In anticipation of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of Obama Care, tens of thousands of Americans will take to the streets on Friday, June 8, in a second public protest against the Obama administration’s birth control mandate.
Standupforreligiousfreedom.com has announced June 8 as the next rally which will take place at 12 noon in all time zones in over 150 cities across America, including New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, Birmingham, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Over 63,000 citizens from all walks of faith, as well as 28 Catholic bishops, attended the first Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally on March 23rd in 142 cities nationwide.
Organizers believe the June 8th rally could easily exceed that number.
The June 8th rally will be conducted at local federal buildings, court houses, or the offices of senators and congressmen. Many of the rallies will be attended by heads of religious institutions and prominent local community leaders.
“The rally is intended as a clear message to the federal government, that it has no business defining the scope of religious ministry and that faith based institutions and even private businesses affected by the mandate will simply not comply with the government’s unjust intrusion into the affairs of religion and freedom of conscience,” rally organizers explain.
“Even should Obama Care be ruled unconstitutional, these rallies are necessary to ensure that freedom of religion will be protected in any possible subsequent health care legislation. This is not about access to contraception. This is a religious liberty issue plain and simple and we remain committed to work for the reversal of this Mandate.”
“The HHS mandate actually seeks to define what constitutes religious ministry in its narrowly crafted so-called exemption. This sort of government intrusion must be opposed. This is not about the issue of contraception—this is about protecting religious liberty as it is enshrined in the United States Constitution. The so-called Obama accommodation has done nothing to settle the controversy.”
Anticipating an on-going conflict regarding religious liberty, even the United States Catholic bishops, in a strongly worded letter (April 13, 2012) stated that the Church will not cooperate with the Mandate, and called for a fortnight of prayer and action to begin on June 21st until Independence Day.
The June 8 rallies, organized by the Pro-Life Action League (prolifeaction.org) and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society (prolifesociety.com) will draw attention to the injustice of the federal government’s riding rough-shod over the conscience of American citizens as event leaders seek to generate even stronger national opposition to the HHS ruling with the ultimate goal of seeing its reversal.
Stand Up for Religious Freedom calls upon all Americans to oppose the mandate for the following reasons:
1. We protest the federal government’s definition of what constitutes a religious institution and the mission of religious institutions through the narrowly constructed “exemption” to the HHS Mandate. Not only is this definition false, but the federal government has no authority to make it.
2. We protest that religious institutions (even under the Obama’s so-called “accommodation”) are still forced to facilitate contraception, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs through insurance companies that are mandated to provide them.
3. We protest the Mandate for forcing all businesses — not just religious institutions — to provide coverage of contraception, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs, if even doing so violates to their own moral position on these matters.
4. We protest the HHS Mandate — requiring contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs to be given free of charge by all health plans — in general because it treats pregnancy and childbirth as if it were a disease.
For more information please visit http://Standupforreligiousfreedom.com
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