Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally

Next Saturday at sites all across this country, hundreds of thousands of people will gather to stand up against the HHS Mandate of Obamacare. This mandate will force businesses to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortion inducing pills despite an opposition to such things. Not only is this mandate a larger part of what many feel is an unconstitutional Health Care law that forces citizens to buy a good or face a penelty...the mandate itself will force people to make a choice between their conscience and the law.

There are already 33 lawsuits that have been filed against the federal government by businesses and organizations on the grounds that this mandate violates the First Amendment right to religious liberty. Numerous religious organizations oppose this mandate because they oppose being forced to provide employees with medical coverage for things they believe to be wrong. Whatever your feelings on abortion and sterilization and contraceptives, the matter of most concern is whether the government has the right to force you to do something that you feel is wrong. The First Amendment protects religious liberty...but now this HHS Mandate is forcing people to violate their religious beliefs or be penelized. How is that liberty?

It is true that there is a "religious exemption" for religious institutions. However, the exemption dictates what is or is not considered a religious institution...and the qualifications are so stringent that even Jesus and His apostles wouldn't be given the exemption. Basically to get the exemption, your organization must ONLY provide services to people of your faith. That means that hundreds of universities, hospitals, and social services run by religious groups DO NOT qualify for the exemption. The government has made the claim that such employers will not have to pay to provide any services they disapprove of. They claim that employees can get those services from their insurance company and not their employers. But it's the employers who have to pay the insurance companies that will provide those services...so it's still the employer's money that will be providing the services.

For the federal government to run roughshod over religious organizations beliefs in an attempt to provide free health care is a direct and unmitigated attack on religious liberty. Millions of people all across this country feel the same. Some of us will gather at the third Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally next Saturday to stand in solidarity against this assault.

The first two Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rallies were held on March 23 and June 8. Over 300 rallies were held in cities and towns across the country, with attendance topping 125,000.The third will be held on October 20th at noon and is expected to garner an even bigger number of attendees as the word of these rallies grows. Over 130 cities in 42 states will be holding rallies to stand up for religious freedom and against our government's continued intrusion into our private lives. No one should be forced to do something that violates their conscience. In a land where we allow people to refuse to face the flag during the National Anthem and we've removed the Pledge of Allegiance from schools because people have complained, does the federal government have the right to force us to do something we don't agree with? I say no. And I'll be voicing that belief next week at my local Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally. Check the website for locations of a rally near you and join in the fight against the government's intrusion into our personal and private lives!
Find a Rally near you!