Community Corner

Protesters Rally for Religious Freedom

Around hundred of people gathered in St. Petersburg Saturday to protest Obamacare.

Around 100 people rallied at 'Founders Corner' Saturday afternoon at a 'Stand up for Religious Freedom' rally. 

Saturday's rally was squarely aimed at the Health and Human Services Mandate, otherwise known as Obamacare. 

Protesters said forcing religious institutions to pay for "contraceptives, sterilization and aborting-inducing drugs" is an attack on religious freedom. 

Find out what's happening in St. Petewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sonya March, a former Florida Republican senate candidate, said the war on religion is worse than you think. 

"The ACLU and other radical anti-Christian groups have been on a mission to eliminate public expression of our nation's faith and heritage," March said. "By imposing the government, filing lawsuits and spreading the myth of a so-called separation of church and state, the opposition (are trying to enforce) it’s leftist agenda on Americans."

Find out what's happening in St. Petewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

March said it is important for citizens to stand up to the government and vote for leaders that will support the ideals that the U.S. was founded on. 

"In courtrooms and in schools rooms, offices and shops, public buildings, and even churches, those who believe in God are increasingly threatened punished and silenced," March added. "Spread of the gospel by transforming the legal system and advocating for religious liberty, the sanctity of life and marriage and family. Can you imagine what tomorrow will look like in America if the opposition is not stopped today."

Republican state senate candidate Jeff Brandes said he was proud to speak at a grassroots event just weeks before the November general election. He echoed March's sentiments of electing leaders that stand with the founders.

"(Religious freedom) is so important that our founders put it first among the first," he said of the Constitution. "It is the root of the root of what America is. It truly is. Religious freedom is absolutely, the very beginning. They started with God. Among everything they could have started with. Before speech, before press, there is religion." 

"The (Health and Human Services mandate) doesn’t stop with free contraceptives, it requires employers heath care plans to provide free sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs," March concluded. "More importantly, the American idea of religious liberty is at stake. This really isn’t about contraception, it’s about the First Amendment." 

While yard signs reading, "yes on Amendment 6" lined the Religious Freedom rally, a few miles south, progressives rallied at Jannus Live in opposition to Amendment 6. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here