What I will be saying tomorrow

March 23 2012 Rally for Religious Freedom, Portland Maine


Allison Eddyblouin

Catholic Natural Family Planning teacher.



Do we have Freedom of Worship or Freedom of Religion? I am easily free to worship anywhere I want. But if my faith, the foundational tenants of the House of Worship I choose to attend, conflicts with the health care mandate, then my freedom ends. People of good faith are demanding from our government the freedom to spend their own money in ways that do not violate their faith. On all sides, we are being called to stand up and put our money where our mouth is. If you have serious objections to any religious teaching, Catholic or otherwise, then make the sacrifices you need to, to stand up for you beliefs and don’t work for such an organization. And equally, if we have strong beliefs that go against possible laws that our Government is decreeing, then we have no choice but to defy those laws, and to ask again and again that our rights be resopected

In the 1950’s and early 60’s the Old Order Amish in our country began fighting a battle against paying into social security insurance. The government had thought they found a way around this problem by asking the objecting Amish to open bank accounts from which the government could withdraw the amount due, rather than the Amish having to willingly pay into what was morally objectionable to them. This is similar to the exemption the government is trying to hand to religious institutions today. The Amish closed their bank accounts and the battle began.

We are not here today to fight Health Care, we are not here to fight women’s health, we are here to stand up for our right as American citizens to say that our faith calls us to a higher view of the human person: a view which prevents us from aiding the objectification of another. We are women and men, republicans, democrats, and independents. We are Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Other religions. To quote the petition sent to congress by the Amish:

"We do not want to be burdensome, but we do not want to lose our birthright to everlasting glory, therefore we must do all we can to live our faith!"