Religious Freedom For All

"From our founding forward, Americans have celebrated liberty and honored God in ways both public and private. Now activist judges seek to end all mention of God in the public square." So reads the flyer for the third “Justice Sunday” event sponsored by the Family Research Council (FRC) last Sunday night at a Philadelphia church."

"If the goal of this effort is to cause religious people to feel fear, alienation and anger, it succeeds brilliantly. If the goal is to tell them the truth, it’s a miserable failure."

"Led by the U.S. Supreme Court, the judiciary has long protected the right of individuals and groups to express their religion in our nation’s many public squares, even as it has prohibited the government from promoting religion."

"During a series of Justice Sunday events, however, the Family Research Council and its partners have repeatedly distorted church-state law and the motives of certain judges. As the Senate Judiciary Committee considers the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, it is important to set the record straight."

"At the outset, it should be noted that religion plays a visible role in many of the non-governmental sectors that are part of public culture, including the media, publishing and entertainment industries. This public role for religion raises no constitutional concern."

"Regarding religious expression in public schools, FRC President Tony Perkins has claimed that the court has "said our children don’t have a right to pray," but he is clearly wrong. While public school teachers cannot lead their classes in prayers or Bible readings, the court has said: "[N]othing in the Constitution as interpreted by this Court prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during, or after the schoolday."

That last paragraph is a just one example of how certain people are willing to lie to promote their religious ideaology. The whole issue of "activists judges" is a tactic in the effort to eventually alter the Constitution to allow the establishment of state religion. It's ludicrous to say there's a "war on Christianity" in this country, but it plays well, if you distort the facts, making listeners feel besieged by heathen hordes of Satans' minions. It brings in a lot of cash too.

It's not as if these religious leaders actually believe that they're under attack, they know the truth. They understand the Constitutional ban on a State sponsored religion. They're counting on their uninformed followers to believe in what they say is happening, and what they're saying to them, is all a lie.

The issue isn't in allowing Christians to practice their faith, nothing has ever prevented them from doing so. The issue is about power. It's about establishing religious law, because they don't really believe in religious freedom at all. They've created a false perception of Christian persecution in order to justify a push towards federal protections that would inevitably result in a theocracy based on the ideology of one particular group.

An example of how outrageous their claims can become, was expressed during the past holiday season, by claiming that what was in reality, a retail courtesy to respect all the religious views of their customers, as a direct attack on Christmas. A simple effort to be polite, was twisted into the propaganda which is encouraging Christian fears of isolation and persecution. A total non-issue, as is the rest if this fantasy they call a "War on Christianity".

Lies and deceptions, are the tools of false prophets, not honest Christians.