The rains may have kept some away, but it didn’t dampen the patriotic enthusiasm on display at the Faith & Freedom First rally on Saturday, February 18th!
The San Antonio Tea Party joined a coalition of political, civic, and religious groups at Main Plaza to support and celebrate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as well as to protest the Obama Administration’s contraceptive mandate forced on religious institutions. The broad-based coalition included organizations such as the Latino National Republican Coalition, Alamo Pachyderm Club, Republican Men’s Club, Bexar County Republican Women, Republican Business Women, the Alamo Heights High School and Churchill High School Young Republicans, Young Republicans of Bexar County, The Justice Foundation, and Texas Leadership Coalition. With the San Fernando Cathedral as a backdrop for the event, prominent members of the clergy also took part, including Fr. John E. Leies of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Pastor Charles E. Flowers of Faith Outreach Center International, and Pastor Gerald A. Ripley, Jr., of Abundant Life Church. Also participating were the Hon. Art Martinez De Vara, Mayor of Von Ormy, and Dr. William P. Mueller of the Catholic Medical Association. The SATP was well represented among the crowd of approximately 200, as were a number of candidates for federal and state offices and local judgeships. Radio personality Trey Ware also braved the drizzle and attended the event. Several elected officials who were unable to attend—Congressmen Francisco “Quico” Canseco and Lamar Smith—delivered words of support through their local staffers.
George Rodriguez, SATP President, one of the speakers at the event, called on participants to “Remember in November” those who give lip service to support for religious liberties, but ignore those beliefs—recognized by the First Amendment of the US Constitution—through policies such as those the Administration recently announced.
In what was a proud testimony to diverse organizations coming together on a common issue, representatives from the sponsoring organizations didn’t let the city’s delay in granting a permit or the forecast of rain weaken their resolve to stage a meaningful event. Representatives of each of these organizations worked diligently since their press conference on February 11th (announcing the event) to gain the required permits and settle logistics before they could officially publish the time and location. Their patience paid off, and even the sun made a brief but welcome appearance half way through the event.
During the rally, the SATP’s Statement on Religious Liberty was circulated through the crowd and is available (Click Here) for reference. We have also posted a photo album of the event.
Additional information about the event may be viewed at WOAI’s report from the site. Also, we encourage readers to regularly visit Faith & Freedom First’s website for more information about the rally, as well as updates on a March event the coalition is planning.
The San Antonio Tea Party and a coalition of civic and religious groups will rally at noon on Saturday, February 18th, for the dual purposes to protest the recent Obama Administration contraceptive mandate forced on religious institutions, and to support and celebrate the First Amendment—part of the US Constitution that the Administration seems to have forgotten. The rally will be held at Main Plaza (San Fernando Cathedral) located at Main and Commerce Streets downtown San Antonio.
“All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” wrote English philosopher Edmund Burke. If ever that were true, it is now. Please join us for the rally this Saturday! Bring your signs, banners, and flags to let San Antonio and ultimately Washington, D.C. know “enough is enough!”
Please pass this information to others and invite them to join us. For more information on this issue, read the following statement by SATP President George Rodriguez.
Obama Attacks the First Amendment
The opposition to President Obama’s Contraceptive Mandate for religious hospitals and clinics is based on two fundamental points: personal religious belief and the U.S. Constitution.
First, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that the government cannot interfere in religious belief. Religious belief is the most personal and precious aspect of an individual’s personality. How we think makes us what we are. “As a man thinks, so is he.” Our personal and private beliefs are the basis of individual freedoms.
However, the dictators make every effort to control personal thoughts to control people. This is why our Founding Fathers prohibited this in the first amendment to the Constitution, to prevent the government from telling the people what or how to think. But Obama is trying to “fundamentally change America” (his words). He wants a political system where the government limits the freedoms of the people, instead of where the people limit the authority of the government. It is not the government’s business to make any church or any religion change its doctrine and beliefs to fit government policies. The Constitution clearly stops the government from imposing its ideas over any religion.
Second, we believe the real target of the Obama administration’s contraceptives mandate is the U.S. Constitution by using Obama-care as a weapon. We have seen other examples where the Constitution does not matter to the Obama Administration such as ignoring states’ rights. Liberal women’s groups want universal access to birth control but ignore the fact that there are many private nonprofit clinics that can provide such services. Why pick on religious groups? Where is the freedom of choice the liberals always clamor for?
In an effort to “accommodate” (Obama’s own word) the religious anger, the contraceptive mandate was shifted from Catholic employers to insurance companies. Instead of being forced to buy an insurance product that violates their beliefs, religious institutions will be forced to buy an insurance product that contributes to the profits and viability of a company that is federally mandated to violate their beliefs.
Obama wants to implement his liberal policies regardless of the Constitution. He feels the government and the collective should supersede the rights and beliefs of the individual. The mandate clearly impedes the free exercise of religion by requiring religiously affiliated medical centers to provide birth control assistance in spite of their religious belief. If Obama can be successful with this policy mandate, we are on a slippery slope to undermine personal freedoms of every kind.
This mandate must be rescinded completely, and Obama must stop his attack on religion, personal freedoms, and the U. S. Constitution. This is not just a religious issue; it is an American freedom issue.
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As previously announced at the Feb. 11 press conference, a coalition of religious and civic groups–including the San Antonio Tea Party–will host a
Faith and Freedom First Rally on Saturday, February 18, at 12 p.m. at Main Plaza, downtown San Antonio. Main Plaza is located at Main and Commerce Streets, across from the San Fernando Cathedral. Click here for map and directions.
The purpose of the rally is to protest the Obama HHS contraceptives mandate being forced on religious institutions and to support/celebrate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Please pass the word to friends and church members to clear their schedule and make plans to join us Saturday at noon for this important rally.
The contraceptives mandate is yet another attempt to erode individual freedoms through ObamaCare and ignore the Constitution. We must unite and speak out!
CLICK HERE to Read More and Comment…
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Posted 2/11/2012: At today’s press conference, we announced plans to hold a march and rally next Saturday, Feb. 18 at 10am in downtown San Antonio.
The exact site has yet to be determined, but we want everyone to pass the word to their friends and church members to clear their schedule and make plans to participate in this rally next Saturday. The purpose of the march and rally is to protest President Obama’s HHS Contraceptive Mandate which impedes religious freedom in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is yet another attempt to erode individual freedoms through ObamaCare and ignore the Constitution. We must unite and speak out. You can stay posted for further information on the SATP website (www.sanantonioteaparty.us), or though your church and/or civic organization leaders. The Constitution is hanging by a thread, my friends, and we must say “no” to this mandate.
George Rodriguez, President, San Antonio Tea Party
Fred Rangel - San Antonio businessman, ran for City Council District 7 seat in 2011
David Rosa - Republican candidate for U.S. Congress District 20
Weekly Report for Feb. 6 – Feb. 10, 2012
Monday, Feb. 6
- Met with Seguin Tea Party group to discuss their affiliation with SATP.
- Spoke with Justin Hollis, Dewhurst Campaign, about hosting Dewhurst for a “meet & greet” event.
- Reached out to local Christian church ministers and pastors to meet regarding Obama HHS Contraceptive mandate.
- Contacted CPS to request a meeting with CEO/President to discuss various issues.
Tuesday, Feb. 7
- Met with Mike Luckey regarding networking with Hill Country Patriots on area-wide issue. Liberal policies in SA and Bexar County can impact on surrounding counties.
- Attended Neighborhood Group meetings for Groups # 2 and # 258/261
Wednesday, Feb. 8
- Discussed plans for a press conference with various conservative groups to protest HHS Contraceptive Mandate.
Thursday, Feb. 9
- Met and briefed Joe Ortiz, Republican candidate for County Commissioner Precinct 1, regarding the Street Car issue.
- TV interview on Univision regarding creation of a Temporary Worker program for aliens.
- Interviewed on radio regarding Mitt Romney and Immigration.
- Held SATP Executive Committee meeting
Friday, Feb. 10
- Meeting with Jonathan Huhn from Senator Cornyn’s office to discuss various issues
- Helped to plan a press conference with several conservative groups and religious organizations regarding the HHS Contraceptive Mandate. The press conference is planned for Saturday, Feb.11 at noon.
Planned meetings and events:
Saturday, Feb. 11 – Press Conference at 12 noon at Sideliners Bar & Grill, 15630 Henderson Pass, San Antonio, regarding HHS Contraceptive Mandate.
Saturday, Feb. 18 – Speaking at Wilson County George Washington Dinner, 12301 U.S. Highway 87, La Vernia, TX at 6:00pm
Wednesday, Feb. 29 – Meeting with CPS President to discuss rate-payer issues and concerns
[Editor’s note: Check back to this space throughout the coming week to view the latest information on this developing issue.]
The San Antonio Tea Party finds it ironic that while local liberal elected officials are fighting for redistricting by claiming discrimination against Hispanics, they are ignoring President Obama’s insult against Hispanic Catholics by forcing contraception over their religious beliefs. Liberals like San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, state representatives Mike Villarreal and Trey Fischer-Martinez, and U.S. Congressman Charles Gonzalez are quick to allege discrimination against Hispanics by Republicans, but they have not said a word about the HHS contraception mandate which many Catholics feel is an insult to the Catholic community. Congressional candidates Ciro Rodriguez and Sylvia Romo have also been very quiet on the issue of the contraception mandate.
“President Barack Obama has not just given the Catholic community a slap in the face, he is telling Hispanic Catholics to limit our families and forget our religious beliefs,” Robert Aguirre, president of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, said Jan. 31. He cited President Obama’s May 2009 speech at the University of Notre Dame in which the president said, “Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause.”
Surveys have historically shown that a majority of Hispanics, because of their faith, are conservatives and pro-life. The San Antonio Tea Party feels the silence by liberal Hispanic elected officials is more evidence of the cynicism liberal Hispanics politicians show toward the Hispanic community. These liberals Hispanics are more interested in supporting their political party than in serving or representing the people who elected them.
Preaching a conservative message is a better way to connect with the growing U.S. Hispanic community than to mention the Republican Party by name, the nation’s first Hispanic tea party group president said at an Austin forum on Thursday.
“Whenever the word ‘Republican’ is used, it was almost like an automatic wall that falls,” George Rodriguez, president of the San Antonio Tea Party, said at a conference organized by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Yet when we used the word ‘conservative,’ people were more responsive.”
Warned off by fiery Republican rhetoric lashing out at illegal immigrants in the last electoral cycle, U.S. Hispanics voted by a two-to-one margin for President Barack Obama over Republican rival John McCain in 2008.
And in the 2010 Texas gubernatorial race, 61 percent of Latino voters chose Bill White, the Democrat, over Republican Governor Rick Perry, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
To reverse that allegiance, Rodriguez said that conservative Texans have to overcome established voting patterns.
“For some reason, these folks continue to vote liberal, only because their parents did,” he said. “When you ask them, ‘Why do you vote like that?’, they don’t know, they don’t know, they just do it.”
Getting a message out to the Hispanic community, which at 50.5 million people is the largest minority in the United States, is hampered by the absence of conservative talk show firebrands and commentators in the Spanish language, he said.
“There is no Rush Limbaugh in Spanish,” he said. “There’s no Sean Hannity in Spanish.”
Rodriguez’s comments came at the foundation’s 10th Annual Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature. He was joined on the panel by Republican State Representative Raul Torres, who helped bring the number of Hispanic Republicans in the Texas House from zero to five when he was elected as part of the Republican sweep in 2010.
A veteran Democratic representative, Aaron Pena, brought the number to six when he switched to the Republican Party after the election, and Hispanic Republicans formed their own caucus.
The assumption that Hispanics care only about a narrow set of issues – such as immigration and welfare program – reinforces the belief that Latinos are a monolithic group of Democratic voters, said another panelist, U.S. Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco, a San Antonio Republican.
“This is a view that the Democratic political establishment would like Republicans to have and thus minimize the effort to engage the Hispanic community and leave the Democrats all alone to reap the benefits of a fast-growing demographic,” said Canseco, who unseated Democrat Ciro Rodriguez in 2010.
Rebecca Acuna, a spokeswoman for the Texas Democratic Party, told Reuters that it’s no coincidence that the Texas-Mexico border region is heavily Democratic.
“It’ll be hard for Republicans to convince Latinos that they want them in their party when they don’t even want them in this country,” Acuna said.
Rodriguez said that his tea party group has plenty of Hispanics. At least 40 percent of the people in his 6,000-name database of supporters are Hispanic, he said.
“When somebody says that the tea party scares Hispanics, tell them to come to San Antonio,” Rodriguez said.
(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Tim Gaynor)
San Antonio Tea Party
