July 3, 2014: Del Rio News-Herald OPINION PAGE Letter to the Editor "In defense of religion versus government"

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July 2, 2014 
Letter to the Editor,

This Fourth of July we celebrate that the checks and balances of the three branches of government: executive, judicial and legislative, is alive and well, and still working to protect and preserve the American Constitutional right to religious liberty and conscience protection rights.

Even though the President and Congress, instituted the Affordable Care Act along with the United States Department of Health and Human Services mandate that required family-owned businesses to provide insurance coverage for life-terminating drugs and devices, or pay fines to the Internal Revenue Service; the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of David and Barbara Green and their family-run business, Hobby Lobby, because this was contrary to their religious conviction that life begins at the moment of conception.

The Supreme Court upheld the Congressional Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 which prohibits the “government [from] substantially burden[ing] a person’s exercise of religion”. 

Lori Windham, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and counsel for Hobby Lobby stated: “This is a landmark decision for religious freedom.  The Supreme Court recognized that Americans do not lose their religious freedom when they run a family business.”

This Fourth of July we proudly celebrate 238 years of our foundational document, the Declaration of Independence, which guarantees the right to life and liberty.

Even though that in the Hobby Lobby case the right to life and religious liberty were found victorious, we must remain ever vigilant and vigorous in our defense by action, education and prayer, to continue to uphold these fundamental precepts of freedom.

Life and Liberty are inextricably connected and we now have the tremendous honor and privilege of continuing to uphold these God-given, unalienable rights written in the natural law and in our human laws.

Let us always remember that the truths of life and liberty are self-evident and are endowed by God our Creator; and all challenges against life and religious liberty must be seriously defeated because life and religious liberty must always be solemnly defended. 

 Celebrating Faith and Freedom this Fourth of July,

 Marian Casillas, Ed.D.