A physician member of the Christian Medical Associations (CMA) recently asked me for a perspective on the tragic temporary takeover of the U.S. Capitol and the role of politicians before and after that tumultuous event.
The physician's email began, "I’m so saddened by this
incident and so appalled…."
I've been asked to share the response to that physician more
widely, so my edited response is below, followed by some thoughts on public
policy ministry, the past four years and the next four years.
Thoughts on the Capitol
takeover and surrounding events
I responded to the physician's concern and request for
perspective about the Capitol takeover and surrounding politics as follows:
"If we as Christians view politicians as leaders whom God can use for His ends, we should be fine. For anyone who saw a particular politician as a savior, that's another story, of course. But I don't personally know of any believers who view politicians that way.
"A political loss can bare flawed character if a
politician is not familiar enough with repentance and redemption and has never
laid his or her ego at the cross. Such public personal failures can serve as a
reminder to us all that the enemy will exploit the weakest point in our
character. None of us is above such failure."
Policy versus politics
Those thoughts touch upon how I've personally navigated Washington,
DC, serving as CMDA's representative for well over a quarter of a century.
Besides sensing a distinct calling from God to serve in this arena, the key
consideration I have found helpful is distinguishing between politics
and policy.
Politics focus on personalities, image, perceptions, peer
pressure, emotions. Attaining and retaining power all too easily becomes the
goal of politics and politicians.
By contrast, policy focuses on principles, ethics and
real-world solutions. A politician can promise to save the world, but the dream
can come crashing down with personal failures or worse, assassination. A policy
endures beyond personality because it is grounded in a principle, an idea, a
value.
Nonpartisan and realistic
As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, CMA works with
political leaders as a means to an end, which is the advancement of policies that
align with member-adopted positions
and the restraint of policies opposed to those positions. We're happy to work
with the Republican Party, the Democrat Party or the Birthday Party—whoever
supports our positions.
While we focus on policy and not politicians, we realistically
recognize that some politicians are much more likely than others to advance
favorable policies. Unfortunately, one of the major political parties has officially
adopted a pro-abortion platform and has effectively driven out of the party any
candidates who conscientiously object to that policy.
So realistically on pro-life legislation, that means I spend most
of my time in Washington, DC working with the other party—not because CMA is
partisan, but because that's where the pro-life politicians are at this point
in history. Since my responsibilities include covering not only Congress but
also the White House and federal agencies, focusing on the most likely
productive paths to influence is simply a matter of efficient stewardship.
2021 and beyond
Realistically speaking, we now face the prospect of four years
with an administration and a majority in Congress who are on record supporting
policies in direct contradiction to CMA membership-endorsed official policy
positions. Based on public statements and the positions of advisors and
supporters, the symbiotic agenda of the new administration and Congress appears
likely to include:
·
Ending efforts to enforce the 2019 HHS conscience
rule that would have protected conscience freedom for healthcare
professionals. CMA has been fighting in court alongside the U.S.
government to protect the 2019 rule.
·
With allies in Congress, removing Hyde
Amendment pro-life legislative restrictions on government funding of
abortions.
·
Overturning the Mexico
City policy and opening the door to taxpayer funding to groups that promote
abortion overseas.
·
Overturning the pro-life rule that reformed
Planned Parenthood's cash cow, the Title X family planning program,
instead making grant partnerships once again hinge on presenting abortion as an
alternative. Such a change would result in increased funding to Planned
Parenthood groups while disqualifying any pro-life centers that otherwise could
assist poor patients with Title X grant programs.
·
Advocating for the FDA to lift safety
restrictions on chemical abortion drugs, which according to a
review of CDC data are already fueling a rise in the number of abortions.
Besides this assault on life-affirming policies, the new
administration and Congress are also expected to:
·
elevate LGBTQ rights over religious freedom,
such as passing the Equality
Act and also enforcing the 2016 HHS transgender mandate. CMA has been
in court fighting that
mandate to protect our members' conscience and medical judgment;
·
entertain party pressure to at least attempt to pack
the Supreme Court with additional, abortion-affirming justices;
·
end the Senate filibuster that provides
the minority party with a measure of power to block partisan legislation and
appointments;
·
Admit new states such as the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico (and possibly also the US Virgin Islands, American
Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), in a move to put a long-time lock
on the party's political power.
Next steps
I ended my communication with the physician friend who
queried me about how to respond to recent political chaos by saying, "Now
we are left, for the moment, without a clear political leader while facing
perhaps the greatest political threat since the Civil War to our values and our
country's carefully built foundations.
"So for those of us who know the real Leader, this is a
time for prayer and carefully considered, courageous action as He leads.
"I'm thankful that you are one of those who will do so,
like Daniel and Esther of old. God equip us and use us for His purposes in
these dark times."
Like this concerned physician, many members of the Christian
Medical Association have banded together precisely to address the
challenges of steering an increasingly secular culture back toward biblical,
life-affirming policies.
I encourage you to pray--earnestly and regularly--for
these efforts in Washington, DC
and in the states.
God may well be leading you to take a stand personally and
professionally. You will find here a number of
engagement options to consider, including working in the government, serving on
federal commissions and providing Congressional counsel and testimony.
Consider if God is calling you as a Christian health
professionals to follow the examples of the biblical Daniel and Esther, by:
1.
Committing now to following God's commandments
and conscience principles, as Daniel did: "But Daniel made up his mind
that he would not defile himself…." (Daniel 1:8).
2.
Deciding now to be prepared to sacrifice your
career, your reputation, whatever it takes to faithfully follow God's
principles, as Queen Esther did: "… if I perish, I perish” (Esther
4:16).
See how great a love the Father has
bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For
this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it
has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will
be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this
hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. --1
John 3:1-3
Addendum: Highlights of policy
accomplishments 2017-2020
I recently attended a White House meeting with Vice President Mike
Pence to celebrate some policy accomplishments of the past four years—many of which
CMDA helped advance. This addendum lists some of those highlights.
Conscience freedom
·
Creating the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights, which:
o Issued a final rule to strengthen enforcement of Federal laws protecting the conscience rights
of healthcare workers and entities; and
o
Enforced
Federal laws protecting conscience against the States of California and Hawaii that had required pro-life pregnancy resource centers
to refer clients for abortions.
o
Issued
a Notice of Violation to California, formally notifying California that it
cannot impose universal abortion coverage mandates on health insurance plans
and issuers in violation of federal conscience laws.
o
Sued the University of Vermont Medical Center
after it unlawfully forced a nurse to assist in an elective abortion procedure
over the nurse’s conscience-based objections.
- Issuing final rules protecting religious orders,
pro-life organizations, and other organizations and individuals that have
religious or moral objections to providing coverage for contraceptives,
including those they believe cause early abortions, in their health
insurance plans.
·
Issuing regulations on Obamacare to protect life and conscience, including requiring Obamacare insurers to issue separate
invoices for insurance coverage of abortions, and reversing
the Obama Administration’s efforts to force recipients of certain Federal
funding to provide or pay for abortions.
·
On December
16, 2020, the Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against the University of Vermont Medical
Center for discriminating against health care workers who follow their conscience
and refuse to perform or assist with abortions, in violation of the federal
anti-discrimination statute known
as the “Church Amendments” that protects such workers.
·
HHS published two
final rules in November 2018
to provide protections for Americans with religious beliefs or moral
convictions in the
context of health services. The first
rule provides an exemption from
Obamacare’s contraceptive
coverage mandate to entities that object to services covered by the mandate on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs. The second rule provides
protections to nonprofit organizations, small
businesses, and individuals that have non-religious moral convictions
opposing services covered
by the mandate.
·
HHS’s Office
of Civil Rights
ensured that patients
can receive safe religious
visitations from clergy during COVID-19.
Sanctity of human life
·
Reinstating the Mexico City Policy to end Federal
funding of foreign non-governmental organizations providing family planning
abroad if they perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family
planning. Expanding the Mexico City Policy to more than $8 billion in global health assistance
provided by all Federal departments and agencies—without compromising U.S.
support for global health programming, including women’s health programming.
- Supporting pro-life legislation including:
·
No-Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance
Full Disclosure Act of 2019.
·
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
·
Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
·
Publishing a regulation to prevent
the commingling of taxpayer dollars funding the Title X family planning program
with projects that perform, promote, or refer for abortion as a method of
family planning. Allowing Title X family planning grantees to exclude, as
subrecipients, organizations that perform or promote abortions. Funding 16 new organizations as Title X
grantees, including State health departments, faith-based organizations, and
several community health centers.
- Ending HHS funding for new medical research using
human fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions, unless authorized by
an ethics advisory board.
·
Reissuing
guidance, Interaction of the
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the Born-Alive
Infants Protection Act of 2002, that hospitals may be required to screen, stabilize,
and treat or transfer “every infant who is born alive, at any stage of
development” including those born alive after abortions.
·
Issuing an Executive Order on Protecting Vulnerable
Newborn and Infant Children, reinforcing requirement that all hospitals in the
United States to provide medical treatment or an emergency transfer for infants
who are in need of emergency medical care—regardless of prematurity or
disability.
·
Issuing a 2018–2022 HHS Strategic Plan that
recognizes a core component of HHS’s mission: to serve and protect all Americans “at every
stage of life, from conception” and to advance
global health security through respect for “the inherent dignity of persons
from conception to natural death.”
- Opposing efforts at the United Nations to make
abortion an international human
right.
- Advocating
for the protection
of women and children, born and unborn, as a global health priority,
including by building a coalition of countries representing over one
billion inhabitants.
- Signing the Geneva
Consensus Declaration, a historic document strengthening an
international coalition to achieve better health for women, the
preservation of human life, support for the family as foundational to a
healthy society, and the protection of national sovereignty in global
politics.
Religious freedom
·
Signing an Executive Order in May 2017, Promoting Free Speech and Religious
Liberty, to establish the policy of the executive branch “to vigorously enforce
Federal law’s robust
protections for religious freedom.”
·
Signing an Executive
Order in May 2018, Establishment of a White House Faith and Opportunity
Initiative, to provide recommendations on programs and policies where
faith- based and community organizations may partner and/or deliver more
effective solutions to poverty.
·
Nominating former U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of
Kansas to be Ambassador at Large for
International Religious Freedom. I meet weekly with Ambassador Brownback and
others to develop strategies to address persecution of people of faith
worldwide.
·
Placing religious freedom
on the center
stage at the Global
Call for Religious Freedom event at the United
Nations during the
2019 U.N. General Assembly in New York, at which he announced that
his Administration will dedicate an additional $25 million to protect religious freedom and religious
sites and relics.
·
Signing an Executive Order on Advancing
International Religious Freedom on June 2, 2020, that
defined international religious
freedom as a moral and national security imperative, solidifying religious freedom as a foundational principle of American
foreign policy.
·
The Departments
of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Homeland Security, Education,
Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and
Veterans Affairs, and the Agency
for International Development promulgated joint final
rules ensuring that religious
and non-religious organizations are treated equally in federally funded
programs, and that clarifies that
religious organizations do not lose their legal protections and rights by participating in federal
programs and activities.
·
On Religious Freedom Day (Jan. 16) in 2020, the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a Memorandum to all agencies
providing guidance on administering Federal grants in a manner that ensures
that religious organizations are able to compete on equal footing for Federal
financial assistance—including Federal financial assistance that is distributed
through or by a State entity.
·
On October 6,
2017, the Attorney General of the United States, fulfilling the President’s directive in the May 2017 Executive Order on Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty, issued a memorandum to all Executive
Departments and Agencies that described 20 principles of religious liberty
and provided guidance to agencies for
implementing these principles in their administrative
work and enforcement actions.
·
Administration took a stand on behalf of
individuals’ and private organizations’ religious liberty in the courts, filing
many briefs in court cases. For example, in a case impacting CMDA student
ministries, a Statement of Interest supported the First Amendment freedoms of the student
organization Business Leaders
in Christ, which
the University of Iowa (UI)
deregistered because of UI’s disagreement with the organization’s Statement of Faith.
·
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Justice Department took a stand
on behalf of religious liberty rights in courts and with state
and local governments, including filing statements of interest challenging
restrictions on houses of worship: in Colorado in which the Supreme Court has granted the church relief;
in Washington, DC in which
the court granted an injunction protecting religious worship; and in the States of Washington, Virginia, and Mississippi. The
administration also filed a Statement of Interest challenging restrictions on religious schools in Michigan.
·
On July 15,
2019, I attended the Justice Department's Summit on Combating Anti- Semitism that addressed the increase in anti-Semitic incidents
on campuses, the balance
between fighting anti-Semitic rhetoric while respecting First Amendment freedoms, and the Department’s record in prosecuting hate crimes
against Jews.
·
In July
2018, I attended the State Department's first-everlix Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. At the end
of the summit, the State
Department released the Potomac Declaration and Potomac Plan of
Action, which emphasized the
importance of religious freedom to the U.S. Government and outlined
specific steps for countries to follow to protect religious
freedom. The Administration also announced the establishment of the International Religious Freedom Fund, a multi-donor fund that provides rapid
assistance to victims
of persecution throughout the world.
·
The Secretary of State announced the
creation of the Commission on Unalienable Rights to generate a debate about
human rights that extends across party lines and national borders. The
Commission released its report in August 2020.
Rule of law
·
Nominating over 260 Federal judges confirmed by the Senate who will uphold the
United States Constitution, including three Associate Justices of the Supreme
Court.
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