A federal judge has ruled against a Christian business' request for an injunction against having to adhere to the "preventive services" mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Judge Joe Heaton of the United States District Court of the Western District of Oklahoma ruled Monday that Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. did not have a "clear and unequivocal" right to an injunction against the controversial HHS mandate, which is part of the Affordable Care Act.

"The court is not unsympathetic to plaintiffs' circumstances and recognizes that the ACA's substantial expansion of employer obligations results in concerns and issues not previously confronted by companies or their owners," said Heaton. more >>

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), told Roman Catholic leaders on Tuesday that despite President Barack Obama's re-election last week, the fight to repeal provisions of Obamacare is not over.

"The only thing we're certainly not prepared to do is give in. We're not violating our consciences. I would say no door is closed except for the door to capitulation," Dolan said after the meeting.

For the past year, the USCCB, backed by the Vatican, has been protesting the HHS Mandate in the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, which requires religious employers to provide insurance coverage for employees that includes birth control and contraceptives. As those go against Roman Catholic values, bishops have claimed that the religious freedom of Catholic business owners is being imposed upon. more >>

A U.S. district judge in Michigan ruled against a key provision of Obamacare on Wednesday by stating that a business run by a Catholic family does not have to include contraception in its health coverage for employees.

District Judge Robert Cleland temporary blocked the government from enforcing the HHS Mandate on the religious owners of Weingartz Supply Company, which sells outdoor power equipment and employs approximately 170 people, Reuters reported. The ruling comes as a relief to the family, headed by Daniel Weingartz, who have said that enforcing the mandate would conflict with their Roman Catholic values, which are opposed to all forms of contraceptives and birth control.

"The harm in delaying the implementation of a statute that may later be deemed constitutional must yield to the risk presented here of substantially infringing the sincere exercise of religious beliefs," Cleland explained in his 29-page opinion. more >>

A Democratic precinct committeeman has said that Obamacare forces pro-life health care workers into "slavery" because the federal mandate forces them to choose between their morals and their career.

"Slaves do not have a right to refuse to do work that violates their religion," said Woodrow Wilcox, who is also a delegate to the state convention of Democrats. "Under Obamacare, the Obama administration is threatening pro-life health care workers with punishment if they do not participate in abortion, euthanasia, or other objectionable services because of their religious beliefs."

Wilcox's remarks came during a "Stand Up for Religious Freedom" rally held Oct. 20 in Crown Point, Ind., just one of several such rallies simultaneously held across the nation. more >>

The Obama campaign has released the transcript of an interview that had been off-the-record. In the interview, Obama provides more detail about what he would do if given a second term than can be found in the campaign's new second term agenda document.

As often happens with presidential candidates, President Barack Obama met with the editors of the Des Moines Register, the largest newspaper in the swing state of Iowa, to answer questions before the editors decide who they will endorse. More unusual, though, was his request that the interview remain off-the-record. After much criticism from the press corps, Obama backed off the demand and a transcript of the interview has been published.

In a Tuesday night blog post, Rick Green, editor of the Des Moines Register, described his repeated attempts to get the interview, his surprise at being told that the interview would be off-the-record and his efforts to get the Obama campaign to reverse their decision. more >>

Family planning strengthens families, enhances the health of women and children, and reduces abortions, The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good (NEP) argues in a new document. The liberal evangelical group urges fellow evangelicals to support programs that provide family planning services for the poor both in the United States and abroad.

The document, called "A Call to Christian Common Ground on Family Planning, and Maternal, and Children's Health," (available here in .pdf) was announced Monday at a press conference (available here on YouTube) in Washington, D.C.

The reason for the document, Richard Cizik, president of NEP, explained, is "we believe in a new kind of engagement," "we believe the Church has not been as actively associated with this issue and with the concern ... as it should be," and "we believe strongly in a compassion agenda." more >>