I am disturbed by the increasing tendency of the LC-MS to serve as a mouthpiece of the Republican party. The ACA does not restrict anyone's religious liberty. If you do not want to have an abortion, or practice birth control, the ACA does not force you to do so. It simply allows employees the choice to make their own decisions in these matters. If an employer can decide what kind of medical treatments you are eligible to get insurance coverage for, then they are taking away your basic right to equal access to medical treatment. Taking away insurance coverage for a procedure effectively denies many people the treatment, because it will make such treatment prohibitively expensive. It follows the logic of the saying, "both rich men and poor men have the freedom to sleep under the freeway overpass." I f we follow religious beliefs to decide what medical procedures are "lawful," then what happens if the Christian Science religion becomes the majority, and they decide that no one should have medical care at all! Or the 7th Day Adventists decide that no one should be allowed a blood transfusion!

One final point---if the LCMS is truly dedicated to the Right to Life, and the sanctity of human life, then why do we not speak out against cutting food stamps, cutting unemployment benefits, refusing to expand Medicaid so lower wage workers can have health insurance, or against the policy of austerity in this country and others, which has already resulted in the deaths of thousands of people???? Jesus himself spoke out on behalf of the poor and oppressed of his time.

As a life-long Lutheran, I am saddened to see the day when Pope Francis (leader of the Catholic world), takes the initiative against income inequality and the brutality of many aspects of capitalism, while my church remains silent on these issues.