I was minding my own business and came home to hear a discussion on TV about the Obama administrations mandate that religious organizations must supply contraceptives to their employees under the health care plan and the direction of Health and Human Services.   On my blog on February 4th I talked about Rev. Matthew Harrison’s statement concerning this issue and how much I appreciated the stand and the deliverance of a message about religious freedom, the constitution and this HHS decision.  The discussion on TV happened on a program called “The Five” and someone said on the panel that when the Catholic Church, Jewish organizations and the Lutherans talk about something and agree, we might want to pay attention to the issue.  Now I do not want to be a gad fly, but I am sure that the ELCA has not spoken out about this issue for various reasons, but I know that the top official of the LCMS has.  Can it be that a national news outlet has actually paid attention to something that an official of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church has said?  It would appear so.  For that I am grateful but….
Not long ago we received a friendly admonition from a District President that Pastor types should refrain from talking too much about “political issues” because our people were both Democrats and Republicans and we risk losing the Gospel proclamation in the haze of political rhetoric – at least that is what I think he was trying to say.  I apologize if I missed the point but the fact is that if I polled my congregation on every subject that the Scriptures might have something to say about I wouldn’t preach on anything lest I lose the Gospel in a political fog.  So can we join in this discussion as Lutherans or not?  Can we join as Pastors?  If we can’t say anything about a mandate that requires religious organizations to pay for an abortafacient for their employees, be they religious or not, what can we talk about?
Well evidently Catholics can, although the powers that be think they have disqualified themselves because of the Priest scandals (isn’t it interesting that the the Boy Scouts can be sued over not allowing boys to be under the supervison of homosexual men, and the Catholic church is in trouble for doing just that?); Jewish officials can, but we can’t? 
Oh well I don’t want to be controversial, but thanks to President Harrison for being so.  Thanks also for Fox News for recognizing, at least in the editorual conversation part of their programming that Lutherans have some rights under the constitution too.