Posted by John Jansen (September 6, 2012 at 2:43 pm)
It would be hard to overstate the importance of this year’s general election.
The sanctity of life, the integrity of marriage, and religious liberty itself all hang in the balance.
That means it has never been more urgent for faithful, pro-life Americans to take an active role in the electoral process.
But this year, with all that’s at stake, it’s not enough just to vote pro-life in November.
You’re invited to join Rick Santorum and other pro-life leaders — including Stand Up Rally co-chairman Eric Scheidler — at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight for the national “I Vote Pro-Life First” webcast.
On this special webcast, you will hear from national pro-life leaders about how you and every pro-lifer you know can get engaged and make a difference in this election.
Today, the HHS Mandate goes into effect forcing all employers to provide contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees through their healthcare plans.
But it is not a day to despair. It is a day to mark the beginning of a new chapter in the fight to defend our religious freedom.
To the right you’ll see a photo taken today of the first group of protesters outside the White House led by longtime activist Rev. Pat Mahoney. Bearing the banner of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rallies, Rev. Mahoney and his cohorts are making it clear to the White House that this is far from over. [Continue reading …]
Posted by John Jansen (August 1, 2012 at 11:09 am)
TODAY, August 1st, at 1:30 pm Eastern Time, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and WebMD are conducting a live online forum on “women’s preventive services,” and they’re calling for questions from the public.
We need to get our voices into this discussion taking place today at 1:30 pm Eastern/12:30 pm Central.
Let’s crash Kathleen Sebelius’ online forum and let the Obama Administration know exactly what we think about the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious freedom.
You can submit questions via Facebook, and you can watch the discussion live at 1:30pm Eastern here.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, members of the Stand Up Coalition, report a huge victory in the fight against President Obama’s HHS Mandate.
The Newland family, Catholic owners of Hercules Industries, a private HVAC equipment manufacturer, sued to protect their right to administer their self-insured employee plan for their 265 full-time employees in a way that comports with the family’s religious faith.
Judge John Kane granted a preliminary injunction on behalf of Hercules Industries. Granting the preliminary injunction prevents the federal government from applying the HHS mandate against the company.
“Judge Kane’s ruling today in favor of a religious for-profit plaintiff challenging the coercive HHS mandate got the law right. Religious liberty rights don’t stop at the store-front door,” said Hannah Smith, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “This decision portends the demise of the current Administration’s attempts to drive religious activity from the public square and confine it within the four walls of a church.”
Posted by Eric Scheidler (July 16, 2012 at 10:22 am)
In the wake of the March 23 and June 8 nationwide Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies, I’ve been hearing from groups all across the country who are holding similar events in response to local religious freedom concerns. The latest is being held by the Foundation for America on Saturday, July 21 in Roanoke, Virginia.
The rally is inspired by two recent developments: a move by the ACLU to force the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors not to open its meetings with a prayer, and a recommendation by a judge in Giles County that 4 of the 10 Commandments be eliminated from the school curriculum.
The Rally will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Elmwood Park (map). If you live within an hour or two’s drive from Roanoke, come on out on Saturday and stand up for religious freedom!
Among other things, AUL notes that Chief Justice John Roberts’ siding with the majority in the case may not be as pernicious as many conservatives are seeing it to be.
They note that the ruling holds that the individual mandate that all Americans must carry health insurance is valid as a tax, but not within Congress’s power to regulate under the Commerce Clause. This actually may leave us in an even better position to fight the law through the electoral process. [Continue reading …]
Stand Up Rally Co-Director Eric Scheidler had this to say about the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act today:
I would have loved for the Supreme Court to have put the HHS Mandate controversy to rest by overturning the entire Obamacare law today. But that would have been the easy way out.
Today’s ruling means that the grassroots protests of the HHS Mandate will continue. The more than 200 local leaders raised up all across the country to hold Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies this spring are ready to continue this fight.
We remain convinced that the HHS Mandate is unconstitutional, and that the Supreme Court will strike it down when the scores of lawsuits filed against it finally reach the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, we will continue to fight the HHS Mandate through massive public protest and seek the kind of electoral change that will restore freedom of religion in our nation.
Stay tuned to this site for the latest news about the grassroots fight to stop the HHS Mandate.
The day before the HHS Mandate was issued on January 20, Pope Benedict XVI warned U.S. Bishops that “radical secularism” poses grave threats to the “right of conscientious objection … to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices”.
Since then, the U.S. Bishops have been steadfastly outspoken against the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious freedom, and their leadership and messaging has been widely praised by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
As part of their response to the HHS Mandate, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called for a Fortnight for Freedom—a time of prayer, education and action on religious freedom starting today, June 21 to July 4.
We wholeheartedly support the Fortnight for Freedom, and we encourage you to take part.
You can find out more about the Fortnight and view the bishops’ educational resources on religious freedom here, and you can get more information on specific events in your diocese here.
Today is the final day for public comment on the Obama Administration’s HHS Mandate that would require all employers to provide contraception, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs in their healthcare plans—even religious institutions with moral objections.
To make your voice heard, visit the Regulations.gov website and fill out the form with your information and thoughts on why the HHS Mandate is a violation of our 1st Amendment right to free expression of religion. And be sure to get your comments in before 11:59 Eastern TONIGHT when the comments close.
If you’d like some help crafting a concise, well-informed message, check out our HHS Mandate Fact Sheet [PDF], a one-page summary of what’s wrong with this mandate.
We’ve rallied in the streets, now let’s make sure our voices are heard before the public comment period ends. Tell your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else you can to flood the Obama administration with public comment denouncing this insidious mandate.
Posted by Monica Migliorino Miller (June 11, 2012 at 5:16 pm)
A Post-Rally Critique from Monica Migliorino Miller, National co-director of Stand Up for Religious Freedom Nationwide Rallies
Friday June 8, 2012 was an amazing day—164 rallies all across the United States in every time zone—with over 57,000 people participating, and literally hundreds of news stories generated—all extending the witness that these nationwide rallies create in protest of the unjust, immoral and unlawful Health and Human Services mandate.
If you are reading this follow-up review of the June 8th rallies and you are not aware of the present federal government attack on religious liberty, please see the excellent explanation of the Mandate from the Alliance Defense Fund.
Every rally captain, all those who assisted captains, all rally presenters and all those tens of thousands who participated in the June 8th rallies can be very proud of this momentous accomplishment. Our first rally was March 23rd, attended by 64 thousand people nationwide in 144 cities. Those nationwide rallies were organized in a short 7 weeks—some of the local rallies did not get off the ground until a few days before the
event! [Continue reading …]
It would be hard to overstate the importance of this year’s general election.
Today, the HHS Mandate goes into effect forcing all employers to provide contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees through their healthcare plans.
TODAY, August 1st, at 1:30 pm Eastern Time, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and WebMD are conducting a live online forum on “women’s preventive services,” and they’re calling for questions from the public.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, members of the Stand Up Coalition, report a huge victory in the fight against President Obama’s HHS Mandate.
In the wake of the March 23 and June 8 nationwide Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies, I’ve been hearing from groups all across the country who are holding similar events in response to local religious freedom concerns. The 
Americans United for Life (AUL) has provided this excellent, easy to understand 
Stand Up Rally Co-Director Eric Scheidler had this to say about the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act today:
The day before the HHS Mandate was issued on January 20, Pope Benedict XVI 
Today is the final day for public comment on the Obama Administration’s HHS Mandate that would require all employers to provide contraception, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs in their healthcare plans—even religious institutions with moral objections.
Friday June 8, 2012 was an amazing day—164 rallies all across the United States in every time zone—with over 57,000 people participating, and literally hundreds of news stories generated—all extending the witness that these nationwide rallies create in protest of the unjust, immoral and unlawful Health and Human Services mandate.