Posted by Eric Scheidler (May 31, 2012 at 5:45 am)
Prayer is the foundation of all our efforts to fight President Obama’s HHS Mandate, which forces all employer health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, without regard to objections of conscience.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (May 30, 2012 at 5:45 am)
We fight for justice in government with many weapons. We use Rallies like we’ll hold on June 8, we use our power to vote, we use our voices and pens so our representatives in government know our concerns. But we must never forget that the strongest weapon we have is prayer.
Temporal rulers will come and go, but God is the great king over all, so recourse to Him is where our confidence must ultimately last. It is well within His power to stop the Obama Administration’s pernicious HHS Mandate.
With that in mind, we are asking all people of faith to join in a united prayer effort to Stop the HHS Mandate. In preparation for the June 8 Rally, we are calling on everyone to join in the “Novena for a Reversal of the HHS Mandate” that was such a blessing in the lead up to the Rally in March, which begins today.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (April 14, 2012 at 11:00 am)
It’s with great excitement that Monica Miller and I announce that the next Stand Up for Religious Freedom will take place Friday, June 8 at noon local time, coast to coast.
The huge controversy over Barack Obama’s HHS Mandate is growing, and it’s time to take the next step to stop this attack on religious freedom.
Last month, over 63,000 Americans gathered at sites in 145 cities for a massive rally in protest of the Mandate.
They said NO to the HHS Mandate, which forces employers—including religious charities—to provide contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs in their health plans, for free.
June 8 date prepares the ground for the Obamacare ruling
Now it’s time to build on that great momentum with the next Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally, and June 8 is the perfect date.
Right now the entire Obamacare law, with its oppressive mandates and abortion loopholes, is under review by the United States Supreme Court. A ruling is coming at the end of June.
If the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare, the June 8 Rally sets the agenda for future health care reform, demanding respect for religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
But if the Court leaves Obamacare intact, the June 8 Rally advances our demand that the HHS Mandate must go.
Defend the First Amendment on June 8!
Come out on June 8—which happens to be the 223rd anniversary of the day James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights in Congress—and help prepare the ground for the Obamacare ruling!
Last month’s Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally hit the “reset” button on the HHS Mandate controversy, putting the focus where it belongs: respect for religious freedom.
On June 8, people of faith will hit the streets again to demand that all our health care laws respect the role of religious faith in the public square.
Captains are signing on now for the June 8 Rally
Over the next week, the Rally Captains for the March 23 event will be letting the national team know whether they’re in for the June 8 Rally. Dozens have already signed on.
On Friday, April 20, Monica and I will be putting out the call for new Rally Captains in the cities where rallies were hosted last month.
If your city wasn’t on the Rally map last time around and you want to host a rally this time, just get in touch with the national team and we’ll get things started.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 30, 2012 at 5:41 pm)
Now that last week’s enormously successful Rally for Religious Freedom is behind us—with over 63,000 Americans taking part in 145 cities from Maine to Hawaii, and literally hundreds of news stories reporting that our fight against the HHS Mandate is about religious freedom—it’s time to look to the future.
We still have a long road ahead to stop the HHS Mandate, but the March 23 Rally creates a strong grassroots foundation to build upon.
My Stand Up Rally co-director Monica Miller and I are carefully planning our next major action in this fight, but in the meantime I want to offer four steps you can take right now to continue your efforts to reverse the HHS Mandate. [Continue reading …]
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 26, 2012 at 7:26 am)
Update: More Rally Captains have reported their head counts. See revised numbers below.
When my Rally co-director Monica Miller and I originally conceived the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally, I was hoping for 50 cities to sign on. Monica, more optimistically, hoped for 100.
We launched the project with 30 cities, which quickly grew to 50, then 80, then 100. In the final week before the Rally, we topped 140, with cities coming on board up to the last minute. The final tally was 143 cities from Portland, Maine to Honolulu, Hawaii.
By that time the buzz surrounding the Rally was so great that I began to speculate that we just might top 10,000 participants across the country.
How little did I know what God had in store for this historic day!
With 106118122134143 145 cities tallied (most from Rally Captains on the ground, some from press reports) the count so far is 54,03957,10358,45561,23763,00563,945!
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 22, 2012 at 8:00 am)
The National Rally for Religious Freedom is TOMORROW and we’ve
got 140 cities on board!
Prayer for the Rally effort and the defense of our religious
freedom has never been more essential.
Please join in this final day of the Novena to Reverse the HHS
Mandate—even if you haven’t joined in so far.
We’ve never seen the American people as fired up as they are about
this Mandate.
Join us in praying the final day of this Novena.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 9
God of our Fathers,
we thank You for our nation,
founded by those who believed in Your Word
and came to this land as if out of the desert
to seek a place of freedom and rest.
We thank You for their conviction
that our rights come from You, our Creator,
and that government exists
to secure those rights,
and never to destroy or weaken them.
Now that we face unjust mandates
that call upon us to violate our conscience,
we pray for Your protection.
Keep us faithful to You in our every deed.
Grant that we may work for change
by being citizens who are active in the process
by which we elect our leaders.
Grant that by our efforts to educate and mobilize voters,
we may replace public officials who ignore Your law
with those who observe it faithfully.
Bless our nation’s upcoming elections.
As we rejoice that we are citizens of Your Kingdom,
so make us always faithful citizens on earth.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 20, 2012 at 8:00 am)
There are only 3 days to go until the huge Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom! Help spiritually prepare the soil for Friday’s outpouring of support for religious freedom from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii; Seattle, Washington, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and all points in between.
This is Day 7 of the Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate. Find the previous days’ novenas here.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 7
Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
We thank you, Father,
for the grace of repentance
and the power of conversion at work in Your people.
We thank You for Your Holy Spirit,
Who convicts us of sin and enlightens us
about how to please you.
Lord, enable Your people,
in the midst of current persecution and danger,
to live the spirit of repentance
ever more deeply and effectively.
For every moment we lacked courage in the past,
give us the grace to repent.
For every time we were silent when we should have spoken,
give us the grace to repent.
For every time we could have witnessed to life but did not,
give us the grace to repent.
Made strong by the spirit of repentance,
may Your people rise up
and reverse the tide of evil in our midst.
Enable us to defend our freedom
and to build a Culture of Life.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 19, 2012 at 8:10 am)
We’re now in the final days running up to the big March 23 Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom, taking place in 120 cities across the United States.
Please join me in praying this special “Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate,” now on day 6. If you’ve missed the previous 5 days of this 9-day prayer sequence, go ahead an join in now—remember the workers in the vinyard!
Scroll down for the previous days’ prayers, or find them listed here.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 6
Father, You unite the human family
through the blood of Your Son Jesus Christ
and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
At this time of need,
when Your Church and all Your people
are called to stand firm against injustices
inflicted on us from our government,
we ask You to strengthen us in the bond of unity.
Strengthen the unity of Your Church,
that none of Your faithful may be on the sidelines,
but that everyone may be active in this battle.
Give Church leaders the grace to discern
the many varieties of the working of Your Spirit
that they may fan into flame the gifts that the Spirit
bestows freely on Your people.
And give us the wisdom to know
that no group has a monopoly on the defense of life and freedom.
May we work in an ecumenical and inter-religious spirit
and welcome the efforts of all people of good will
who believe in freedom of religion and conscience.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 18, 2012 at 4:21 pm)
George Mason Law School professor Helen Alvarez appeared on EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo last week and gave one of the most articulate accounts of what’s wrong with the HHS Mandate that I’ve seen.
Professor Alvare talked about her open letter to Obama and Sebelius telling them they don’t speak for all women, explained why the HHS Mandate is unconstitutional and debunked the myth that there’s some kind of “crisis” in contraceptive coverage. She also encouraged people to come out for the March 23 Stand Up Rally! Check it out:
Posted by Eric Scheidler (March 18, 2012 at 8:00 am)
Today is the last Sunday before the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom.
As we attend our services today, let’s all offer prayers for the success of the over 100 Rallies that will take place this week and for the defeat of the HHS Mandate.
And let’s all join together today in praying Day 5 of the Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 5
Lord God,
You are Light, and in You there is no darkness.
You sent Your Son Jesus Christ
as the Light of the World,
and You sent Your Holy Spirit
to enlighten the hearts and minds of all.
Lord, we pray today
that we may always experience
the light of Your truth,
informing our conscience
of what is right and what is wrong.
We pray that this light
will reach all of our fellow citizens,
that they may recognize the dangers of evil
which are often hidden along their path.
Open the eyes and minds of all
to the threats that currently exist
to our religious freedom,
to the health and well-being of women,
and to the good of our nation.
Give us the grace not only to recognize evil,
but also to reject it with the unwavering strength
that comes from you.
Prayer is the foundation of all our efforts to fight President Obama’s HHS Mandate, which forces all employer health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, without regard to objections of conscience.
We fight for justice in government with many weapons. We use Rallies like we’ll hold on June 8, we use our power to vote, we use our voices and pens so our representatives in government know our concerns. But we must never forget that the strongest weapon we have is prayer.
It’s with great excitement that Monica Miller and I announce that the next Stand Up for Religious Freedom will take place Friday, June 8 at noon local time, coast to coast.
Now that last week’s enormously successful Rally for Religious Freedom is behind us—with over 63,000 Americans taking part in 145 cities from Maine to Hawaii, and literally hundreds of news stories reporting that our fight against the HHS Mandate is about religious freedom—it’s time to look to the future.
Update: More Rally Captains have reported their head counts. See revised numbers below.
The National Rally for Religious Freedom is TOMORROW and we’ve
There are only 3 days to go until the huge Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom! Help spiritually prepare the soil for Friday’s outpouring of support for religious freedom from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii; Seattle, Washington, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and all points in between.
We’re now in the final days running up to the big March 23 Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom, taking place in 120 cities across the United States.
Today is the last Sunday before the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom.