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it was announced Monday that Franciscan University, along with Notre Dame University, the Catholic University of America and dozens of other Catholic institutions have filed suit against the administration challenging the HHS mandate. (Franco Origlia - GETTY IMAGES) If there is one freedom our country has consistently cherished, it is the right to freedom of conscience: the right to act or not to act as conscience dictates. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “no provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of civil authority.”

Indeed, even before the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution in 1775 exempting pacifists from military enlistment:

“If there ever was a time for great Americans, great and good Americans, Americans who are willing to cross into the deep waters of life, it is now. . . . I am optimistic about the future of America because I have seen the spirit and heart of the American people.”

Mitt Romney delivered these remarks in a commencement address to an evangelical audience in Virginia during the heat of a presidential campaign.  A speech that many said was critical for Romney to make his case to evangelical voters to rally them around his campaign.

Almost exactly five years later, it’s déjà vu all over again.  Or is it?

The first speech was on the campus of Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., on May 5, 2007 (view it here).  We were both in attendance that day at our alma mater as Mitt Romney delivered what many regard as one of his best speeches of the 2008 campaign.

 Now, as Romney prepares to deliver a commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg this weekend, the media would have you believe that the stakes are just as high.

 Headlines like “Is Romney Going to Make Peace With Evangelicals in Liberty Commencement Speech?”and lines like “the former Massachusetts governor is laboring to consolidate the conservative base” permeate the news.

 But is this really the case?

 Unlike five years ago, Romney has all but secured the Republican Party’s nomination for president.  Since mid-March – when it became abundantly clear that Romney was going to get the nomination – President Obama has lost support among Protestants and Catholics.

 In fact, among the critical voting block that Romney is supposedly “laboring” to consolidate support, evangelicals, a recent poll shows him with a 73 to 20 percent advantage over Obama.  This is hardly a failure to rally support. Among Catholics, another critical voting block, one some have said will determine the election, Romney has already amassed a 20 point lead, 57 percent to 37 percent,over Obama.

 There is no doubt that this speech is an important one for Romney, but not for the reasons that the media is saying.

 It is an opportunity to return to the Reaganesque rhetoric of his speech five years ago at Regent.

 It was an inspiring story, a personal story, as Romney challenged and encouraged graduating students to dive into the deep end of life.  His charge was to avoid the temptation to stay in the shallows.  It was a speech laced with the ideals, the hopes, and the dreams we hold dear as Americans.

 We listened as Romney eloquently stated:

”Over the years, I have watched a number of people live out their lives in shallow water.  In the shallows, life is all about yourself – your job, your money, your rights, your needs, your ideas, your comforts.

“In the deeper waters, life is about others – spouse, family, friends, faith, community, country. In the deep waters, there are challenging ideas, opposing opinions, protracted battles of consequence.

. . . .

“Almost every dimension of your life can be held to the shallows or it can be taken into the deeper waters.  Your spouse, your family, your career, your involvement in your community, your politics, your faith each can be narrowly focused on your own personal convenience and comfort.  Or instead, it can draw you out of yourself, into concern for others, into service and sacrifice, into selflessness.”

It’s a speech that we haven’t forgotten and often think about in our own lives.  It’s a speech that America needs to hear again, applicable never more so than today.  To leave the shallows of bondage to an out-of-control national debt, stop apologizing for American exceptionalism, and focus on getting America back to work again.

This is not just the speech that America needs to hear; it’s the action we need from our president to truly move “forward,” out of the shallows and into deep water.

Jordan Sekulow is Executive Director of the American Center for Law & Justice and writes for On Faith’s blogging network at the Washington Post. Matthew Clark is an attorney for the ACLJ. Both are graduates of the Regent University School of Law, and in 2008, Sekulow worked as a consultant for Romney in youth outreach.

Pro-life advocates have long complained that Planned Parenthood, the country’s largest abortion provider, worships at the altar of abortion, but did you know that the abortion industry actually prays for abortion?

Perversely reminiscent of 40 day pro-life prayer vigils, Planned Parenthood in Humboldt County, Ca., is promoting it’s own “40 days of prayer,” March 18th through April 27th, for abortion. This is not their usually disguised promotion of abortion as “preventative care,” “family planning,” or “contraceptive services.” No, they throw those typical euphemisms out and directly pray for abortion.

A prayer guide found on PlannedParenthood.org ,40 Days of Prayer Supporting Women Everywhere , encourages pro-abortion supporters to offer prayers of “thanks for abortion providers” and the “sacred care” they provide.

Each day, Planned Parenthood suggests a prayer, for example:

· “We give thanks for the doctors who provide quality abortion care.”

· We pray for a cloud of gentleness to surround every abortion facility.”

· We pray for all the staff at abortion clinics around the nation. May they be daily confirmed in the sacred care that they offer women.”

Some of the prayers, like those above, are for the abortionists. Others are for all “women to access . . . abortion,” and one is to “give thanks and celebrate that abortion is still safe and legal.”

Still other prayers are against pro-life advocates. They pray that women on the way to have an abortion would be “shielded” from the lifesaving message of pro-life sidewalk counselors and “give thanks for abortion escorts who guide women safely through the hostile gauntlets of protesters.” In another, “we pray for women who have been made afraid of their own power [of choice, i.e. abortion] by their religion. May they learn to reject fear and live bravely.”

Contrary to popular belief, Mitt Romney is not a tough sell to social conservatives.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks to a crowd during a campaign event, in Warwick, R.I., Wednesday, April 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Steven Senne - AP) Now that the GOP presidential race is coming to a close and it is all but certain that Governor Romney will lead Republicans on the ballot in November, the debate amongst conservatives is over. We have a nominee. We have clear contrasts between our nominee and the president. The only question remaining is whether we defy the pundits and put the social conservative grassroots machine into high gear? With the tremendous differences between the Obama platform and Romney platform, what we need now is clarity.

Let’s start with the mother of all social issues, abortion. President Obama declared to Planned Parenthood that when it comes to abortion, “on this fundamental issue [choice], I will not yield.” This is a promise the president has certainly kept. The abortion surcharge in the Affordable Care Act along with the now controversial HHS mandate (the abortifacient mandate) are two examples of the president’s proactive pro-abortion activism.

The contrast? Mitt Romney has pledged to defund Planned Parenthood and has been endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee, Susan B. Anthony List, and a number of prominent pro-life activists and elected officials (a list growing by the minute).

The clarity? Conservatives, it’s time to stop bickering. If individuals who have dedicated most or all of their careers to defending the unborn accept Governor Romney as strongly pro-life, you should too – right now, not next week or in a month.

On marriage, Governor Romney is clear while President Obama doesn’t seem to know exactly what to say. Governor Romney supports traditional marriage and has pledged to, “appoint an Attorney General who will defend the Defense of Marriage Act – a bipartisan law passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton . . . and also champion a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.” President Obama is still “evolving” on gay marriage. Unless he has a pre-November change of heart, as some have suggested , the contrast is simple. We know where Mitt Romney stands and we don’t know what President Obama will do. To clarify the message, it will be important to pressure President Obama and his campaign to tell the American people – left and right, gay and straight – where he stands and what he’ll do on this issue if he is re-elected.

ObamaCare led to a social conservative dominated tea party revolt in the buildup to the 2010 midterm elections, resulting in the end of a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. While the Supreme Court may make the issue moot before Election Day, keep in mind that President Obama has already indicated his willingness to make the Supreme Court and the healthcare decision a political issue. The contrast is simple. Are you a voter that wants more justices like Kagan and Sotomayor or Alito and Roberts?

While Romney has pledged to repeal ObamaCare, piece by piece if necessary, the bigger issue is the makeup of the Supreme Court for decades to come. The next president will determine whether the court moves left or right. That’s about as clear as it gets.

On the economy, you really don’t need me to get into it, that’s how much contrast there is - higher taxes (Obama) vs. lower taxes (Romney), more government regulation (Obama) vs. free enterprise (Romney), more spending (Obama) vs. less spending (Romney).

Foreign policy deserves its own blog or blogs but suffice to say, Israel is a key social conservative issue and post-election “flexibility” regarding missile defense is surely going to comeback in a big way.

The media will make Romney’s Mormon faith as much as an issue as voters let it become. As conservatives, let’s take the high ground and practice what we preach. We judge a candidate by their actions and pledges, not their personal faith. Remember that those who deride the Mormon faith on the left think that you as an evangelical are really no different. Do not fall into the trap.

Finally, Romney’s secret weapon in attracting strong grassroots conservative support is not so secret anymore. Ann Romney can and will be a unifying figure for the Romney campaign. The “war on women” is looking more and more like a “war on moms,” specifically Mitt Romney’s wife.

It’s a recipe of social issues that looks good for conservatives in November.

Anti-abortion protesters pray outside the Supreme Court on the third day of oral arguments over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. (MLADEN ANTONOV - AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

For more than two years, conservative legal organizations like the ACLJ have said that Obamacare is about much more than a choice between individual liberty and a federal takeover of the health care industry. Recent news lends further evidence to concern that the Affordable Care Act is also about expanding access to and funding for abortion. This month, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, said of the newly-released abortion funding rules for state insurance exchanges, “Abortion isn’t health care . . . Obamacare should do them no harm. Tragically, it does the worst harm of all. It kills children and makes others complicit in abortion.”