Jim Daly

Daly Focus Blog

FOTF logo
  • Home
  • Family & Home
  • Current Events
  • Focus News
  • About

Why Did President Obama Do This?

Why did he do it?

Why has President Obama decided to force Catholic universities and hospitals to pay for health insurance that will cover such services and drugs as sterilization, contraceptives and possible abortifacients for its employees, despite the Catholic church’s teachings against those practices?

obamahealthcare1.jpgDid he decide to do it in order to shore up the radical liberal base in an election year? Or is he being deliberate in curtailing religious freedoms?

Either answer is very disturbing.

Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan of the New York archdiocese responded bluntly to the announcement, which Catholic organizations will be forced to comply with in 2013:

In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences. To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable…This represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.

The archbishop is precisely correct.

This is a serious moral issue, and momentum is growing around the country to speak out and speak up about it – with some even threatening civil disobedience should the law withstand legal scrutiny.

I don’t blame them. What else can people of faith do when their conscience is flagrantly being violated?

So stated several Catholic bishops:

We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom… In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

To be sure, this is not only a Catholic issue. It directly impacts all people of faith who believe in the sanctity and dignity of human life. Protestant organizations will similarly be forced to pay for drugs that may cause early abortions.

This is how the freedom of religious expression is lost in a culture. Rarely does it happen in a single instance. Instead, as we have witnessed and endured these last several years, it’s lost bit by bit.  With this action, the Obama administration has taken another large bite out of this fundamental freedom.

NOTE: Paid for by CitizenLink, the public policy affiliate of Focus on the Family.

Sign up for my weekly e-newsletter

Topics: Family and Home Tags: policy February 2, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Related Posts

  • Capitol BuildingThree Things Every Family Needs to Know About What’s Happening in Washington D.C.
  • Liberal Lawmakers Vote to Legalize Infanticide
  • President Trump Defends Life, Religious Liberty in His State of the Union Address

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Jim-Daly President of Focus on the Family
Jim Daly
with Paul Batura

Posts by Jim

Combating the Lies That Can Destroy Your Marriage

Happiness is No Accident

Love in the Midst of Alzheimer’s

Topics

  • Current Events
  • Family and Home
  • Focus Events
  • Uncategorized

Daly Focus

Jim-Daly Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.

Jim Daly Blog

Home
About
Posting Guidelines
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
FAQs

Connect with Me

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS