Newsline: Advocacy and witness office issues statement on religious liberty and contraception issue

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl 
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Advocacy and witness office issues statement on religious liberty and 
contraception issue

(Feb. 10, 2012) Elgin, IL -- The Church of the Brethren's advocacy and peace 
witness office based in Washington, D.C., has issued a statement on the current 
issues with regard to religious liberty and the provision of health insurance 
coverage for contraception. 

The statement, issued today Feb. 10, is based on previous statements of the 
Church of the Brethren Annual Conference and follows in full:

"The Church of the Brethren was founded, in part, by eight people who believed 
in the principle of religious liberty. Throughout our history we have 
consistently advocated for the right of conscience, particularly in relation to 
military service and conscientious objection. This concern for religious 
liberty extends not only to ourselves but to all people of faith seeking to put 
their beliefs into practice. This is represented in our 1989 Annual Conference 
statement 'No Force in Religion: Religious Liberty in the 21st Century,' which 
states, among other things, that we should 'resist all coercive government acts 
that would intrude on religious institutions.'

"The Church of the Brethren has advocated for the rights of women, and 
encouraged society to remove barriers from women enjoying the equality of 
opportunity and exercising the freedom of choice. This is best represented in 
the 1970 Annual Conference 'Resolution on Equality for Women.' We also have 
advocated for the recognition of health care as a human right, and sought 
universal access. We expressed this in our 1989 Annual Conference 'Statement on 
Health Care in the United States.'

"The current controversy over exemptions for religious institutions regarding 
insurance coverage of contraceptives appears to set these values in 
contradiction. The requirements of adequate health care for all people and the 
conscience of religious individuals and employers, however, need not be treated 
as mutually exclusive. What is more, these values need not be treated as 
bargaining tokens for social change. In this spirit, we urge the Obama 
Administration and the faith community to move forward together towards a 
solution that is both respectful of religious liberty and protects the rights 
of all persons, especially low-income women, to receive necessary and adequate 
health care."

For more information contact Jordan Blevins, Advocacy Officer and Ecumenical 
Peace Coordinator, jblevins@brethren.org , 202-481-6943 (office), 410-596-2664 
(cell). 

Find links to the Annual Conference statements at www.brethren.org/ac .

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continuing 
the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith 
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated its 
300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 123,000 members across the United 
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria, 
Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org