By Bob Allen The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Nov. 6 to hear appeals from religious non-profits including Baptist universities and the Southern Baptist Convention’s insurance provider challenging required coverage of contraceptives under Obamacare. The high court combined seven cases to…
Briefs ask Supreme Court to take Obamacare case
By Bob Allen Scripture and Southern Baptist doctrine teach that life begins at conception, and ending that life through emergency contraception or intrauterine devices is a “grave moral wrong,” according to a U.S. Supreme Court brief filed by Southern Baptist…
Injunction extended in contraceptive case
By Bob Allen Baptist organizations including the Southern Baptist Convention’s insurance provider got temporary relief Aug. 21 from an Affordable Care Act requirement that employers include in their employee health care plans drugs and devices they believe cause abortion. A…
16 states side with Baptist schools in Obamacare appeal
By Ken Camp Legal representatives of 16 states filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting two Texas Baptist universities and a Pennsylvania seminary in the schools’ challenge to the Health and Human Services mandate of the Affordable…
Seventh court upholds Obamacare accommodation for religious nonprofits
By Bob Allen The Obama administration improved to 7-0 in the number of federal appeals courts defending its religious accommodation to require coverage of contraceptives in employer health care plans with an Aug. 7 decision by the Second U.S. Circuit…
Obamacare foes appeal to Supreme Court
By Bob Allen Groups including an order of Catholic nuns and the agency that provides retirement and insurance plans for Southern Baptist ministers are asking the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to exclude contraceptive coverage in their employee healthcare…
Appeals court denies Obamacare challenge
By Bob Allen A federal appeals court ruled July 14 that requiring a religious nonprofit to opt out of mandated contraceptive coverage under Obamacare is not a substantial burden on religious exercise. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said…
White House expands religious objections to birth control
By Bob Allen The Obama administration released rules July 10 allowing “closely held” for-profit corporations to claim a religious objection to mandated coverage of contraceptives under Obamacare. Final regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services specify that in…
Catholic school gets win in Obamacare challenge
By Bob Allen The U.S. Supreme Court revived Notre Dame University’s religious objections to required coverage of contraceptives in Obamacare March 9, vacating a lower court’s decision favoring the federal government and ordering review in light of last summer’s landmark…
Court upholds religious accommodation in Obamacare
By Bob Allen A federal appeals court ruled Feb. 11 that accommodations in Obamacare are adequate to protect the religious freedom rights of employers who do not qualify for exemptions allowed for certain religious organizations but object to contraception coverage…
Ebola, race, marriage and Obamacare top stories in 2014
By Bob Allen Following is a summary of some of the year’s major headlines. Baptists and race. Will Baptists remember 2014 as a sea change in race relations? Fifty years after the civil rights movement and nearly 20 years after…
Appeals court hears GuideStone challenge to Obamacare
By Bob Allen GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention had a day in court Dec. 8, arguing before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver that required coverage of contraceptives under Obamacare substantially burdens its religious…