His statement follows:

“We have tried negotiation with the Administration and legislation with the Congress — and we’ll keep at it — but there’s still no fix. Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now. Though the Conference is not a party to the lawsuits, we applaud this courageous action by so many individual dioceses, charities, hospitals and schools across the nation, in coordination with the law firm of Jones Day. It is also a compelling display of the unity of the Church in defense of religious liberty. It’s also a great show of the diversity of the Church’s ministries that serve the common good and that are jeopardized by the mandate — ministries to the poor, the sick, and the uneducated, to people of any faith or no faith at all.”

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, also applauded the additional 12 lawsuits filed around the country in protest of the Health and Human Services mandate forcing employers to provide coverage for activities they find objectionable.

The lawsuits represent 43 plaintiffs, including the Archdioceses of New York, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, the Michigan Catholic Conference, and several dioceses.

“These new actions mean there are now 23 lawsuits filed against this assault on religious freedom,” said Father Pavone, whose organization was the fourth to file suit against the mandate. “Since Priests for Life launched its lawsuit in February, we have urged other organizations and dioceses to do the same. When there are multiple federal lawsuits on the same issue in different parts of the country, this can create the potential kind of conflict that the Supreme Court may be more likely to resolve.”

Besides suing Kathleen Sebelius and the HHS, Father Pavone and Priests for Life are helping organize rallies nationwide to stand up for religious freedom on Friday, June 8. The Priests for Life team is organizing the rally in New York City.

“The fact that the New York Archdiocese is now part of the legal assault on this mandate will, I am sure, create renewed interest and participation in our June 8 rally. We invite all to take part.”

Bowing to Saudi King

By Cliff Kincaid

The liberal media have harangued figures such as Franklin Graham when they have refused to state categorically that Barack Obama is a Christian. Now comes author Edward Klein telling Sean Hannity that Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of United Church of Christ in Chicago, told him that he “made it comfortable” for Obama to accept Christianity “without having to renounce his Islamic background.”

All of this is consistent with our point, made in 2010, that Muslims could join Wright’s church without giving up their Muslim faith. And while Obama accepted Christianity, in the sense of calling himself a Christian, there is no evidence that he was ever officially baptized into Wright’s church. We pointed out that Obama’s claim about his own baptism, as reported in his second memoir, The Audacity of Hope, is subject to interpretation because of the lack of detail about how and when he was baptized and by whom.

Edward Klein’s unauthorized biography of Barack Obama, The Amateur: Barack Obama in The White House (Regnery) has generated some criticism from the right for badly mangling the facts about Obama and infanticide. The book is also being strongly attacked by the Soros-funded media machine as a “smear.”

But he has the goods on Obama—in the form of tape-recorded conversations with Wright, who is spilling the beans on Obama’s “conversion.” Sean Hannity’s website has posted some of the blockbuster Klein-Wright tapes.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times calls the book “skimpy, bitter,” but does not dispute the statements from Wright. Instead, she dismisses them, saying that “any biographical subject has bitter ex-friends and associates. And if they feel snubbed enough, they will talk.”

She writes, “The Rev. Jeremiah Wright asserted to Mr. Klein that during the last presidential election he was offered a bribe by the Obama camp, a payoff to stop speaking in public. Mr. Wright also says that even when Mr. Obama made this request directly, he would not cooperate. Among the reasons: he had speaking engagements scheduled, a family to support and college tuitions to pay.”

There is no reason, however, for Wright not to talk openly and honestly about his conversations with Obama when he wanted to join Wright’s church.

As we have pointed out in the past, Obama acknowledges in Dreams from My Father that his grandfather was a Muslim (page 104) and that he spent two years in a Muslim school in Indonesia studying the Koran (page 154). In The Audacity of Hope, he says (page 204) that “my father had been raised a Muslim” but that by the time he met his mother, his father was a “confirmed atheist.”

His stepfather was not particularly religious and his mother professed “secularism,” Obama wrote (pages 204-205), but as a child he went to a “predominantly Muslim school,” after being first sent to a Catholic school. His mother, he said, was concerned about him learning math, not religion.

According to Klein’s book, Wright told Obama, “Well, you already know the Muslim piece of your background. You studied Islam, didn’t you?” Obama replied, “Yeah, Rev, I studied Islam. But help me understand Christianity, because I already know Islam.”

Asked if he converted Obama from Islam to Christianity, Wright said, “That’s hard to tell. I think I convinced him that it was okay for him to make a choice in terms of who he believed Jesus is. And I told him it was really okay and not a putdown of the Muslim part of his family or his Muslim friends.”

The phrase “That’s hard to tell” is mind-boggling, in view of Obama’s claim to be a practicing Christian.

When Obama’s statements as President are examined, we find something else curious. The Koran teaches that Jesus was not divine. Obama, in his Easter message this year, spoke of Jesus as “a son of God,” not “the Son of God,” which is what the Christian faith teaches in John 3:16-18.

Obama’s statements about the importance of Islam are so numerous that they have been put into a video with over six million views titled “Obama Admits He Is A Muslim.” The video concludes with film of the 9/11 attacks and the quotation “…I am one of them,” as if Obama admitted being a Muslim. But Obama’s statement, “…I am one of them,” is taken from an Obama quotation shown earlier in the video, in which he says, “Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country—I know, because I am one of them.”

The video has been picked apart by critics, who also note that it leaves out instances in which he calls himself a Christian. But Wright’s words to Edward Klein are enough to raise the controversy all over again.

As for Wright, author Ed Klein notes his “Marxist ideology” and says that “Wright’s influence on Obama was unrivaled for more than twenty years,” the time when Obama attended Wright’s church.

However, when he writes about Wright being Obama’s “substitute father, life coach, and political inspiration wrapped into one package,” he is missing one step in the process.  Obama’s first substitute father was Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis, who was Obama’s mentor during Obama’s teenage years in Hawaii.

As the result of this omission, Klein’s book ultimately fails the test of completely explaining Obama. The public will be able to fill the gap when Paul Kengor’s book, The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, the Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor, comes out in July.

As we have pointed out before, the Obama campaign apparatus, which has claimed Obama is a baptized Christian, also asserted that the mysterious “Frank” in Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father, was just a black civil rights activist. We know better. The ruse is over.

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org.

“Obama bowing before a Muslim king. Obama talking about his Muslim family. Obama quoting from the Koran. Obama defending Islam. Obama visiting a Mosque. And many more clips of Obama and his Muslim connections. Legal Disclaimer: The writers, producers, and editors of this video are not claiming or implying that Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim, or that Obama said he was a Muslim, rather they are only examining the evidence surrounding the rumor that Barack Hussein Obama might be a secret Muslim.” – FeelTheChangeMedia

Video supporting Obama’s Muslim faith:

Audio of Hannity interview with author Ed Klein:

Newspaper ads warning the public of the Obama Administration’s threats to religious freedom began running in Florida on Sunday, May 13th. The first newspaper ad was placed by the Religious Freedom Coalition in the Panama City News Herald. Religious Freedom Coalition Chairman William J. Murray said, “Our purpose is to pressure the Obama Administration to stop the war it is waging against religious liberty in America.” Among several issues, the ad cites the freedom of speech lost by military chaplains and the mandate on religious organizations to furnish birth control and sterilization procedures.

On May 16th additional ads will appear in the Washington County News in Chipley, FL and the Holmes County Times Advertiser in Bonifay, FL. The ad schedule will move south along the Florida Gulf Coast to areas around Tampa and Naples in the next few weeks. Murray said, “We will not advertise in big liberal newspapers, as our goal is not to anger liberals. Our goal is to encourage social conservatives to contact their congressmen and Senators and demand that Congress block President Barack Obama’s continued attacks on religious liberty with legislation such as that recently offered recently by Congressman Todd Akin to protect the rights of conscience for military chaplains.”

Information about the ads and a way to support them is at: www.SavingReligiousFreedom.org

By Alan Caruba

A very wise cleric once said to me, “Sometimes the answer to your prayer is no.”

For someone who has not stepped into a house of worship for a very long time, except to attend the occasional funeral, it may seem inappropriate for me to be writing about prayer, but the fact is that I pray every day, if by prayer one means a brief conversation with God. For me prayer has always been a great solace, a confirmation of my belief that there is, indeed, a greater power. I take this on faith, but so does everyone, other than atheists.

Thursday, May 3rd is the National Day of Prayer and thus it a good time to examine the power of prayer. Enacted in 1952 by the U.S. Congress, it is traditional for the President in office to issue a proclamation each year recommending prayer.

Its origins date back to George Washington who referred to God repeatedly throughout his public and private life. Just before the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, he told his assembled forces, “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army.”

The National Day of Prayer has been challenged in the courts by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The first challenge was unanimously dismissed by a federal appellate court in April 2011, but they are not likely to go away.

I have friends and even some family members who are atheists. I don’t mind that they have concluded there is no God. Many have. I do mind that atheist groups are forever trying through the courts to remove religion from our nation’s life. There would be no America if a bunch of pilgrims did not get on the Mayflower and come here for the express purpose of wanting to pray free of the intervention and persecution of the Crown.

I don’t even argue that religion has not been and is a great source of genuine evil in the world, but that is the work of man, not God.

One need only cast an eye on the roiling Middle East and see how Islam is the source and cause of so much murder it boggles the mind. Islam is far less a “religion” than a cult around the self-anointed “prophet” Muhammad. It is a political contrivance intended to mask its quest for power, for tyranny written large. The very word Islam translates as “submission.”

I don’t think we are here to submit to God so much as to partner with Him to live our lives in such a way as to reflect His love for humanity. God is not some distant figure to me, but a power for good that I can tap at will. Prayer puts me at one with the universe. It is a defense against the perversity of ill fortune and an aid to overcoming it.

My thought here is not about religion per se, but the power of prayer in a person’s life. I believe it acts as a guide and underlies what courage we can muster to deal with life’s challenges. I believe it brings great solace to the troubled heart. I think it brings out what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature” in his first inaugural speech.

There is a wonderful book by Toby Mac and Michael Tait, “Under God”, published in 2004 by Bethany House. If anyone doubts that the Founding Fathers were men of profound faith, they should read this book of the nation’s early history. At one point they tell of Thomas Jefferson returning to the Continental Congress with a draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson was a deist, a believer in a higher power in the affairs of men, but a bit of a skeptic when it came to religion. When he showed the draft, a delegate from Massachusetts, John Adams, said he would like to add the words, “They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.” “Where?” asked Jefferson. “Right after ‘all men are created equal’ said Adams. Benjamin Franklin agreed and suggested adding “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.” When they convened on July 1, 1776, they took a vote and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, each in our own way, should give a prayer of thanks for the creation of the United States of America, the greatest experiment in democracy and liberty in the whole of human history.

The National Day of Prayer is also a good day to recall the words of Barack Obama during an April 2008 fundraiser, referring to blue-collar voters. “It’s not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment to explain their frustrations.” The President has made it a necessity for Americans to cling to their guns and to their religion.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

By Martin Gould at Newsmax.com

EXCERPTS:

“The bishops are seeing – rightly – a pattern of emerging of hostility towards the Catholic faith for upholding protection of the life of the unborn and because of its position on contraception,” said Hudson.

And Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League pointed out to Newsmax that the protests will come around the time the Supreme Court issues its judgment on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Unless the justices throw the act out completely, the protests could not be timed better, he said.

Donohue said the mandate to make insurance companies cover not only contraceptives but abortion-inducing drugs is the key, he said. “It was done on purpose as a wedge to open the door. If we don’t fight it the next step is to force Catholic hospitals to provide abortion facilities,” he said.

“The idea that I as a Catholic should have to pay for some woman’s abortion makes me want to reach for the vomit bag.”

FULL ARTICLE

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America remembers:

By Cliff Kincaid

Comparing Obama to Hitler is something that the liberal/left used to blame on the Tea Party. However, posters and signs showing Obama with a Hitler moustache were inevitably traced to followers of Lyndon LaRouche. They sometimes tried to portray themselves as conservatives, but in reality LaRouche is a former Marxist who ran for president as a Democrat. They like to cause deliberate political confusion.

Now that an educated Catholic Bishop with knowledge of history and a commitment to religious freedom has made the comparison, however, the national media cannot decide on how to respond.

When I saw the headline, “Bishop Compares Obama Policies to Hitler, Stalin,” over an article on Newsmax.com, the conservative website, I thought at first it must be an error or exaggeration. Was a Catholic Bishop actually being this harsh? I have reported on the reaction of the Catholic Church to the Obama Administration’s birth control mandate affecting religious institutions. My local priest called it evil and demonic and has suggested the church will be persecuted and ministers jailed for resisting the federal onslaught. But comparing the President personally to Hitler and Stalin?

The Newsmax headline about the charge concerned a story from LifeSiteNews.com. The Daily Caller titled it: “Illinois Bishop: Obama ‘intent on following a similar path’ as Hitler, Stalin.”

I went to the www.LifeSiteNews.com and the headline over its story was only slightly different: “Obama taking ‘similar path’ as Hitler and Stalin: Illinois bishop.” The question then became—were these stories somehow exaggerating what the Catholic Bishop said?

The Catholic Post ran the full text of the homily of Bishop Daniel R. Jenky at the Mass during the April 14 “A Call to Catholic Men of Faith” in Peoria. The homily is also available on podcast. The headlines did indeed capture the essence of what he said. The Bishop goes by the title “Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., D.D.” CSC stands for the Congregation of the Holy Cross, the order that runs Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. D.D. stands for Doctor of Divinity. He is an educated man. His education includes:

• College: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
• Novitiate: Holy Cross Fathers’ Novitiate, Bennington, Vermont.
• Seminary: Moreau Seminary, Notre Dame, Indiana
• Theology: Moreau Seminary, Notre Dame, Indiana

Taking aim at Obama, Hollywood and the media, the Bishop said:

“For 2,000 years the enemies of Christ have certainly tried their best. But think about it. The Church survived and even flourished during centuries of terrible persecution, during the days of the Roman Empire.

“The Church survived barbarian invasions. The Church survived wave after wave of Jihads. The Church survived the age of revolution. The Church survived Nazism and Communism.

“And in the power of the resurrection, the Church will survive the hatred of Hollywood, the malice of the media, and the mendacious wickedness of the abortion industry.

“The Church will survive the entrenched corruption and sheer incompetence of our Illinois state government, and even the calculated disdain of the President of the United States, his appointed bureaucrats in HHS [Health and Human Services], and of the current majority of the federal Senate.” (Applause)

It turns out that the Bishop was just getting warmed up.

He went on:

“Remember that in past history other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only within the confines of their churches like the first disciples locked up in the Upper Room.

“In the late 19th century, Bismarck waged his ‘Kulturkampf,’ a Culture War, against the Roman Catholic Church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital, convent and monastery in Imperial Germany.

“Clemenceau, nicknamed ‘the priest eater,’ tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century.

“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care.

“In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, President Obama—with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.”

“This fall,” said Bishop Jenky, “every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries—only excepting our church buildings—could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the instrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb.”

Whether you agree or disagree, these were extraordinary comments and certainly worthy of national media attention. But the story remains mostly in the conservative media.

The Daily Caller noted, “Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York—considered the most powerful Roman Catholic cleric in the U.S.—has also had harsh words for the HHS mandate, charging that the administration is attempting to divide the Catholic Church.”

But charging that Obama is acting like Hitler or Stalin goes far beyond Dolan’s observation.

One group already taking note is the Soros-funded Think Progress, which said that Jenky’s homily “appears better suited to an episode of the Glenn Beck Show than to a celebration of religious faith.” According to Ian Millhiser, a Senior Constitutional Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Obama merely “wants all working women to have access to contraception, regardless of whether they work for a religious employer.” In fact, Obama wants to force religious employers to provide birth control pills and abortion drugs in violation of their religious beliefs.

This is a story that just won’t go away. And it has the potential to alert the public, Catholic and non-Catholic, to the grave constitutional crisis we find ourselves in.

The notion of Obama as an “extreme secularist,” if not a dictator wannabe, is widely shared within the Catholic Church. A Priest recently told me that the Catholic Bishops, who usually divide into liberal and conservative factions, are united against Obama in this controversy.

He said Obama is viewed as someone who believes in freedom of worship, not freedom of religion, an important distinction that Jenky was alluding to. In other words, Obama believes Christians should be free to worship within the confines of their church, but that when they exercise their freedom of religion in public life, they must conform to the secular dictates of the federal government. In this context, however, the ability to exercise freedom of religion, as the Constitution means it, becomes essentially meaningless.

It will be interesting to see whether the national media cover these sensational charges in a fair and balanced manner. Or will “the malice of the media,” to use the Bishop’s words, take over?

If Mitt Romney is correct that the media “are inclined” to do Obama’s bidding, then the Bishop can expect to be a major target in the near future.

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org. 

By Daniel Allott at American Spectator

EXCERPTS:

The media’s preoccupation with anti-Mormon sentiment on the right has distracted from what is arguably a much more pervasive anti-Mormonism on the secular left.

Reams of polling data make clear that anti-Mormonism is not exclusively, or even predominantly, a problem on the right. A 2011 Gallup poll found that 27% of Democrats said they wouldn’t vote for a Mormon of their own party for president, 50% more than the 18% of Republicans who felt that way. In a Quinnipiac survey, 46% of Democrats said they wouldn’t be comfortable with a Mormon president, while 29% of Republican respondents felt similarly.

Writing in New York magazine in January, Frank Rich heralded the liberal attacks on Romney’s Mormonism as “the big dog that has yet to bark, and surely will by October.”

The left’s hostility toward Mormonism has less to do with church doctrine and much more to do with the doctrines of conservatism to which most Mormons strictly adhere.

FULL ARTICLE