Barack Obama

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill that would allow all religious employers an exemption to a requirement that health care coverage include contraceptive services.

President Barack Obama has been sharply rebuked from both sides of the political spectrum for his administration's decision to require employers to carry the coverage.

"One of Barack Obama's great attractions as a presidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual concerns of religious believers," wrote liberal columnist E. J. Dionne in a Jan. 29 editorial for The Washington Post. "That is why it is so remarkable that he utterly botched the admittedly difficult question of how contraceptive services should be treated under the new health care law." more >>

In a near unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate advanced on Monday a bill forcing congressional members to be more transparent about their investments after television show 60 Minutes revealed suspicious financial patterns among some political figures.

The Senate voted 92-2 to further discussion on the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. The bill would formally prohibit congressional members from using information discussed in the halls of Congress to profit personally. Congressional members would also be required to report changes in their personal investments within 30 days.

Senators on both sides of the aisle supported the bill that was virtually unknown before the 60 Minutes expose including Tea Party darling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. more >>

In a recent attack, which critics are calling the most bloodthirsty GOP campaign they have seen in years, Newt Gingrich has accused Mitt Romney of following in President Barack Obama's footsteps – threatening America's religious freedom by pushing for a secularized government.

The jab happened Monday, when Gingrich, a converted Catholic, told Fox News' Bret Baier, "I think Gov. Romney is extraordinarily insensitive to religious freedom in America and the Obama administration is clearly engaged in a war on religion."

Gingrich referenced Romney's previous career as a Massachusetts governor, when he chose to cut Medicaid funding to health care services that benefited Jewish and Catholic facilities. more >>

Several Catholic dioceses urged Catholics this past weekend to take political action against the Barack Obama administration for mandating that faith-based schools, hospitals and charities provide insurance coverage for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs.

In an unprecedented move, dioceses in Maine, Arizona and New Orleans issued statements to their churches criticizing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and urging Catholics to write their congressional representatives about it, according to USA Today. These statements were then read to congregants during the weekend masses.

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond issued a statement to its 108 parishes, saying that the contraceptive mandate, which was reaffirmed earlier this month by Health and Human Services Department Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, "is an example of government violating our rights." more >>

Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama face an uphill battle convincing voters that they share faith values that are similar to a largely Judeo-Christian America, according to a newly released book exploring the link between religion and the presidential election.

"There are some interesting parallels between Obama's and Romney's situations," said Public Religion Research Institute Director of Research and Co-founder Daniel Cox. "Most people don't know their religious faiths."

Cox wrote a chapter about Americans' perceptions of Obama's faith in the newly released Religion and the American Presidency. more >>

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer defended her finger-pointing exchange with the president Thursday, saying she had prepared a handwritten letter to Barack Obama and was instead dragged into a dispute over her book.

Reports asserted the two argued after pictures of the Wednesday encounter portraying the governor with her finger pointed at the president emerged. The finger wagging incident also led state Democrats to call for an apology. Online speculators deemed the entire thing a publicity stunt.

Brewer denounced stunt claims Thursday as "absolutely ridiculous." She told Fox News that she went to the airport tarmac to greet the president with a personal letter. When she shook his hand, Brewer said Obama confronted her about her book's portrayal of a White House meeting. more >>