Freedom

Happy 4th of July!!    I can't believe it is July 4th already!!  The 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays...i LOVE everything about it...the cookouts, the patriotism, the sparklers, the pop-its, the fireworks (oh i LOVE the fireworks), but most of all, i LOVE being FREE!   There is something about the star spangled banner that brings tears to my eyes because I know I live in a country that was founded on God with the underlining theme of FREEDOM!  At least i USED to!  It seems, as of late, that our freedom is slowly going away.  "Oh Meghan, quit being so dramatic" you might be saying to yourself, but i assure you, i am not being dramatic.  Freedom of Religion is one of the fundamental rights we have as American citizens and that is being taken away.  It is no surprise that I didn't vote for Obama in the last election and i don't care if you did or didn't.  What i DO care about is that you don't vote for him this time around.  If you haven't heard, Obama is implementing his own healthcare and part of that healthcare is making all insurance companies pay for birth control, abortions, and medical abortions.  Now we can sit here all day and debate that there are tons of people that use birth control and can't afford it.  We can debate that there are people that will always get abortions so we might as well have clinics.  We can debate whether women who have been a victim of rape or incest should be able to abort their child.  We might as well debate the reason lots of Catholics (or any Religion) have people who claim to be a part of that church, that don't practice the teachings of their faith.  But those debates will have to wait for another day, today is not about them.  Today, is about freedom of religion.  The Catholic faith is something very dear to me.  I am Catholic and I am a practicing Catholic.  I practice all the teachings of the Church, believe in the forgiveness of our Everlasting God when i have messed up, and look forward to being with the Resurrected Christ in Heaven one day!  One of the most important issues of my faith is the Pro Life stance.  Being pro life is much more than just being anti-abortion.  It is about standing up for life at all stages..from conception to natural death.  It is my right to believe that and be a part of the Catholic Church who, in her wisdom, understands that birth control and abortions are not just unhealthy for the child but also for the mother.  The Church wants the best life possible for both mother and child...pro life!  So it doesn't matter if you agree with these teachings or not, you can believe what you want..do you know why?  Because under the Constitution of the United States we are free to believe what we want and practice whatever religion (or lack of) we want ..."Freedom of Religion".  So how can the government, who were the first to establish "Freedom of Religion", take that away by making insurance companies pay for things that are morally wrong?  Catholic schools, businesses, colleges, etc who have been able to insure their employees (like me) are now being forced under the HHS Mandate that Obama is implementing.  Many pro life companies of many different Christian religions will refuse to participate in this, therefore, losing insurance for many people.  No matter what your beliefs about birth control, abortion, pro life, pro choice, this is not about that...this is about your beliefs in being an American and being FREE.  Free to believe whatever you want without being told you HAVE to believe this or that.   Just think of all the other things that will be taken away from us if we allow Obama to start here.  Do you like being free?  are you celebrating your freedom today, on the 4th of July?  Then remember that when you are voting in the election this November.  In the meantime, I hope you have a great day filled with with burgers, friends, laughter, and the joy of knowing you are FREE because you are made in the image and likeness of God!