Religious Freedom and Human Dignity: The Crisis in Contemporary Healthcare

Tuesday, September 20, 7 p.m. in Winants Auditorium, Hope College

In recent decades, the civil rights of religious freedom and medical conscience have been increasingly challenged, especially in the area of health care. These challenges have undermined the protection of human dignity. In this talk, Louis Brown will explore the current landscape of religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and civil rights in a range of health care concerns and issues. He will discuss current threats to religious freedom, the foundational importance of human dignity, and how Christians can respond to our contemporary situation.

Louis Brown Jr., J.D. serves as the Executive Director of the Christ Medicus Foundation, a Catholic health ministry whose mission is to share the healing love of Christ in health care by (1) defending medical conscience rights and religious freedom, (2) advising and working with Catholic health care entities to expand access to Christ-centered pro-life medical care, and (3) providing the CURO Catholic health care community that serves the medical needs and whole person health of individuals and families. Louis received a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. He has worked as an attorney in private practice, for a state Catholic conference, and on Capitol Hill as a Congressman’s legislative counsel and liaison to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. He has also served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where he oversaw the civil rights division of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the supervision of the OCR Director and worked on medical conscience and religious freedom issues. Brown sits on the board of directors of two Catholic health care entities. He also recently co-founded the Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance to provide a new voice for Christ-centered Catholic health care in the United States. He currently also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Law and the Human Person at the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. In Spring 2021, Louis was a law lecturer at the law school where he taught a course on human dignity and religious freedom in health care. Louis has published articles on religious freedom, pro-life health care or civil rights in The Hill newspaper, Public Discourse, and First Things. He has been quoted in news articles in the Angelus, National Review, The Pillar, National Catholic Register, and Catholic News Agency. Louis has testified on public policy matters in the state legislatures of Maryland, Florida, South Dakota, and Arkansas. Louis also serves on the board of advisors of the Religious Liberty Initiative at Notre Dame Law School. Louis is passionate about his work for the Christ Medicus Foundation where its Catholic health care ministry, CURO, is an instrument of health and healing for its members. By God’s grace, CURO is helping its members pay for medical costs and helping its members to heal through Catholic health coaching, spiritual direction, Catholic wellness courses, and a spiritual health program centered in the Divine Physician, Jesus Christ.