Author: ADF President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears

The Obama administration’s most recent mandate is also its most radical. It directs insurers for most employers – including religious ministries and organizations – to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception at “no cost” to employees, regardless of the employers’ religious or moral objections.

It’s a policy that’s stirring up a hurricane of controversy in political and religious circles – and rightly so. The mandate is immoral and unconstitutional, dictating not only which “drugs and procedures” an employer pays for, but how much Christian employers, in particular, are allowed to carry out their business according to their faith and conscience.

This cuts to the very essence of our religious freedom, and it’s no overstatement to say this is one of the greatest threats in our nation’s history to your right, as a Christian, to live and practice your faith.

Even if Christian individuals and non-profits are exempted from the mandate, says ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, insurance companies will have to make up the lost revenue by raising the cost of premiums. Directly or indirectly, Christians will be paying for a plan they deeply oppose.

“People of faith shouldn’t be punished by the government for following their beliefs when making decisions for themselves or their organizations,” says Theriot. “This calculated and intentional attempt to eradicate constitutional protections should terrify every freedom-loving American.”

Christian organizations nationwide are moving to defy the new mandate, and the Alliance Defense Fund is offering its services free of charge to those taking a legal stand.

ADF attorneys have already filed two lawsuits – one on behalf of Louisiana College, and the other on behalf of Geneva College in Pennsylvania – against the Obama administration, arguing that the mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First and Fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

“At Geneva College, we only have one Lord, and he does not live in Washington, D.C.,” says Ken Smith, president of the college. “The First Amendment protects Americans from mandates that require us to act against our own convictions. The government shouldn’t be able to force anyone to buy or sell insurance that subsidizes morally objectionable treatments.”

Please be in particular, fervent prayer for our ADF attorneys as they defend religious freedom against this blatant assault, and be in prayer for more ministries that will step up and step forward to stand against this heinous mandate.

This post originally appeared here.