Christian Ministries That Care For Seniors And Educate Future Christian Leaders Challenge Unjust HHS Abortion Mandate

FT. MYERS, Fla., Oct. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week, Liberty Institute attorneys filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Ft. Myers on behalf of multiple Christian retirement communities and Christian colleges from across the country. The legal action joins many other plaintiffs seeking judicial relief from the federal government's mandate that even ministries dedicated to preserving life and training future Christian leaders provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices to the employees of their ministry.

"Our government should never force any religious ministry to violate the very faith that motivates their ministry," said Jeff Mateer, Liberty Institute's General Counsel. "These ministries were founded to care for, and protect, human life and train Christian leaders for lives of service. Americans oppose laws and regulations that force people of faith to abandon the beliefs that motivate their service to God."

While the Federal government has provided exemptions for thousands of businesses, unions, and churches, Christian ministries who are motivated by their faith to preserve the quality of life for seniors and commission students to lives of service are being forced by the federal government to violate their religious convictions. Instead of honoring their religious convictions, the Federal government has doubled-down its commitment to force religious nonprofits into a scheme that violates their religious convictions. These religious nonprofits have chosen to invoke their constitutional right to religious liberty and challenge the unjust demands of the government upon their Christian ministry.

Mateer added, "The ministries Liberty Institute represents are hopeful that the court will enable them to continue serving according to the faith that has defined the Christian church for over two millennia—the same faith upon which these ministries were founded."

Among the ministries seeking relief from the burden of the abortion mandate include Shell Point Retirement Community, The Alliance Community for Retirement Living, Chapel Pointe at Carlisle, and Town and Country Manor, all retirement communities affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) denomination, and Crown College and Simpson University, CMA- affiliated colleges.

An online copy of the lawsuit papers can be found by following this link: https://www.libertyinstitute.org/cma 

Liberty Institute is a national nonprofit legal group dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty across America — in our schools, for our churches, inside our military and throughout the public arena. Liberty's vision is to reestablish religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our Founding Fathers. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.

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SOURCE Liberty Institute