The Wall Street Journal has published an op-ed jointly written by the president of Wheaton College, Philip Ryken, and the president of the Catholic University of America, John Garvey. They explain why Wheaton has decided to join the over forty Catholic dioceses, colleges, and other groups in opposing the violations of the constitutional right to religious liberty and of the natural and divine laws by the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS, under the power granted it by the Affordable Care Act championed by President Obama, is requiring all employers who do not qualify for a narrow religious exemption to cover abortifacient drugs, contraceptive technologies, and sterilization procedures for all employees. Catholic and Christian schools and hospitals, let alone lay employers with their own businesses, do not qualify for the religious exemption.

Whatever obstacles remain to the reunion of Protestants and Catholics, examples like this show how far we can go together in the effort to uphold God’s will for human society.