The Obama White House opened a can of worms last week when it issued an edict requiring Catholic-affiliated agencies to provide medical coverage for employees' contraceptives and abortions. The controversy moved to the military when Catholic Army chaplains were ordered not to read a letter telling parishioners that the Catholic Church "cannot and will not comply with this unjust law."
Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former Navy chaplain who now runs The Pray In Jesus' Name Project, further details how the mandate is affecting the military.
"The secretary of the Army said you have to line out some of the language, or else we're going to charge the chaplains with sedition and treason for opposing the Obama administration," he reports. "Can you believe this? They are actually threatening chaplains with court-martial if they dare to preach against sin in their own church."
So Klingenschmitt is encouraging people of faith to contact their members of Congress and tell them to support the Military Religious Freedom Act (HR 3828) sponsored by Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas), which would protect all members of the armed forces from having to compromise their religious and spiritual beliefs (see earlier story).
Regarding the Catholic Church and contraceptives, President Obama announced on Friday that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees. Instead, he said, insurance companies will be the ones responsible for providing free contraception. That supposed "compromise" on the matter brought harsh criticism from conservatives across denominational and organizational lines.
Read a related commentary:
First, they came for the Catholics
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.