Freedom of Faith and Conscience Archives – Christian Medical & Dental Associations® (CMDA)

How CMDA Made an Impact in Washington in 2019

Since CMDA opened its Washington, D.C. federal public policy ministry office in 2000, God has opened doors for influence that have far exceeded all that we could ask or imagine. The following few highlights of last year (organized by months, with the most recent first) illustrate how God is using this ministry to advance kingdom values in our government.

Message at Supreme Court: Constitution Protects Both Minority and Majority Viewpoints

I recently spoke outside the Supreme Court in the face of raucous protests on the day of oral arguments in a case involving transgender individuals and alleged sex discrimination, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Speeches had resumed outside the court after a bomb scare had prompted police to clear the area.

National Poll: Faith-based Health Professionals Care for All but Need Conscience Protections on Moral Issues

Faith-based health professionals care with compassion and respect for all patients, but they will leave medicine rather than violate their conscience if forced to participate in morally objectionable procedures and prescriptions.

“Choose, You Lose” Scheme Threatens All Ethical Professionals

In his continuing series on conscience in healthcare, Vice President for Government Relations Jonathan Imbody discusses how the rationale for conscience protections in healthcare being undermined.

Intolerance of Conscience Threatens Diversity in Medicine

In his continuing series on conscience in healthcare, Jonathan Imbody shares about a recent conference he attended with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on religious freedom and how that impacts CMDA student chapters around the country.

Hitler’s Adversary Challenges Us to Public Square Engagement

In this week’s blog post, Government Relations Fellow Anne Foster explores how the story of German philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand offers an example for Christians to engage in the public square.

New Federal Rule Protects Conscience and Opens the Door to Pro-Life Family Planning Programs

In this week’s blog post, Jonathan Imbody shares about a new proposed federal rule that, if finalized after a public comment period ending July 31, will allow pro-life medical professionals and programs to finally take advantage of family planning grants opportunities.

Christian Medical Association Physicians Laud New Federal Conscience Rule as Protecting Patient Access to Healthcare

Today the Christian Medical Association the nation’s largest faith-based association of physicians and other health professionals, said a new proposed rule announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) will help protect patient access to healthcare.

Abortion and Sex Issues Incite Opposition to Conscience Freedom Rule

his is the eighth in a series of on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations for the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. To find more from the series, visit www.cmda.org/thepoint or freedom2care.blogspot.com.

Conscience Freedoms Protect Against Ideological Agendas

This excerpt is the seventh in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations for the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. To find the series, visit www.cmda.org/thepoint.

Christian Doctor’s Digest – March 2018

In this month’s episode, Dr. David Stevens’ focus is on the new Health and Human Services Division on Conscience and Religious Freedom. He interviews Roger Severino, the Director for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Sara Hellwege, who filed a federal lawsuit in 2014 on the basis of discrimination due to her religious and moral convictions.

New HHS division, conscience freedom laws and policies protect patients and physicians

This excerpt is the sixth in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations of the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. The essays respond to “Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care,” Ronit Y. Stahl, Ph.D. and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, New England Journal of Medicine 376;14, April 6, 2017.

Rights of Conscience, Moral Complicity and Free Speech

The title of the article might lead a reader to believe the authors support a physician’s right of conscience, but they do just the opposite. They strongly assert the will of the patient over the conscience of the physician. They write, “Making the patient paramount means offering and providing accepted medical interventions in accordance with patients’ reasoned decision,” and “Health care professionals who are unwilling to accept these limits [putting aside their own conscience to support patient autonomy] have two choices: select an area of medicine, such as radiology that will not put them in situations that conflict with their personal morality, or if there is no such areas, leave the profession.” While this quote would seem to apply to a broad variety of issues, in the context of the article the authors are referring to abortion.

Are healthcare conscience laws needed?

This excerpt is the fifth in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations of the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. The essays respond to “Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care,” Ronit Y. Stahl, Ph.D. and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, New England Journal of Medicine 376;14, April 6, 2017.

Christian Medical Association Physicians Laud New Federal Conscience Rule as Protecting Patient Access to Healthcare

Washington, DC—January 19, 2018–Today the Christian Medical Association the nation’s largest faith-based association of physicians and other health professionals, said a new proposed rule announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) will help protect patient access to healthcare.

Religious Freedom Wins Today

Bristol, Tennessee, January 18, 2018–Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) applauds the decision today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division. Restoring federal enforcement of our nation’s laws that protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom is crucial for the 19,000+ members of CMDA.

“Patient autonomy” – The Trojan Horse assault on conscience freedom in healthcare

Just as the Declaration of Geneva’s original commitment in 1948 to honor pre-born life fell to new ideology, so did the original commitment to healthcare professionals’ conscience freedom. The relevant clause in the original Declaration of Geneva read simply, “I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity.”

Bedrock Oaths Vs. Zeitgeist Barometers

On the heels of World War II, with medical ethics in the spotlight following unconscionable Nazi atrocities, the World Medical Association (WMA) decided the Hippocratic Oath, which had guided medicine since around 500 BC, needed to be replaced. So the WMA developed a new oath that contained some of the principles of the ancient oath but opened the door to continual modernizing.

Johnson Amendment in the Final Tax Bill

A letter to congressional leaders from a coalition of organizations regarding the Johnson Amendment and the tax reform bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1).

FEMA Coalition Letter to President Trump

Coalition letter of religious and community leaders in support for S1823/H.R. 2405, the “Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act of 2017.” This legislation would ensure fair and equal treatment for houses of worship damaged in natural disasters.

Autonomy Quickly Translates to Tyranny

It’s one thing to expect physicians to do everything possible to advance healing for patients. It’s quite another to insist that whatever the patient wants, the patient gets—so the physician must provide it at risk of his or her career. Whenever one group gets its way regardless of the impact on others, that is not autonomy; that is tyranny.

Christian Doctor’s Digest – October 2017

In the October 2017 issue of Christian Doctor’s Digest, we delve into the issues of Religious Liberty, the Sexology Movement and World Missions. Former Congressman Joe Pitt shares about what has and is happening in Congress to protect Religious Liberty. In an eye-opening & sometimes EXPLICIT interview, Bill Shaw, MD informs us about how we can respond to the rapidly changing Sexology Movement. Will Rogers talks about the unprecedented opportunities being found today in Medical Missions.

CMA and Freedom2Care Applaud Administration’s Actions to Protect Conscience in Healthcare

Washington, DC—October 6, 2017 – Today the nation’s largest association of Christian health professionals, the 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) applauded the administration’s actions to restore conscience freedoms in healthcare. The administration took action concerning the Obamacare contraceptives mandate, insurance premiums used to pay for abortions, and regarding government respect for religious freedom.

Masterpiece Cakeshop Amicus Brief

Whether, consistent with the First Amendment, an individual may be compelled, under color of nondiscrimination laws, to devote his or her creative efforts to the creation of custom products or services to be used to celebrate an event or relationship that he or she believes, by reason of faith or personal conviction, is immoral.

In US Supreme Court brief, Christian Doctors Cite Conscience Conflicts Similar to Creative Artists

The nation’s largest faith-based professional association of health professionals, the Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org), contends in a legal brief filed with the Supreme Court that its members’ conscience battles parallel those of creative artists sued for declining to participate in proceedings inconsistent with their conscience and convictions.

Christian Doctor’s Digest – August 2017

In the August 2017 issue of Christian Doctor’s Digest, we seek to equip our members to face the challenges in our world today. James Garlow shares from his book Well Versed: Biblical Answers to Today’s Tough Questions about how to handle some of the issues facing us that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. Jeff Keenan, MD brings an update on the National Embryo Donation Center and the important live saving work being done there. Plus Casy Mattox helps us understand the facts about Academic Freedom and the battle for Right of Conscience protections.

Christian Doctors Association Lauds Appointment of Sam Brownback as Religious Freedom Ambassador

The 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) today hailed as a “signal of new hope for persons of faith enduring persecution and oppression” the presidential appointment of Samuel Brownback of Kansas to be Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Department of State. Mr. Brownback has been Governor of Kansas since 2011.

Imagine

In 1971, John Lennon published a song by the title “Imagine.” In a slow, dreamy cadence, the Beatles musician invites the listener to, “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try; no hell below us; above us only sky.” He continues, “Imagine there’s no countries; it isn’t hard to do; nothing to kill or die for; and no religion, too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”

Amici Brief – Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act

Brief filed by Americans United for Life in support of Plaintiffs, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Bruce Rauner and Bryan Schneider. Amici includes American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologist, American College of Pediatricians, Christian Medical and Dental Associations and Heartbeat International.

CMA Doctors Laud Administration’s Common Sense Approach to Contraceptives and the First Amendment

The nation’s largest faith-based association of doctors, the Christian Medical Association (www.cmda.org), today urged the Trump administration to follow through on a promised common sense contraceptives policy, outlined in a document leaked yesterday, that accommodates First Amendment freedom of religious exercise. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would implement the new policy under the leadership of Sec. Tom Price, a physician who as a Member of Congress promoted legislation to advance religious freedom.

Linking healthcare access to conscience freedoms, Christian Medical Association hails Presidential Executive Order

Washington, D.C., May 4, 2017–Citing the link between patient access to healthcare and conscience freedom for health professionals, the 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) today expressed gratitude for President Trump’s executive order that begins to provide stronger protections against discrimination against individuals and organizations of faith.

Explaining at the Supreme Court Why Kids at Churches Need Public Safety Protection, Too

I spoke yesterday outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments in a court case over whether the Government can exclude kids who play on church-owned playgrounds from safety programs. The case could have broad implications across the nation for how governments treat faith-based institutions and individuals.
I really appreciated working together with colleagues from groups like Concerned Women for America (CWA) and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) to highlight the message that Government should not set up a religious test for which kids get safety protections.

Federal Policy Top Priorities in 2017

The Washington Office of CMDA focuses on the fundamental issues of the right to life and freedom of faith, conscience and speech, which serve as the foundation for all other rights and freedoms. Here are some of the top priorities for the new year.

Engage Your Government

By the time you read these words, America will have finally chosen a new president after seemingly endless years of primary races, campaigning, debates and grudge matches pitting candidate against candidate. Chances are, whether you voted for the eventual winner or not, you shoulder at least some measure of concern for the future of our country.

Christian Doctor’s Digest – October 2016

Preparing us as wise Christians to fight some of the evils in our world. Charles Fay discusses how to guide our children in making good digital decisions as they interact with the web and electronic devices. Allan Josephson, MD explores the issues surrounding the Transgender movement and how it affects every healthcare professional. Albert Mohler delves into the issue of Right of Conscience, how to approach it and how to applies to ourselves and our patients.

Alliance Defending Freedom Files Suit on Behalf of CMDA

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit in federal court against officials in the Vermont Board of Medical Practice and the Office of Professional Regulation on behalf of health care professionals who wish to abide by their oath to “do no harm.”

Conscience Protection Act letter to Congress

Letter supporting legislation to protect healthcare right of conscience.

Letter to Governor Bruce Rauner

SB1564 is on Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk, ask him to veto this bill which threatens healthcare access, drives compassionate healthcare professionals out of Illinois, will burden the already challenged state budget with civil rights litigation costs, cause damage to the doctor-patient relationship and threatens a protection guaranteed by the Constitution.

Christian Doctor’s Digest – April 2016

Public Policy comes to the forefront as we discuss ways to impact the world around us. Phil Lees brings the issues to the local level with an EXPLICIT discussion of Comprehensive Sexual Education being taught in our schools today. Richard Swenson, MD talks about the State of Medicine and examines how we can be a beacon of hope to our colleagues. Jonathan Imbody shares from his book Faith Steps about how you can get involved with public policy.

Coalition Letter: Values Provisions To Consider For The FY2017 Appropriations Bills

We, the undersigned representing millions of Americans, strongly support the inclusion of new provisions, which promote values issues in the upcoming Appropriations bills for FY2017. While it is essential to protect provisions in current law that positively affect policy on matters of life, family, religious liberty, and other values issues, merely keeping the status quo is not sufficient in a culture, and under an Administration, that regularly attacks the values of the people we represent.

Stormans v Wiesman Amicus Brief

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the Petitioner-Pharmacists’ belief that it is immoral to participate in the taking of human life is informed by the objective medical science establishing (1) that a new, distinct, human being comes into existence at the moment of sperm-egg fusion, and (2) that the objectionable drugs, Plan B and ella, have the capacity to end the life of a new human being at the embryonic stage of development.

Joint Letter on Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities

On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Association of Evangelicals, Christian Medical Association, Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, Christian Legal Society, World Vision (US), Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Liberty Institute, Family Research Council, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, we respectfully submit the following comments on the proposed OCR regulations on nondiscrimination in health programs and activities.

Coalition Letter on FADA Vote

We, the undersigned, representing hundreds of thousands of Americans, want to thank you for your commitment to securing religious freedom protections in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision redefining marriage across the country.

Health Care Conscience Rights Act

Letter to Congress regarding HR 940, urgent need for the “Abortion Non-Discrimination” provisions of HR 940 insuring that government agencies receiving federal health funds cannot force those involved in the provision of heath care to be complicit in the taking of human life, or discriminate against them because of their convictions.

Letter to Senators – Marriage and Religious Freedom Act and the Child Welfare Act

Coalition letter to Senators Enzi and Lee recognizing the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act and the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act.

The Erosion of Tolerance

Be encouraged to take a stand for Christian ethics in this article from Dr. John Patrick published in the fall 2014 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor.

What the Hobby Lobby Ruling Means to People of Faith

The Times wrongly asserts that the Supreme Court’s decision on the Obamacare contraceptives mandate “could embolden employers to assert a ‘religious’ right to deny other health benefits to their employees — from immunization to blood transfusions to psychotherapy — or to discriminate in other ways.

CMA Doctors Hail Supreme Court Mandate Ruling, Decry Ongoing Targeting of Faith Community

The 15,000-member Christian Medical Association, the nation’s largest and oldest faith-based doctors’ organization, today praised the Supreme Court’s ruling in two Health and Human Services (HHS) Obamacare mandate cases but noted “increasing attempts by the government to coerce the faith community.” CMA had outlined the medical aspects underlying religious objections to the HHS Obamacare mandate in its friend of the court brief in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Burwell.

Cheering Free Speech Supreme Court Decision, Christian Doctors Warn of Government Enforcement of Ideology

“The Court simply reaffirmed that the First Amendment’s protection of peaceful speech and assembly is a cornerstone of this nation,” explained CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens. “Hopefully such decisions will begin to address the alarming growth of coercive assaults on the free speech of anyone deemed not politically correct by the government.”

The Point Washington Update – April 2014 (Second Edition)

Commentary and update on the state of legislative activities in Washington involving CMDA member interests. In this edition of The Point: CMDA members, staff raise awareness of human trafficking, CMDA members in NEJM on conscience, and New health care reform agenda.

Two courageous Families Fight for Our Freedoms at Supreme Court

The Obama administration and its opponents are renewing the Supreme Court battle over President Barack Obama’s healthcare law in a case that pits the religious rights of employers against women obtaining birth control of choice paid by their employers. This op-ed piece by CMA’s VP for Government Relations Jonathan Imbody was recently published by FoxNews.

Healthcare Right of Conscience

“Legislative Efforts to Improve Healthcare” with Senator Tom Coburn and “Supreme Court Decisions on Healthcare Right of Conscience and Religious Freedom” with Casey Mattox

Hobby Lobby Conestoga vs. Sebelius

It is undisputed that a new, distinct human organism comes into existence during the process of fertilization. Many drugs and devices labeled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as “contraception,” however, have post-fertilization mechanisms of action— which means that these drugs and devices work after a new human organism is created (at fertilization) but before implantation.

Elanore McCullen, et al., Petitioners, v. Martha Coakley, Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts- Brief

The Massachusetts Statute and Hill v. Colorado Violate the Core of the Public Forum Doctrine That Is Rooted in the Right of Assembly. The iconic image of a sidewalk protest epitomizes our “profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.

Shaping Your Worldview

Four years ago, the inauguration of the first African-American president in United States history closed with a benediction from Pastor Rick Warren. Warren, author of the bestselling Purpose Driven Life, might be the most well-known evangelical pastor in America. Among the things well known about Warren at the time of his inaugural invitation was his stance on the definition of marriage.

The Point Washington Update – March 2013

Commentary and update on the state of legislative activities in Washington involving CMDA member interests. In this edition of The Point: CMA human trafficking commentary published in Washington Times, House pushed to pass conscience protections, and Miss America promotes sexual risk avoidance education.

Standing Against Persecution

My journey with medicine began when I was only eight years old. As I listened to a missionary speak about the need for the next generation to continue the work and become missionaries, I felt God impress upon me that He wanted me to become a missionary doctor to Mexico. From the beginning, missions and medicine were intrinsically linked for me. So when I started school at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harlem, New York in the fall of 2011, I knew that I wanted to be used by God even before I got to the “mission field,” but I had no idea how much of a mission field I was walking into.

Korte vs. Health & Human Services Brief

Amici—which include for-profit companies as well as national healthcare non-profit organizations, discussed below—share a common conviction: so-called “emergency contraception” can end the life of a developing human being.

HHS Mandate Terms Unacceptable

CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens said, “This latest version of the contraceptives and sterilization mandate remains unacceptable. Since when does the government get to pick and choose which groups will get to enjoy First Amendment protections? Our founders intended the First Amendment to protect every American’s freedom to act according to one’s conscience. They didn’t specify that only groups deemed religious will be afforded this protection; freedom of conscience applies equally to all Americans.”

From My Viewpoint: Healthcare Reform

For months, it seemed like the country was holding its breath. With baited breath, some waited in anticipation and others waited in dread. Experts and analysts outlined countless “what if” scenarios, examining and scrutinizing various sides of the argument.

Post-Roe v. Wade: Overt War on Conscience Rages

As Roberta Flack softly coos her 1973 Grammy-winning song in the background, the 2011 TV commercial slowly unveils a stunning, color image of a developing, gently moving baby in utero. The baby’s tiny arm curls upward, framing her glorious face.

Religious Freedom in Healthcare: Navigating the New Era

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to negate the votes of millions of citizens and unilaterally mandate same-sex marriage nationwide threatens to undermine centuries of First Amendment protections, including conscience freedoms for faith-based healthcare professionals.