Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Will SDAs Join Catholics to Defend Her Religious Liberty?







Evangelical pastor Rick Warren tweets:

I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure and I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a govement mandate that violates what God commands us to do. Would you? Acts 5:29


Ellen White didn't write about this. What do Adventists do now?

It is actually the Catholics that are in need of defending and I would like to see if and what the General Conference is saying about Religious Liberty in this situation?






4 comments:

Arik said...

What principles should guide the Adventist Church's response to the current debate in the United States about government-mandated health insurance coverage for contraception? The General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department, along with the Office of General Counsel, reviews some long-standing values that will help chart our course.

An Adventist Response to the U.S. Health and Human Services Contraception Insurance Regulation

On January 20, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule mandating that employers including religious employers who provide health insurance to their employees must provide a full range of contraceptive services to women without co-pay, co-insurance or deductible. This will include all Food and Drug Administration approved forms of contraception as well as female sterilization.

Various religious organizations, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, have raised concerns about being required to provide services that they find morally objectionable. While the ultimate impact of the new rule is not yet known, a number of religious organizations that do not object to contraception have also raised religious liberty concerns.

For the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its institutions the provision of contraceptive services does not impinge on the denomination’s religious liberty. The Adventist Church’s principles do not prohibit the use of contraception. See Birth Control: A Seventh-day Adventist Statement of Consensus. Health insurance offered by most if not all U.S. Adventist institutions currently covers contraceptive services.

Consistent with its longstanding practice of defending religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned any time government requires a religious organization to violate its religious beliefs. The General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department and the Office of General Counsel continue to watch this developing issue closely and will do all that is appropriate to defend and protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience.

Reprinted with permission from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Department of Puplic Affairs and Religious Liberty.

Teresa Beem said...

Good for the Religious Liberty Department! So you will be with us in defending the Catholic Church's religious liberty. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Talk about IRONY! After year's of being told your religious freedom as an SDA would be threatened by the government...it's the Catholic Church who is being persecuted.

Who would have thunk it?

I stand with my Bishop J. Peter Sartain and will go to jail for my faith with you and my Catholic brethren.

Teresa Beem said...

I don't want to go to jail!! I am a big ninny baby. I would rather flee the country. Is that being a coward? I am not sure because Jesus did say "if they persecute you in one city flee to the next...."