Missing the Point About the Contraceptive Mandate

We at Answers in Genesis have been praising God this week for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the Hobby Lobby company regarding its free exercise of religion as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. It should have been an easy decision, but the vote was 5-4. Four justices ultimately had wanted to decide to oppose the free exercise of religion for certain Christians—the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby, who did not want to offer abortion-causing drugs to their employees as mandated by Obamacare. Instead they wanted to abide by Christian principles and not be forced to accept a secular view on the sanctity of life (i.e., not be involved in killing children in the womb).

Denying the sanctity of life by four justices and tens of millions of Americans is reflective of something alarming in our culture. Many who supported the Obamacare mandate seemed either to miss the biggest problem with the law or flatly opposed what God says in His Word. (Or they just didn’t care.) Regardless, many people have bought into the false religion of man’s word determining truth—and that it is greater than God’s Word on a host of issues.   Continue at Ken Ham

Sneering at Parents, Hiding Behind “Science” — The Emergency Contraception Controversy

Looking for evidence that our society is losing its mind? Just look at the controversy over so-called “emergency contraceptives” and a federal judge’s effort to make these drugs available, over the counter, to girls of any age.

 

Last month, Judge Edward Korman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York handed down an order forcing the Food and Drug Administration to make emergency contraceptives, sometimes called the “morning-after pill,” available without a doctor’s prescription or parental permission to girls without any restriction on age.

Judge Korman’s order would open the door for girls as young as 10 or 11 to obtain the morning-after pill without any involvement by either a doctor or a parent. That same girl, of course, could not be given an aspirin in a school clinic without parental permission, much less a simple antibiotic like penicillin. Nevertheless, this federal judge ruled that girls and women of any age must be allowed over-the-counter access to emergency contraceptives.   Continue at Al Mohler


See also:

 The Birds, The Bees, and The Plan B

Who Is Hobby Lobby?

We all heard the news earlier this week about the death of religious freedom at Hobby Lobby. Even though the public is becoming aware that the owners David and Barbara Green are Christians, Americans still need to know more about these good people and what they stand for. To this end, Ben Domenech writes:

The Hobby Lobby folks are a straight-up American success story. A family business, started in Oklahoma in 1970 with a $600 bank loan, they started by making their frames from wood bought from local sellers, building them in their garage. The kids glued them together on the kitchen table in exchange for baseball cards. The family opened their first frame retail shop in Oklahoma City in 1972. They had four employees. Now they have 514 stores in 41 states. They employ 13,240 people full time. In 1981 they added another store to the family, Mardel, a Christian/church supply shop which sells Bibles and study books, curriculum, Christian craft supplies. That’s another 35 stores, in 7 states, with 372 employees. So they went from a garage business started with $600 to two businesses that employ more than 13,600 people full time across basically the entire country.  Continue at Denny Burk

Should the Church Promote Contraceptives for the Unmarried?

One of the significant debates at the General Assembly was the debate about whether or not to stay in the National Association of Evangelicals. The answer was that we will stay in but keep an eye on the NAE. For the record, I thought this was a good decision. You can read a full report of what happened on Wednesday, June 20th on this action here. On Thursday, news came out at Worldmag.com that the NAE accepted $1 million to promote contraceptives among the unmarried. The story states in part:

The $1 million (apparently for use over several years) was not much by Hewlett or National Campaign standards, but it’s big for the NAE, which had a total budget of about $1 million in 2009, 2010, and 2011, according to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. And what exactly is “the work” that will continue if the NAE gets another grant?

Here’s an example: The NAE sponsored a panel in April at the Q Gathering in Washington, D.C., where young evangelicals gathered to hear speakers and panels address numerous topics, including abortion reduction. According to Q founder Gabe Lyons, the NAE “highly recommended” for inclusion in the panel the speaker who ended up dominating it, National Campaign CEO Sarah Brown—without disclosing its financial connection to her.

Brown urged contraceptives for the unmarried as well as the married. No one on the panel disagreed. When it concluded, 372 audience members had the opportunity to answer electronically this question, “Do you believe churches should advocate contraception for their single 20-somethings?” Almost two-thirds voted yes.  Continue at Wes White