Issue: Summer 2012 | Posted: June 18, 2012

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Mitchell called to testify on Capitol Hill

photos courtesy of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Professor C. Ben Mitchell told a congressional committee in February that a U.S. government mandate requiring religious organizations to provide contraceptive and abortifacient coverage for employees is “an unconscionable intrusion by the state into the consciences of American citizens.”

Mitchell joined Craig Mitchell, associate professor of ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; William Lori, a Roman Catholic bishop; Matthew Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; and Meir Soloveichik, a rabbi on a panel that testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Although the discussion was prompted by a Health and Human Services mandate that requires insurance coverage for contraceptives and so-called abortion pills, the title of the hearing was “Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?”

Mitchell cited historical examples of Baptists who had worked to ensure religious liberty and protect matters of faith from government intervention. Among the leaders he mentioned were Roger Williams (c. 1603-1683), John Leland (1754-1841) and George W. Truett (1867-1944), who Mitchell said preached a sermon on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in 1920. After recounting their contributions, Mitchell finished his opening statement with these words:

I have two reasons for citing these historical examples. On the one hand, it is to remind us that what American University law professor Daniel Dreisbach and his co-editor Mark David Hall have called “the sacred rights of conscience,” which we Americans enjoy, were secured at an extraordinary cost. On the other hand, it is to remind us that as Truett said later in his sermon, religious liberty was, at least largely, “a Baptist achievement,” for the common good. Every American is a beneficiary of this legacy; we are all freeloading on their sacrifice.

That is why I am here to decry the contraception, abortifacient, and sterilization mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on January 20, 2012. The policy is an unconscionable intrusion by the state into the consciences of American citizens. Contrary to portrayals in some of the popular media, this is not only a Catholic issue. All people of faith—and even those who claim no faith—have a stake in whether or not the government can violate the consciences of its citizenry. Religious liberty and the freedom to obey one’s conscience is also not just a Baptist issue. It is an American issue that is enshrined in our founding documents.

The Obama Administration’s most recent so-called “accommodation” for religious organizations is no accommodation at all. It is a bait and switch scheme of the most egregious sort.