Liberty Conference,” Saturday, June 23 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or Sunday June 24 from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, 100 E. Wynnewood Road, Wynnewood, Pa. The cost is $15 per person and seating is limited. To register, please call: 215-587-5661 or prolife@adphila.org
Let us do all that we can through prayer, protest and education to join our partners from many faith communities in protecting our sacred right of freedom of religion as we oppose this ill-fated mandate.
Father Joseph D. Wallace is coordinator, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.
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