While the media focus on "Occupy Wall Street" involving a few dozen ill-informed anarchists, these liberal "journalists" ignore thousands, across America, speaking against an intrusive federal government trampling on religious liberty.
A single exception: CBS News posted one story several days late, countering the rallies.
For background, read Bishops Throw Down Gauntlet: Obama War on Christianity and also read No Freedom of Religion for Chaplains, Say Obama & Dems
-- From "Nationwide rallies target birth control measure" posted at CBS News 6/11/12
Demonstrators gathered on Capitol Hill Friday afternoon decried the Obama administration's policy to require private health insurance plans to cover contraception as a violation of religious freedom.
The rally was affiliated with more than 100 other demonstrations under the same name taking place across the country. The issue has united multiple faiths, with evangelical, Orthodox Jewish, Roman Catholic and Mormon leaders recently forming networks in every state dedicated to promoting religious liberty, starting with their opposition to the mandate.
But Jennifer Miller, a vice president at Planned Parenthood in Trenton, said the rallies were being held by extremist groups that have a long history of attacking women's health.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "New Yorkers Join Religious Freedom Rally to Protest Obamacare" by Katherine Weber, Christian Post Reporter 6/8/12
Hundreds gathered in New York City's Financial District on Friday to attend the Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally, held in protest of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The protest, led by the Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, was held in 160 cities Friday, including Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami. Opponents of Obamacare say it violates the Constitution's First Amendment right of freedom of religion.
A similar nationwide anti-Obamacare rally was held in March and, according to event organizers, 63,000 people in about 130 cities turned out to express their discontent with the HHS mandate
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Big Government as the rival and enemy of religion" by Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner 6/11/12
On a few occasions, the crowd, just outside the Capitol, chanted in unison. But the words weren't the sort you'll hear at Sunday Mass.
"We will not comply! We will not comply!" they yelled. Some wore "Don't Tread on Me" shirts. One leader of this Rally for Religious Freedom on Friday lamented over the speakers, "In America, unfortunately, there's a rule against everything."
The cultural Left is turning the Catholic faithful into anti-authoritarians.
This is how the culture war generally plays out these days: The Left uses government to force religious people and cultural conservatives to violate their consciences, and then cries "theocracy" when conservatives object.
What should have been obvious is becoming clearer to religious conservatives: Government is always a rival, and often an enemy, of religion.
To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.
From "Hundreds rally for religious freedom [in Arkansas]" by John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau 6/8/12
“Stand up for Religious Freedom” rallies were held in Little Rock and other cities across the country to protest an upcoming federal mandate that most businesses and institutions provide health insurance coverage for birth control. Religious hospitals are exempt from the mandate, but other institutions are not.
Speakers included Jerry Cox, president of the Christian conservative Family Council, who told the crowd that “there is a war on religious freedom.”
The Rev. Mark Evans, senior pastor at the Church at Rock Creek in Little Rock, said religious denominations are not the issue because any assault on religious liberty is wrong and should be opposed.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Religious Freedom Rally goes national" by Alyssa Fenske, WEAU-TV13 6/8/12
In La Crosse [Wisconsin] more than 100 people showed up to express their beliefs.
Democratic Party Chair Vicki Burke did comment on the rally saying;
“What they are upset with is just an individual part of Obama care. I think it’s fair and that insurance companies should be required to provide health care for women.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Religious Freedom Rally in Naples brings out thousands" by Julie Salomone, WFTX-TV4 (Fort Myers/Naples, FL) 6/8/12
"My message is we need to stick together as a country. We need to bring God back into our lives, period," said [Kathleen] Hehir.
We're trying to give the message that this is about religious freedom, not about abortion, not about contraceptives. It's about freedom, we want to practice our religion openly," said Jeff Vespo, St. Williams Knights of Columbus.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Dearborn, Heights residents among protesters at religious freedom rally" by Jameson Cook, The Press & Guide (Michigan) 6/11/12
More than 1,000 people at a rally in downtown Detroit on Friday amplified their opposition to the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, saying it attacks religious beliefs and encourages sexually promiscuity.
The heavy Catholic- and Christian-influenced Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally, one of 160 across the nation and nine in Michigan, was held to protest the Health and Human Services policy that forces even religious-based institutions such as hospitals and universities to provide birth-control coverage in health care plans.
Speakers and attendees said they worry the government could further encroach on religious freedom.
Speaker Stacy Swimp, president of the Frederick Douglas Society, said the mandate is part of “the nefarious agenda of Planned Parenthood.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Miami rally defends religious freedom from health insurance mandate" by Anna Edgerton, The Miami Herald 6/8/12
Nearly 400 people turned out for the rally that was part of the Stand Up for Religious Freedom movement, a loose coalition of religious and conservative entities that has organized simultaneous demonstrations in more than 160 U.S. cities.
With anti-abortion pamphlets doubling as fans in the South Florida sun, the crowd shouted “Christ is risen!” and “Viva Cristo el Rey!” as Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski took the microphone. First in English and then briefly in Spanish, he defended the separation of church and state as a protection for religion and criticized this “unprecedented intrusion” on religious freedom.
Other Catholic, Protestant and Jewish speakers echoed his message and led the crowd in patriotic songs. There were no representatives from other religions, although organizers said that all were welcome.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Rally for ‘religious freedom’ protests ‘Obamacare’" by Rich Howells, Scranton, PA 6/10/12
Nearly 200 people gathered on the Linden Street side of Courthouse Square on June 8 at noon to join over 155 other cities across the country for a rally to “Stand Up for Religious Freedom.”
Coinciding with the 223rd anniversary of the day James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights to the First Congress, the rally’s main purpose is to protest the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, labeled “Obamacare” by critics, that will require all employer health care plans “to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral or religious objections,” according to literature by the Pro-Life Action League handed out at the rally by local organizer Mary Ann Haas of West Scranton.
“This is not a political rally. This is not a Catholic rally. This is not a contraception rally. This is for freedom of religion, that we can believe what we choose to believe. This doesn’t limit anyone. This doesn’t trample on anyone’s rights, and I think that the most perfect persons that I could think of are here today to express those feelings,” Haas emphasized.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Protesters seek to protect their religious freedom" by Ken Abramczyk, Observer Staff Writer (Michigan) 6/10/12
On Friday, hundreds of residents from western Wayne County . . . participated in a Stand Up for Religious Freedom prayer rally at the corner of Five Mile and Levan, across from St. Mary Mercy Hospital.
The Archdiocese of Detroit has scheduled a Mass at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 24, at the Cathedral of Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit as part of Fortnight for Freedom, scheduled June 21 through July 4, by the U.S. Conference of Bishops.
Dr. Miguel Lis-Planells, a neurosurgeon at the Michigan Head and Spine Institute in Southfield and vice chair of neurosurgery at Sinai Grace Hospital, said the U.S. is “less tolerant of God” and that marriage and family “are under attack.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Protesters join national rally opposing federal health care mandate" by Mark Keierleber, Indiana Daily Student 6/10/12
More than 100 Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally protesters gathered on the Monroe County Courthouse lawn Friday to express opposition to the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate issued in January.
As speakers prayed into a microphone, the protesters bowed their heads in silence. From the elderly in wheelchairs to young children, attendees held cardboard signs that read, “your freedom is next,” “Stop Obama’s HHS mandate” and “stand up for your religious freedom.”
The Bloomington protest, which was organized by IU Jacobs School of Music student Martha Sliva, 18, was part of a nationwide movement. With the closest protest in Indianapolis, Sliva said she organized the event to inform the Bloomington and IU communities.
In more than 150 cities throughout the nation, more than 10,000 people rallied against the HHS mandate during the second Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally. The first rally was in March.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Bachmann: 'Is Government God? ... That's Really the Issue at Hand'" by Elizabeth Harrington, CNSNews.com 6/8/12
“The people want to have their liberties back and they don’t like to see religious institutions, particularly the Catholic Church, have to be forced to deny their sincerely held faith and the doctrine of their faith in order to be in compliance with government because at that point who is God?” [Minnesota Congresswoman Michele] Bachmann said.
“That’s really the issue at hand and we cannot have this change that Barack Obama has put forward and that’s why you see the people here today who are working very hard to make sure they can hold on to their religious liberties,” Bachmann said.
“This is the line in the sand,” she said. “This is our fundamental right for religious liberty. It is why the Pilgrims came to this country, to have religious freedom. Barack Obama is taking away that basic right from the American people. So, of course, we’re going to stand."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Obama, Dems Severely Lacking of Christian Support
(5/2/12) Fr. Andrew at 2012 Colorado Republican State Assembly and Convention (video below)
