Current Events & Trends: American religious freedoms undermined
We reside in a culture of contraception.
Supposedly, in order to cope with the reality of our sinful plight and its horrendous consequences, some liberal voices maintain that the real contraceptive scandal is that people are not using them more. As an article teaser in the London Times stated: "If we can't stop teenagers having sex, we can stop them having babies. That means firing the contraceptive big guns" ("Hard Cases Mean Hard Choices. Like Implants," Feb. 11, 2012).
Under provisions of Obamacare (the U.S. health insurance law put forward by the administration of President Barack Obama), the federal government will require that health-care coverage include contraceptives for the obvious purpose of birth control along with free sterilization and medications that can and will induce abortions.
A column drophead in The Economist boldly declared that "the president picks an unnecessary fight with the mighty Catholic Church" ("Obama's 'War on Religion,'" Feb. 11, 2012). Official Roman Catholic doctrine opposes all of these practices, yet enterprises owned or controlled by the church (or by other religious institutions) would be compelled to provide employees with such coverage. Even if changed to having only insurance companies provide such coverage, many insurers who are Catholic would be acting against conscience. Moreover, all individuals are effectively being required to purchase such coverage.
Church officials regard these aspects of Obamacare as a direct attack on the religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
And indeed, forcing the coverage of birth-control means in violation of people's basic moral values is correctly viewed by a great many as blatantly unconstitutional. In fact, merely forcing individuals to enter into contract and pay for health insurance, whether independently or through their and employers, is deemed unconstitutional by a large part of the country—and the case is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
This matter, particularly the issue of government trampling over religious freedom, causes the gravest concern to many if not most American citizens. Furthermore, dressing up abortion by using such phrases as women "exercising their reproductive rights" is clearly repugnant to many with moral views based on the Bible.
The birth-control debate remains just one more aspect of the intense moral battle Americans are waging against each other along several fronts. Our free booklet The Ten Commandments spells out the behavior God requires of human beings. (Sources: The Economist, The Times [London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: May - June 2012
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
