NRL News
202.626.8824
dadandrusk@aol.com

Dr. Richard Land: “Religious Freedom Threatened by Obamacare’s HHS Mandate”

Mar 1, 2012

By Dave Andrusko

Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

On many occasions National Right to Life has enjoyed the privilege of having Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, speak at our annual convention. Without exception, Dr. Land has wowed the audience with his intellect, passion, and commitment to enduring pro-life principles.

From the very get-go, Land was among the sharpest critics of President Obama’s mandate that requires religiously-affiliated universities, hospitals, and charities to pay for health insurance that covers sterilization and contraception. And, of course, he was not bamboozled by Obama’s bogus “accommodation.”

In an editorial that appears in today’s Christian Post, Land elaborates on his opposition (www.christianpost.com/news/religious-freedom-threatened-by-obamacares-hhs-mandate-70590). Land uses the first paragraph to clear away the rhetorical underbrush.

The mandate “is not a debate about contraception or ‘reproductive services.’” It is, rather, a debate  “about coercion, not Catholics; conscience, not contraception; and freedom, not fertility.”

Of course, if you are an Obama supporter and/or believe religious liberties are over-hyped, this argument is, at best, incomprehensible. However if they were to read “Religious Freedom Threatened by Obamacare’s HHS Mandate” with an open mind, they might come to appreciate (even if they don’t agree with) why representatives from so many faith communities find the mandate so threatening.

Land writes,

“The ‘free exercise of religion’ goes well beyond the ‘freedom of worship’ concept so often used today by those who fail to understand, or reject, the Constitution’s religious freedom protections. For them, freedom of worship is restricted to church and home, to the space between your ears and the space between your shoulders. Free exercise of religion is far more robust and includes the rights to share one’s faith and to live out its implications in the social and economic spheres – in other words, the freedom to exercise or act and the right not to be coerced. We must not stand by and allow our God-given rights to religious freedom, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, to be atrophied, neutered, confined, and restricted into mere freedom of worship.”

Or, as Land writes later in the piece, “In America our First Amendment freedom of religion does not depend on government benevolence or toleration.”

Having studied the details, he has little patience with Obama’s “compromise.”

“The president’s supposed ‘compromise’ of having insurance companies  pay for these services is an accounting trick, a distinction without a difference. The cost to the insurance companies will be built into the premiums, paid by the religious organization or the individual.”

There is much, much more to be found in Dr. Land’s editorial against  “government coercion of conscience.” Take five minutes as read it at www.christianpost.com/news/religious-freedom-threatened-by-obamacares-hhs-mandate-70590).  You’ll be glad you did.

Your feedback is very important to improving National Right to Life News Today. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha

Categories: ObamaCare