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Posted by John Jansen (June 6, 2012 at 12:59 pm)
We’re in the final push to publicize Friday’s Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally in over 150 cities nationwide, and we’re asking for your help.
Call your favorite national talk show host — Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, whoever — and tell them about Friday’s Stand Up Rally.
Even a brief mention of the Rallies on one of those big, national programs would be a great boon.
These talk show hosts are pounded with info every day about topics they could cover. We have to help them see how important Friday’s Stand Up Rally is by contacting them today.
Please make that call today — and back it up with an email. If your favorite host is active on Twitter, reach out there, too.
And then please call, email, and tweet again tomorrow.
These shows have HUGE reach and could bring thousands more out to the Rally — and inspire better media coverage overall. But we need to FLOOD them with calls these next two days.
Here are the numbers for some of the big-name talk show hosts for you to call:
Posted in General | Comments Off on Call Your Favorite Talk Show Host TODAY
Posted by John Jansen (June 5, 2012 at 7:54 am)
The next Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally is just three days away, and our list of cities taking part now stands at 155—far surpassing the 145 cities that participated in the first Stand Up Rally on March 23.
The number of cities on board for June 8 shows that the massive turnout seen at that first Nationwide Rally on March 23 was hardly a one-time phenomenon.
Opposition among the American people to the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious freedom is intense—and getting stronger!
From Augusta, Maine to Miami, Florida to Fairbanks, Alaska to Honolulu, Hawaii the American people are sending a message that we will not stand idly by while the federal government forces all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral or religious objections.
Check out the Locations Page to see all the cities taking part and find a Rally near you!
Posted by John Jansen (May 31, 2012 at 5:57 pm)
One of the great things about the media coverage of the March 23 Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally was seeing the same signs held by rally participants nationwide.
For that rally, we shipped 4,000 signs to rally captains in well over 100 cities, because we knew the signs were essential to keeping our message simple and conveying it in an unmistakably clear way: We are for religious freedom, and we are against the HHS Mandate.
This time around, we’ve upped the ante considerably. In preparation for the June 8 Stand Up Rally, we had 30,000 signs printed.
We started shipping signs last week, and as new cities have come on board just in the past few days, we’ve been packing them up and shipping them out as fast as we can.
So if you’re wondering, “Where can I get a sign?” we have an answer: At the Stand Up Rally location nearest you on Friday, June 8.
Posted by John Jansen (May 29, 2012 at 2:57 pm)
The next Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally is 10 days away, and today our list of cities taking part just reached 140!
The number of cities on board for June 8 shows that the massive turnout seen at the first Nationwide Rally on March 23 was hardly a one-time phenomenon.
Opposition among the American people to the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious freedom is intense—and getting stronger!
From Augusta, Maine to Miami, Florida to Fairbanks, Alaska to Honolulu, Hawaii the American people are sending a message that we will not stand idly by while the federal government forces all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral or religious objections.
Check out the Locations Page to see all the cities taking part and find a Rally near you.
Don’t see one in your area? June 8 is fast approaching, but there is still time to organize one!
You can find out what it takes to be a local Rally Captain here.
Posted in Rally Locations | Comments Off on Stand Up Rallies to Be Held in 140 Cities June 8
Posted by John Jansen (May 25, 2012 at 12:13 pm)
We’ve received numerous requests the past few days from people across the country asking if they can get “Stand Up for Religious Freedom” buttons.
The answer is yes.
We’ve partnered with our friends at ChristianShirts.net to offer these great buttons (see left) as well as bumper stickers (see below). Buttons are available for only $.35 each, and bumper stickers are available for only $.79 each.
These buttons and bumper stickers are a great way to send the message that you’re not going to stand idly by while our federal government takes away our First Amendment rights—and they’re sure to be a conversation starter.
Order yours today by calling 301-384-1422.
Posted by John Jansen (May 22, 2012 at 3:51 pm)
Yesterday, 43 Catholic institutions filed suit against the Obama Administration over the HHS Mandate.
News of these lawsuits shouldn’t come as a surprise. Since early March, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been all but guaranteeing that lawsuits would be filed.
A few weeks later, Dolan, appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, said, “We didn’t ask for this fight, but we won’t back away from it.”
Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon points out in the Wall Street Journal how it’s come to this in an op-ed appropriately titled, “Why the Bishops Are Suing the U.S. Government” that is accompanied by a picture of some of the 2,300 participants at the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally in Philadelphia on March 23 (see above, right).
Professor Glendon writes:
The main goal of the mandate is not, as HHS claimed, to protect women’s health. It is rather a move to conscript religious organizations into a political agenda, forcing them to facilitate and fund services that violate their beliefs, within their own institutions. [Continue reading …]
Posted by John Jansen (May 21, 2012 at 1:11 pm)
Lawsuits were filed by 43 Catholic institutions in federal court today against the Obama Administration over the HHS Mandate.
Among the plaintiffs, the University of Notre Dame is the most significant.
In announcing its lawsuit, Notre Dame’s president, Father John Jenkins, CSC, sent an email to university employees in which he wrote:
Today the University of Notre Dame filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana regarding a recent mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). That mandate requires Notre Dame and similar religious organizations to provide in their insurance plans abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures, which are contrary to Catholic teaching. The decision to file this lawsuit came after much deliberation, discussion and efforts to find a solution acceptable to the various parties.
Let me say very clearly what this lawsuit is not about: it is not about preventing women from having access to contraception, nor even about preventing the Government from providing such services. [Continue reading …]
Posted by John Jansen (May 18, 2012 at 5:00 pm)
Despite a strong rebuke delivered to Georgetown University by the Archdiocese of Washington, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed the graduates of the school’s Public Policy Institute this morning.
In her remarks, Sebelius couldn’t resist wading into the area of church/state relations. Toward the end of her speech, she said the following:
Ultimately, public policy is about making difficult choices. Today, there are serious debates underway about the direction of our country – debates about the size and role of government, about America’s role as a global economic and military leader, about the moral and economic imperative of providing health care to all our citizens. People have deeply-held beliefs on all sides of these discussions, and you, as public policy leaders, will be called on to help move these debates forward.
These are not questions with quick and easy answers. When I was in junior high, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was running for president. I wasn’t old enough to vote, but it was the first national campaign I really remember. Some of then-Senator Kennedy’s opponents attacked him for his religion, suggesting that electing the first Catholic president would undermine the separation of church and state, a fundamental principle of our democracy. The furor grew so loud that Kennedy chose to deliver a speech about his beliefs just seven weeks before the election. [Continue reading …]
Posted by John Jansen (May 15, 2012 at 4:46 pm)
The Archdiocese of Washington has sharply criticized Georgetown University’s decision to invite HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to address its School of Public Policy’s upcoming diploma ceremony.
A recent the editorial in Catholic Standard, the Archdiocese of Washington’s official newspaper, notes:
Founded in 1789 by John Carroll, a Jesuit priest, Georgetown University has, historically speaking, religious roots. So, too, do Harvard, Princeton and Brown. Over time, though, as has happened with these Ivy League institutions, Georgetown has undergone a secularization, due in no small part to the fact that much of its leadership and faculty find their inspiration in sources other than the Gospel and Catholic teaching. Many are quite clear that they reflect the values of the secular culture of our age. Thus the selection of Secretary Sebelius for special recognition, while disappointing, is not surprising.
Monsignor Charles Pope, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, comments thusly on the importance of the preceding paragraph: [Continue reading …]
Posted by John Jansen (May 7, 2012 at 4:39 pm)
It’s hard to not sound over-the-top in describing how much of an outrage it is that the speaker at Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy diploma ceremony on May 18 will be none other than Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The fact that the nominally Catholic architect of the HHS Mandate — which has been publicly denounced by every single bishop who leads a diocese in the U.S. — is being granted this honor by America’s oldest Catholic university is hard to believe.
Yet at the same time, given the history of the choice of commencement speakers at some other reputable Catholic universities in recent years, it isn’t hard to believe at all.
A “Direct Challenge” to the U.S. Bishops
Clearly, as the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) observes, Georgetown’s invitation to Sebelius “can only be interpreted as a direct challenge to America’s Catholic bishops.” [Continue reading …]
