A national survey from the Public Religion Research Institute explored the issue of religion and the Obama administration's mandate for coverage of contraception under health care insurance plans offered by employers.
There are major religious, generational and political divisions regarding whether an employer should be required to provided health care plans that cover contraception at no cost to the employee.
Here are some of the major findings:
- Nearly half (49 percent) of Americans say that religiously affiliated colleges and hospitals should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception or birth control at no cost. Forty-six percent say they should not have to provide this type of coverage.
- Among religious Americans, 61 percent of the religiously unaffiliated believe that employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception, compared with 50 percent of white mainline Protestants and 38 percent of white evangelical Protestants.
- A majority of all Catholics (52 percent) say that religiously affiliated colleges and hospitals should be required to provide coverage that includes contraception.
- Only 41 percent of white Catholics support this requirement, compared with 58 percent who oppose it.
- Among other religious Americans, 59 percent of the unaffiliated say that religiously affiliated colleges and hospitals should be required to provide coverage that includes contraception, compared with 31 percent of white evangelical Protestants. White mainline Protestants are about evenly divided (45 percent say that hospitals and colleges should be required to provide coverage, 48 percent say they should not).
- Strong majorities of white evangelicals (73 percent), white mainline Protestants (64 percent) and Catholics (59 percent) believe that churches and other places of worship should not be required to provide contraception coverage.
-- Religion News
Week in Religion
- Feb. 13, 1973, the National Council of U.S. Catholic Bishops announced that anyone undergoing or performing an abortion would be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
- Feb. 14, 1864, the birth of Israel Zangwill, a Jewish author and Zionist in England who wrote "Children of the Ghetto."
- Feb. 15, 1145, Bernardo elected Pope Eugene III.
-- William D. Blake, Almanac of the Christian Church
Survey Says
Although 46 percent of Mormons say they face a lot of discrimination in the U.S. today, most also think acceptance of Mormonism is on the rise, with 63 percent saying the American people are becoming more likely to see Mormonism as part of mainstream society. And 56 percent of those surveyed say the American people are ready for a Mormon president.
-- Pew Research Center on Religion & Public Life
Good Book?
"Night" by Elie Wiesel
This book is Elie Wiesel';s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie';s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author';s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man';s capacity for inhumanity to man.
-- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Quote of the week
"We serve a gracious master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to his glory and our own advantage." -- John Newton, Anglican hymnwriter
The Word
Orisha: Pronounced "oh-REE-shah." In the Santeria religion, it is an emissary of God who rules over human life.
-- religionstylebook.com
Religion Around the World
Religious makeup of French Polynesia
Protestant: 54 percent
Roman Catholic: 30 percent
Other: 10 percent
No religion: 6 percent
- CIA Factbook
GateHouse News Service
