They allege that it is an all-out attack on their faith and beliefs. ![The Fisrt Amendment](http://christianculturecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/religious-freedom2.jpg)
Washington DC, May 17 (DP.net).– The Executive Branch of the US government issued an Executive Order granting a $1.9 trillion relief bill that failed to include for the first time in over 40 years the pro-life protections found in the Hyde Amendment.1 That means for Christians that millions of taxpayer dollars will be used to directly pay Planned Parenthood and other agencies to "slaughter unborn children" and they will thus be paying for abortions along with every other American.
Furthermore, they reject a new bill on the Senate floor declaring an all-out assault on the Hyde Amendment, calling it "racist".
On their part, the House of Representatives passed the "Equality Act", and it is now on the Senate floor for approval. Facing this new development, five separate committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have spoken out in firm opposition to this bill, noting that if passed, this "Equality Act" would pose a dire threat to "both people of faith and of no faith, to the right of freedom of speech, as well as to faith-based charities and health-care workers with conscience objections, among others".
According to those opposing this Act of Congress, if it passes into law, it could:
- Punish faith-based charities, and consequently their beneficiaries, for their beliefs on marriage and sexuality.
- Force health care workers to perform abortions, in spite of conscience objections on ending a human life.
- Force people and organizations to speak and act in support of "gender transitions", even in instances when it is against their professional judgment.
- Exclude from their careers and livelihoods those people who insist on their beliefs on marriage and "normal" sexuality.
- Force girs and women to compete against boys and men who "claim to identify as women" in sports, as well as share locker rooms, restrooms, and shower spaces with them.
- Force taxpayers to pay for abortions through their taxes.
The vast majority of these Christians are also very alarmed by the provisions against "legitimate controls" in electoral procedures as contained in the 800-page bill of the so-called "For the People Act" (H.R.1 / S.1), a name they argue is used to make it look like positive legislation.
1 The Hyde Amendment bans using federal Medicaid to cover almost all abortions but does not limit a state’s ability to use its own funds to cover abortion.