politics
Vote For
RANDY STUN
Ph. D.
Oakland Community College
Board of Trustees
"A Volunteer to Serve the Community"
Freedom From Religion
My life has been devoted to Oakland Community College. My
two children, wife and I have degrees from OCC. I am running
for this position because I can help keep 0CC the quality
college Oakland County deserves.
Some past and present accomplishments include:
• Retired life long 0CC Professor
• PhD in Community and Economic Development
• Current member of 0CC Foundation Board of Directors
• Substantial knowledge of the benefits of community colleges
and 0CC
• Former member of the Walled Lake Consolidated School Board
• Taught/counseled students on all campuses of 0CC
• Leadership positions in community projects
• Extensive public policy experience
Endorsements: 0CC Faculty Association; The endorsers of both parties believe
Randy is the right choice for this nonpartisan education race.
I have seen thousands of lives improved because of
their experiences at 0CC and want to make sure the
college is here to help thousands more. The qualities
and skills I bring include a great knowledge base
of OCC and Oakland County development. I am
collaborative, understand the point of view of others
and my PhD. from V of M in Community/ Economic
Development is directly related to understanding the
training needs of our Oakland County's emerging
economic sectors.
The Committee to Elect Randy Ston,
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52
November 1 . 2012
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Poll by NCJW, ACLU and Catholics
for Choice indicates Americans reject
religious exemptions in public policy.
Jackie Headapohl
Managing Editor
A
s part of a small religious
minority in America, the
National Council of Jewish
Women supports the ideal of separa-
tion of church and state in order that
people of all religions can thrive, said
NCJW CEO Nancy Kaufman, during a
conference call with reporters regard-
ing a new opinion poll on American
ideas regarding using religion as a
reason to deny women reproductive
health services.
"It is a moral and
religious imperative
for Jews to respect
women's privacy and
health and provide
accessible family
planning and repro-
Nancy
ductive health care
Kaufman
she said.
To combat a
political assault on women's health
care by some in the name of religious
freedom, the NCJW worked with the
organizations Catholics for Choice and
the American Civil Liberties Union as
part of the Coalition for Liberty and
Justice to sponsor a poll. The Coalition
for Liberty and Justice works to ensure
that public policy protects the reli-
gious liberty of people of all faiths and
opposes public policies that impose
one religious viewpoint on all.
According to the survey, taken
by Belden Russonello Strategists,
a Washington D.C.-based opinion
research firm that works mostly with
nonprofits, Americans of all faiths and
political leanings soundly reject the
notion that organizations and indi-
viduals should be allowed to refuse to
provide reproductive health services
on religious grounds.
The landline and cell phone sur-
vey of 1,003 Americans from Sept.
12-26, 2012, included Democrats,
Republicans and independents.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents
were Christian; the rest were Jewish,
Muslim or unaffiliated. The poll has a
margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage
points.
Religious exemptions have been in
the news this year as Catholic bishops
vocally and publicly opposed the
component of health care reform that
requires employers to include con-
traception in their health insurance
coverage. That requirement led to the
Blunt Amendment, a measure pro-
posed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and
added to a highway funding bill that
would have allowed not only religious
groups but any employer with moral
objections to opt out of the contracep-
tion requirement. The amendment was
defeated in the Senate.
According to the survey, 81 percent
of respondents said "the law should
not allow companies or other institu-
tions to use religious beliefs to decide
whether to offer a service to some
people and not others."
In particular, 77 percent of respon-
dents find the idea of pharmacies
refusing to fill birth control prescrip-
tions unacceptable and 69 percent of
respondents object to allowing "a reli-
giously affiliated university to deny its
employees and students insurance cov-
erage for birth control on the ground
that birth control is a sin:"
"Some have successfully tried to
frame this issue as a matter of religious
liberty," Kaufman said, "and have
painted an inaccurate picture of what
religious liberty means."
Kaufman said she feels strongly that
there has been an assault on freedom
of religion and women's reproductive
freedom. "The two are not mutually
exclusive; they are linked," she said.
"Every woman has the right to exer-
cise personal judgment on their health
care decisions without having imposed
on them the religious beliefs of others."
According to Sara Hutchinson,
domestic program director at Catholics
for Choice, the survey shows that
American Catholics don't believe
religious beliefs should be in play in
public policy.
Louise Melling, deputy legal director
at the American Civil Liberties Union,
said, "We absolutely support the right
of religious freedom, but the right
to free exercise in America does not
mean the right to impose your views
on others.
"We can no more tolerate efforts to
use religion to discriminate when it
comes to issues like the current fight
over contraception, than we could
when religion was unsuccessfully used
as an excuse to resist integration dur-
ing the civil rights movement." ❑