Pastor Chuck Swindoll's Teaching Ministry Challenges Federal Government's HHS Abortion Pill Mandate

News Release : Oct 24, 2014
Liberty Institute

"Our government should never force any religious ministry to violate the very faith that motivates their ministry." -Jeff Mateer, Liberty Institute

(Frisco, TX)—Today, Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on behalf of Insight for Living Ministries (IFLM), the Bible-teaching ministry of well-known ministry leader, Pastor Charles R. Swindoll, founder and senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church, Frisco, Texas, and former president and current chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary. (Photo via Insight.org)

The legal action seeks judicial relief from the federal government's abortion pill mandate that requires even Christian ministries founded on preserving the sanctity of life to provide its employees' coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices.

"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. "Americans oppose laws and regulations that force people of faith to abandon the beliefs that motivate their service to God. This ministry was founded to preserve and defend the unborn under the belief that life begins at conception in the womb."

While the federal government has provided exemptions for thousands of businesses, unions, and churches, now Christian Bible-teaching ministries, such as IFLM—who are motivated by their faith to clearly communicate the truths of Scripture—are being forced by the federal government either to drop their health insurance and accept the HHS mandate's religious accommodation in violation of their strongly held religious beliefs or pay crippling fines.