A New Pope in the White House?

 Lynn Hardaway, a member of the Lynden Board of Human Life, and a nurse for over forty years, and her husband, an adjunct professor at a Christian university in Seattle, write a spirited commentary published today on the Real Clear Religion web site. the couple remind Americans that "We believe in rendering unto America the things that rightfully belong to America. We refuse to render to an unlawful mandate the things that belong to God."

Of the recent HHS mandate, they write: "Catholics were, in effect, commanded to obey a new 'pope' in the White House. All religious enterprises except 'houses of worship' were treated as channels of a new, secular welfare system. The authors and social engineers of the draconian, unconstitutional 'health care' act ignored the First Amendment, and, peremptorily launched a culture war on all religious entities. The president and his secretary of Health and Human Services felt inspired to tell religious schools, hospitals, charities, and social services organizations that they were not religious institutions at all but appendages of secular government."

The Hardaways add: "Religion involves far more than private worship within the walls of a church on Sunday (or a synagogue or mosque on Sabbath). Religion encompasses a total life lived seven days a week. It permeates both private and public life. Christian teachers in a Christian school teach all students -- believers and non-believers -- as a ministry for God to the world. Christian nurses and doctors serve the sick for the same reason and motivation. The same sense of calling motivates many Jewish and Islamic enterprises."

Read their entire article here.