{"id":1230,"date":"2012-10-03T23:03:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T23:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/"},"modified":"2012-10-03T23:03:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T23:03:00","slug":"christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThis action arises because the federal government has deemed devout publishers of the Bible to be insufficiently 'religious' to enjoy religious freedom in America,\u201d said a federal lawsuit that was filed on Oct. 2.<\/p>\n

\tThe suit was filed on behalf of Tyndale House Publishers, a Christian publisher of Bibles and other Christian materials whose owners object to offering insurance coverage of early abortion drugs, which is required under the federal contraception mandate.<\/p>\n

\tWhile the mandate includes a religious exemption, it applies only to non-profit organizations that exist primarily to inculcate religious values and employ and serve mainly members of their own faith. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tFor-profit businesses such as Tyndale are categorically deemed non-religious and fail to qualify for the religious exemption, even if they are created and run according to religious principles.<\/p>\n

\tThe lawsuit argued that the government\u2019s \u201crefusal to accommodate the conscience of Tyndale is highly selective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLeaders of the administration \u201ccannot possibly claim they have a compelling interest to violate Tyndale's beliefs when they have voluntarily chosen to omit nearly two-thirds of the nation\u201d for secular reasons, it said.<\/p>\n

\tIt explained how the company, which has 260 full-time employees, was started in 1962 by a Christian couple committed to running a business according to biblical principles.<\/p>\n

\tThese Christian beliefs are reflected in the company\u2019s statement of purpose, core values and corporate goals, the lawsuit said, observing that \u201c(e)very book Tyndale publishes has to have ministry value, otherwise it will not publish it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn addition, the executive team and board of directors pray together regularly and have done so for decades. The company holds a voluntary weekly chapel service, which is attended by more than half of employees, and donates 10 percent of its pre-tax profits to charity each year. It also holds monthly \u201cbuild days\u201d with Habitat for Humanity and sponsors annual mission projects for employees.<\/p>\n

\tFurthermore, the lawsuit said, Tyndale \u201cpays its employees well above minimum wage and provides them with excellent benefits,\u201d including a strong health plan, bonus program and profit sharing plan. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe company is self-insured and has never covered abortions or abortion-inducing products, in keeping with its owners\u2019 religious beliefs. It is exempt from the Illinois state requirement to cover early abortion drugs.<\/p>\n

\tBut when the company\u2019s next insurance plan year begins in October 2012, it is required to cover the objectionable items or face crippling fines.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe Mandate adopts a particular theological view of what is acceptable moral behavior with respect to provision of abortifacient coverage and imposes that view upon all adherents of religion who must either conform their consciences or suffer penalty,\u201d the lawsuit argued.<\/p>\n

\tThe company is now asking for an injunction to block the enforcement of the mandate against it, arguing that its constitutionally protected right to free exercise of religion is being violated.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,\u201d said Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Tyndale.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTo say that a Bible publisher is not religious is patently absurd,\u201d said Bowman in a statement announcing the lawsuit. He argued that the case \u201cis a prime example of how ridiculous and arbitrary the Obama administration\u2019s mandate is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tUnder the mandate, religious employers must \u201cchoose between two poison pills: either desert your faith by complying, or resist and be punished,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAmericans today clearly agree with America\u2019s founders: the federal government\u2019s bureaucrats are not qualified to decide what faith is, who the faithful are, and where and how that faith may be lived out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations.<\/p>\n

\t“This actio…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nChristian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations. “This actio...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations. “This actio...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T23:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/\",\"name\":\"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-03T23:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-03T23:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations. “This actio...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate","description":"Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations. “This actio...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate","og_description":"Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations. “This actio...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-10-03T23:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/","name":"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-03T23:03:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-03T23:03:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- A Christian Bible publisher has become the latest of nearly 100 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception mandate over religious liberty violations. “This actio...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/10\/christian-bible-publisher-sues-over-hhs-mandate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christian Bible publisher sues over HHS mandate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}