Faith Community

On Friday, President Obama announced a landmark decision on preventive care which safeguards religious freedom while also maintaining increased access to contraception for all women. Lauded by Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, as well as Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, the ruling ensures that all women receive free contraception as part of their health insurance plans and those employers who conscientiously disagree with contraception will not be forced to pay for it.

Today, President Obama announced a contraception compromise that addresses religious concerns while ensuring women have access to free contraception and preventive care, regardless of where they work. You'll be hearing a lot about the compromise in the days to come, but here's the bottom line: This is good news.

President Barack Obama addressed the 60th annual National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, February 2nd, with a message about his own personal Christian faith and a vision for our nation anchored in the values that enable us to face our challenges and move forward greater together. “We can’t leave our values at the door,” the President said. “If we leave our values at the door, we abandon much of the moral glue that has held our nation together for centuries, and allowed us to become somewhat more perfect a union. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Abraham Heschel -- the majority of great reformers in American history did their work not just because it was sound policy, or they had done good analysis, or understood how to exercise good politics, but because their faith and their values dictated it, and called for bold action.”

President Obama presented a far-reaching vision for the future of our country in this year’s State of the Union address. He detailed important plans to improve college affordability, equip workers with 21st century skills and training, and bring about a new and increasingly prosperous era of American manufacturing. Echoing the sentiments he expressed in December in Osawatomie, Kansas, President Obama made a resounding call for a return to American values where everyone has a fair shot, gets a fair shake, and plays by the same set of rules.