February 4, 2016
MARSHALL NEWS MESSENGER: (2/4/16) - East Texas Baptist University President Blair Blackburn is headed to the nation's capital to support the university's fight for religious liberty, he said Tuesday.
U.S. Supreme Court justices are set to begin hearing oral arguments at 10 a.m. on March 23.
The university, joined in the suit by Houston Baptist University and Westminster Theological Seminary, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a recent lower court decision that requires the school to provide contraceptive coverage in its employee insurance or face federal fines.
Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, who represented Hobby Lobby last year in a similar case and won, will represent the three institutions next month.
"It's interesting that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in this matter by not requiring churches and private, Christian-based businesses such as Hobby Lobby to provide abortifacients through a third party insurance yet we are a private, Christian-based institution and we are having to argue the same case again."
The government health care mandate that requires all employee health care plans to include contraceptive coverage is a violation of the private religious university's beliefs and religious freedom, Blackburn said.
"It's unfair, unjust and we are not being treated equitably," Blackburn said. "We as an institution hold to God's truth and we are free, under the constitution, to follow our beliefs."
Even if the controversial abortifacients such as Plan B (the 'day after pill') and Ella (the 'week after pill') are provided by an insurance company, the college is still responsible, Blackburn said.
"We are still responsible through a third party, which makes us complicit in providing abortifacients," he said. "That is an undue burden and we shouldn't have to be complicit in providing what amounts to abortion related medicines. We provide these services through our third party insurance and we subsidize the costs for our employees which is a conflict for us and our beliefs as a Christ-centered institution."
Blackburn said the university, which has 104 full-time female faculty, making up 43 percent of the total full-time staff, has the support of its female population as related to the lawsuit.
"For me, this case is about the ability to protect our freedoms," ETBU Director of Leadership Development and Assistant Professor of Leadership Emily Prevost said Tuesday. "As a religious institution, we work diligently to make sure our faith shapes our choices in and out of the classroom. The constitution provides us freedom in that the government can not tell us how to live our faith. This is not just about contraceptives."
Prevost said she can't speak for all of the female university staff but she feels confident that ETBU staff share a common core Christ-centered faith.
"We have chosen to work here because we can express our faith in our classroom," Prevost said. "This case is about making sure we are not required to go against our beliefs and religious culture."
Blackburn agreed that the case is about much more than contraceptive coverage.
"I am certain that our cause is much greater than the abortifacient challenge - the opportunity to represent Christian higher education and our religious liberty is a God-ordained calling as we stand boldly and speak truthfully about the magnitude of separation of church and state, religious discrimination, and the religious freedoms our forefathers fought so hard to obtain," Blackburn said.
Blackburn said the stakes are much higher in this suit than just being required to pay federal fines or provide contraceptives.
"Today in America, our religious liberty is at stake. We are in jeopardy of the nation moving toward a slope that is all too slippery," he said. "Many, many other Christian colleges are looking to us. They are counting on East Texas Baptist University to advocate for their rights to exercise our Christian beliefs without constraint and without discrimination from the federal government. We must endure for the Christian values of Americans are endangered."
(Used by permission www.marshallnewsmessenger.com, story by MNM education reporter Bridget Ortigo)