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(reposted with permission by Doug Tjaden on Project 5:13)
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
This supreme law of the land is under relentless attack from within our own government. The attack is supported by the mainstream media, and the destruction this fundamental right is increasingly accepted as necessary in our politically correct culture. Many recent headlines verify that this attack is real.
“Obama Strongly Objects to Religious Liberty Amendment” reveals the fact that President Obama wants religion completely removed from the military. The White House released a statement saying that religious liberty in the military poses, “a significant adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment.” This statement runs counter to over two hundred years of evidence that the Christian faith is what brought soldiers through their most difficult circumstances.
Earlier this month, Remington Reimer, Valedictorian at Joshua High School had his microphone cut off at his graduation ceremony for “deviating from his approved speech.” What did he dare to utter? ”…most importantly, I want to thank God for giving up his only Son for us to an excruciating death on a cross, so His blood would cover all our shortcomings and provide for us a way to heaven in accepting His grace.” As a result of exercising his 1st Amendment rights, Joshua High School’s principle threatened to destroy his career in the Navy.
Christians in this nation, be it in the military, public school system, the work place, or the public square, are being faced with the same dilemma that Peter and the other Apostles faced in Acts 4:15-20 and Chapter 5:28-29. They were told, “Do not speak in His name.” Their response was swift and sure, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Unless the Christian community follows their lead and begins to exercise our 1st Amendment rights more aggressively, cultural pressures and case law will soon destroy those rights. And if we lose our ability to speak freely and critically about the policies being enacted by our government, then the remaining freedoms we have in this nation will be lost.
Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell recently observed, “As serious as the IRS scandal is, what we’re dealing with here [the destruction of freedom of speech] is larger than the actions of one agency or any group of employees.” He also noted, “People are waking up to a pattern here.” (Link to full story here.)
David Fleming, Senior Pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church, has put his finger on a major factor in why we have this problem. He has also identified one of the keys to the solution. That is, it is the church’s “duty to lead” on this and other important issues of the day.
How about you? #rufree? Is your pastor? Waking up is one thing. Are you free to engage in the battle to save the 1st Amendment? Future generations are depending on the answer to that question.
