[Obama Regime] Flunks Religious Freedom for Catholic Colleges, Scorecard Shows
Among 31 recent attacks on religious freedom from the federal government, many directly threaten Catholic colleges and universities, as described in the “Obama Administration Religious Liberty Score Card” newly released by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
ADF provides legal defense for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family. The organization’s attorneys have been immensely helpful to The Cardinal Newman Society and faithful Catholic colleges and universities, which have been standing up to many of the threats listed on ADF’s scorecard.
These include the following actions, which ADF identifies as directly or indirectly attributable to the Obama administration:
…Issued a mandate under Obamacare requiring religious organizations to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives free of charge to their employees, in direct violations to the organization’s beliefs. After a public outcry, the administration announced an “accommodation” that requires insurance companies to pay for these services, even though the organizations are still paying the insurance premiums that will ultimately pay for the “free drugs.”
…Pledged to sign the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) into law – interfering with the right for religious employers to choose their employees.
…Appointed radical homosexual activist [and Georgetown University law professor] Chai Feldblum to commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Feldblum is on record saying: “…we should… not tolerate private beliefs about sexual orientation and gender… Protecting one group’s identity may, at time, require that we burden others’ belief liberty… it is essential that we not privilege moral beliefs that are religiously based over other sincerely held, core, moral beliefs.”
…Announced that the Attorney General will no longer defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. He later announced his support for same-sex “marriage.”
…Signed the so-called “Hate Crimes” law, which has been a precursor to the silencing of religiously-based speech regarding sexual behavior.
…Removed “religious public service” as the only public service that will not be counted as payment towards student loans.
…Argued in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC that the government could interfere in the internal faith and mission of religious organizations and churches. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 against this attempt to attack religious freedom.
…Changed “freedom of religion” to “freedom to worship,” a lexicon shift that could limit religious freedom outside the four walls of the church.
…Ordered the removal of a monogram symbolizing Jesus before speaking at Georgetown University.
…Regional Directors for the National Labor Relations Board declared that St. Xavier University in Chicago, Manhattan College in New York, and Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, all Catholic institutions, were not “sufficiently religious” to be exempt from federal labor laws.
…The EEOC ruled that Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic institution, engaged in “gender discrimination” because the college refused to pay for birth control as part of its employees’ health care plan.
For the full scorecard: www.adfmedia.org/files/ObamaReligiousFreedomAttacks.pdf