Perhaps you’ve never heard of Cornerstone
University in Michigan; but you need to!
Here is a university that promotes building “a life that matters” —
which to them does not include supplying employees with birth control,
sterilization, and abortifacients. The
school has filed a lawsuit against Obamacare's HHS Mandate along with Dordt
College in Iowa. According to the
complaint: “The schools are Christ-centered institutions of higher learning. They believe that God has condemned the
intentional destruction of innocent human life. The Schools hold, as a matter of religious conviction,
that it would be sinful and immoral for them intentionally to participate in,
pay for, facilitate, enable, or otherwise support access to abortion, which
destroys human life. They hold that one
of the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments (“thou shalt not murder”) precludes
them from facilitating, assisting in, or enabling the use of drugs that can and
do destroy very young human beings in the womb.” The suit is merely an effort to preserve the
religious freedom guaranteed to Americans under the 1st Amendment, according
Cornerstone President Joseph Stowell.
The suit claimed the government
violated seven laws, including: the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act, the 1st and 5th
Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and the Administrative Procedure Act. “Given our conviction that life begins at
conception and our commitment to the sanctity of life, we find the mandate to
provide our faculty, staff and students with insurance that provides access to
abortion inducing prescriptions unacceptable,” Stowell stated.
Many other religious colleges and
universities are also fighting for the exemption, including: Notre Dame, Biola,
Wheaton, Colorado Christian, Belmont Abbey, Nazarene, and East Texas Baptist.
This concern for the Affordable Care Act’s threat to
religious liberty has been felt beyond this academic realm. Dozens upon dozens of others have felt
pressure to compromise their personal values, including: a Roman Catholic order
and private businesses such as Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood. (Refer to my previous blog posting for details
on these establishments.)
These lawsuits are moving up the
judicial system, and are on the verge of coming before the U.S. Supreme Court. We are about to see how the Court will rule on
religious freedom. People of conscience
had better earnestly pray that Godly wisdom will fall afresh upon the Justices.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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