The writers of the First Amendment, which guarantees us freedom of religion, as well as freedom of expression, weren’t thinking about giving Muslims and Hindus freedom to believe as they wanted to. They were trying to ensure that different denominations of the Christian faith didn’t persecute each other. Many of the earliest settlers came to these shores in search of religious freedom, trying to get away from persecution in Europe.
Yet today, we see those same Christian beliefs and those who follow them under attack. Apparently, religious freedom has been redefined by the political left to mean freedom from Christianity and the Bible, not freedom to follow one’s own religious beliefs.
Where Is This Coming From?
We can’t really lay the blame on any one doorstep. There are a number of different groups, all of which are opposed to Christianity, which have decided that Christianity is an offense to them directly. In response, they have chosen to attack Christians and Christianity, in order to remove it from blocking their desires.
These groups use names like homophobic and Islamphobic to describe Christians, calling them racist and haters but they do so without understanding that which they are denouncing. There is a large element of assumption in those names and the hate that they assume is in the heart of the Christian.
Herein lies a lot of the problem. When people start assuming what others believe and feel, they universally get it wrong. Believing that someone hates you doesn’t make them hate you. But unfortunately, there are just enough Christians around who do hate these people, that it justifies the names of the accusers, at least in their own minds.
When one feels hated by another, it is natural to respond in kind. It takes a person with great compassion, understanding and self-discipline to not respond in hate, to being hated. So, these people, most of whom have no reason to avoid hating Christians, continue hating those who they think hate them.
Of course, few Christians actually hate these people. I won’t deny that there are some, but the vast majority of Christians only want to be left alone by them. If you ask Christians about homosexuals, the only thing that most say is something along the lines of, “That’s their choice, I just want them to leave me alone.” Pretty much the same response will come when asking them about Muslims, although they might have more concern about the violence of the Muslim extremists.
With Christians thinking like that, where does all the assumption of hate come from? Simple, the Bible says that homosexuality is sin. I’ve got a surprise for the homosexuals in the world. It’s possible to not be in agreement with their lifestyle, while still accepting them as people. Accepting them doesn’t mean that Christians have to accept their lifestyle.
Let me put it in another, similar context. The Bible says that adultery is a sin as well. Most Christians will tell you that just as clearly as they will say that homosexuality is sin. When they find someone committing adultery, they will say it’s wrong, even if the person committing it is their best friend. Actually, they are more likely to say it’s wrong if the person is their best friend. But that doesn’t mean that they hate their friend or that they won’t talk to them again. They’ll probably talk themselves blue, trying to talk the “sinner” into repenting.
When Law Overcomes the Belief
The attacks which are being levied against Christianity, in the courts and in the legislature, are all based upon that assumption of hate; a hate that doesn’t exist. It is being used as an excuse to limit the First Amendment rights of Christians, calling their beliefs, “hate crimes.”
I am a firm believer in Freedom of Religion. Not as the liberal left is trying to define it, but as the writers of the Constitution understood it. I don’t care if you’re Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or believe in the ancient Greek mythology. That’s between you and God. When I became an officer in the military, I swore an oath to defend your right to your own religious convictions and although I’m no longer in, I still stand by that oath. Believe what you want, but in turn, you must allow others to believe as they want too.
In recent times, we’ve seen a number of cases in which political and judicial pressure has been placed on Christians to go against their faith. I guess it started becoming obvious with Obamacare. Several businesses and religious organizations had to go to court, in order to try and receive an exemption from paying for abortion, something that Christians call murder. Yet, Obama was handing out free exemptions to his friends, in a glaring case of crony capitalism.
Did you know that Muslims are exempt from Obamacare? Apparently their religion has something against insurance. So, they get a free ride from the whole kit and kaboodle, but Christians are being forced to pay for abortions that they disagree with. That’s fair?
Now, Christians are being forced to support same sex marriages, even though they disagree with them. Christian owned private businesses are being fined crippling amounts for not providing services to those marriages, because it’s supposedly “discriminating.” It doesn’t matter that the homosexual couples sought out a Christian business specifically, so that they could bring up a case against them. All that matters is the feelings of the homosexuals.
Sure, let’s destroy the lives of others, just because they don’t agree with our lifestyle. If Christians had that attitude, there would be no homosexuality at all, and we’d go back to the days when they were stoned to death.
Now, with the Supreme Court weighing in and saying that same sex couples have a right to get married, we’re seeing a new salvo being blasted at Christians. Forget that their ruling doesn’t make it law and forget that it was a totally illegal ruling anyway, adding something to the Constitution that isn’t there; the LGBT community is going wild. In their eyes, and apparently in the eyes of the government, the Supreme Court ruling has made it law. Same sex couples are now flocking to the County Clerk’s office to get their marriage licenses.
There, in one obscure county clerk’s office, they encountered a Christian who didn’t agree that the Supreme Court’s decision made it law. She refused to issue a marriage license, following her own understanding of the law and her Christian faith, and asked that her name be removed from the marriage license. She didn’t feel that she could issue those licenses because it would be a violation of her Christian beliefs and her personal morals. Seems rather simple to me. All they had to do was put someone else’s name there. But no, a judge decided to throw her in jail, to teach this disobedient Christian a lesson. Granted, she only spent a couple of days in jail; but still, that was the judge’s response.
Where is the law which says we are to give up our humanity, our beliefs and our conscience, just because they don’t line up with another person’s? Muslims aren’t expected to do that. Homosexuals aren’t expected to do that. But Christians are being expected to do that and it’s becoming more frequent all the time. We, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, are being denied our faith, in the very country where Christians invented the idea of Freedom of Religion.
The battle is not yet over. There will be many more salvos fired before it is. Sadly, it is a war for which I don’t believe there is much hope. Those who oppose Christianity aren’t constrained by Christian morals. So they will use weapons that Christians won’t touch. That will ultimately give them the advantage.
We must stand. Those of us who are conservatives, who believe in the Constitution, as written by the Founding Fathers, must take a stand. We must make our voice be heard. We must cry out for justice and keep on doing so, until justice returns to this land. It must not be a self-serving cry either; but one which takes into account the equal rights of all Americans. We must stand for the rights of the Muslims and the LGBT community, as well as the Christians. Fair treatment under the law is the only acceptable answer to what is happening today.
This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.
Further reading:
http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-exemptions-list/
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.clerk.loses.appeal.as.us.court.orders.her.to.issue.gay.marriage.licenses/63327.htm
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