Moral issues

Orthodox Bishops Oppose the Unjust HHS Contraception Mandate

February 13, 2012October 13, 2014 by Orthodox Editors

Orthodox Christians Bishops Assembly in America by Matt Cover –
The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops – comprising the 65 Orthodox Christian bishops of the United States, Canada, and Mexico – has thrown its weight behind the opposition to the Obama administration’s mandate that all insurance carriers provide sterilization and contraception free of charge, including FDA-approved contraceptives that induce abortions.

“The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services,” the Orthodox bishops wrote in a Feb. 2 statement [reproduced in full below].[Read more…]

The Time Is Now, Defend Religious Liberty for All

February 12, 2012February 13, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

by Chuck Colson –
Folks, we have reached the point where Christians may be called to actively defy the government of the United States. This is a shocking and sobering statement, but I’m sorry to say it’s true.

If you’ve read the Manhattan Declaration–and I pray you have read it and signed it—you’ll know that we predicted this time would come. We just had no idea it would come so soon.

As you know by now, Obama Administration has refused to grant religious organizations an exemption from purchasing health insurance that covers abortion-inducing drugs, surgical sterilization, and contraception.

The Catholic bishops responded quickly, decrying the Administration’s decision for what it is—an egregious, dangerous violation of religious liberty. [Read more…]

The Contraception Edict: An Assault on Liberty

February 9, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

American Spectator - Contraception Edict: An Assault on Liberty by Robert M. Goldberg –
We’re seeing Obamacare’s future and how it works.
The Obama administration’s decision to force religious institutions to cover contraception is a case study on how Obamacare and its implementation have politicized medical decisions. Here’s how it works. First, health care choices are overruled if they do not flow from the state and do not require taking rights from one group to give to another in the name of fairness. Next, the same administrative apparatus engages in politicking and deal making to appease groups angered by the original decision.

The contraception mandate was issued unilaterally and without regard to the deep feeling and anger it would generate. Now the administration is rhetorically backpedaling and seeking to find a way to respond to the quickly spreading attacks on the action. Claims to the contrary, this was and is not about assuring all women have access to contraception. It was about eliminating the choices and overruling the preferences of one group to enforce the “rights” of another. [Read more…]

65 Orthodox Church Bishops Call on Obama to ‘Rescind’ the ‘Unjust’ Contraception Mandate

February 7, 2012August 21, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Orthodox Bishops against Abortion Mandate by Ben Johnson –
The 65 canonical bishops of the Orthodox Church have asked President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to repeal the mandate that religious institutions provide birth control, sterilization, and Plan B abortion drugs in their health care coverage.

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America – which represents 12 Orthodox jurisdictions and three million Orthodox Christians in the United States – issued a press release last Thursday calling the HHS ruling a violation of religious conscience. [Read more…]

The Mystery of Suffering and the Saving Power of God

February 5, 2012February 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Jesus Healing Blind Suffering and God Catholic Online –
Suffering, even of the just, can really be transformed into a ‘blessing’ if it becomes the occasion for God to intervene directly into our lives.

Moved by human suffering, Jesus healed many who were sick and cast out unclean spirits. What the readings tell us is not just that suffering can be healed. In the second reading St Paul explains the possibility for each of us to participate in the saving work of Christ. We can truly help to combat suffering by a life dedicated to the untiring proclamation of the Gospel. —

The first reading of the liturgy of the Word has the theme of innocent suffering through the figure of the righteous man Job, who, almost disheartened and greatly tried, raises his cry to heaven seeing the hard work and transience of his life. Job raises the deeply enigmatic question of the suffering of the just which, at the end of the passage, remains almost in suspense awaiting a response from on high. [Read more…]

The State Ruling the Church

February 2, 2012February 5, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

The Left Heart of Darkness by Fay Voshell –

This past Sunday, January 29, Roman Catholic congregations were read letters opposing the Obama administration’s demand that all Catholic universities and Catholic-based charities make sure they provide all employees access to health insurance providing artificial contraception, including abortifacients and sterilization services such as vasectomies and tubal ligations. The “morning after” pill is also included.

The clerics’ fiery rebukes follow Pope Benedict XVI’s January 19 speech in which he warned the Catholic Church of the increasing threats of radical secularism’s intrusion into politics and culture. The Holy Father specifically mentioned the U.S. church’s need to be afforded conscientious objection to the administration’s demand for compliance within one year. [Read more…]

Orthodox Bishops Protest Government Healthcare Mandate

February 2, 2012February 2, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops –
The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience. [Read more…]

Orthodox Bishops Assembly Silent on Moral Issues

February 1, 2012February 1, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

Orthodox Bishops Assembly Silent on Moral Issues by John Couretas –
At an October 1970 meeting of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the Americas (SCOBA), which was called to discuss the burning question of an independent American Church, the presiding conference chair Archbishop Iakovos got fed up and quit. Official letters raising the subject of independence had been sent to the “mother Churches” in Constantinople, Bucharest, Belgrade, Athens and other Orthodox “centers” pointing for the need to do something about the chaotic “situation of Orthodoxy in America.” Only three replies came back. To the Greek Orthodox Iakovos, this was proof that no one took SCOBA seriously and, for that matter, the American Orthodox.

The archbishop resigned from SCOBA in disgust, saying that he had no desire to be the head of a “dead body.” According to a contemporary account, the official minutes of the meeting were forged to cover up what would turn out to be a temporary resignation.[Read more…]

They Have Islamist Fanatics, We Have Secularist Fanatics

January 31, 2012February 1, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

by Dennis Prager –
The Muslim world is threatened by religious fanaticism. The Western world is threatened by secular fanaticism.

Both seek to dominate society and to use state power to do so. Both seek to eliminate the Other — for Islamic fanatics, that means non-Muslim religions and secularism; for secular fanatics, it means Christianity and virtually any public invoking of God. The Islamists impose Sharia law; the American Civil Liberties Union and the left generally impose secular law. The Taliban wiped out public vestiges of Buddhism in Afghanistan; the ACLU and its allies seek to wipe out public vestiges of Christianity in America — as it did, for example, in Los Angeles County, when it successfully pressured the County Board of Supervisors to remove the tiny cross from the county seal. A city and county founded by Catholics — hence the name “The Angels” — was forced to stop commemorating its founders because they were religious.

This fanaticism has been on display most recently in the state of Rhode Island. This past Christmas, the governor, Lincoln Chafee, renamed the state Christmas tree a “holiday tree.” Though Christmas is a national holiday, for the secular fanatic, anything Christian — or, as we shall see, anything that relates to religion or God — must be banned from public life. [Read more…]

Heck: Aborting Reason

January 26, 2012January 28, 2012 by Orthodox Editors

The Left Heart of Darkness by Peter Heck –
The left’s logical case for abortion rights had officially collapsed. We can thank CNN’s Piers Morgan for administering last rites when he resorted to the tired, sensationalized, “Yeah, well, what if your daughter was raped?” argument with Rick Santorum in a televised interview (video).

There’s a reason why anytime we seek to settle a bitter dispute between two feuding parties, we turn to a disinterested third person to act as the arbiter. There’s a reason why courtroom litigants plead their case before an unbiased, dispassionate jury of their peers. There’s a reason why the president and the public evaluate the temperament of judges before appointing or electing them to office. The reason is because we know that when attempting to come to a clear, rational, sound conclusion about serious and many times controversial issues, emotional connections to either side can cloud our judgment and confuse our thinking. [Read more…]