Will You Take A Stand

It seems the one religion in the world that can be persecuted and ridiculed with the approval of our society is Christianity. Obama and his administration have made their view of Christianity very clear. In May of 2009 he refused to host the National Day of Prayer but has hosted dinners to celebrate Ramadan each year of his term. In April of 2009 he ordered that a monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name be covered while speaking in a Catholic University. In disrespect of Christian values Obama nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican in April of 2009. In October of 2010 he begins omitting the phrase “the Creator” from the Declaration of Independence. In August of 2011 the Obama administration releases its new health rules requiring health care workers to perform abortions regardless of their religious views. In November 2011 Obama avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech. January 2012 his administration argues that churches have no protection from the First Amendment when hiring pastors or rabbis. February 2012 Obama’s administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, with one exception—any student loan related to religion.

In June of 2011 the Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial services at Houston National Cemetery. September 2011 the Army forbids Bibles from being given to soldiers in Walter Reed Medical Center. June 2012 the Bibles that have been printed from the beginning of our existence as a country and given to soldiers in war are stopped by this administration. August 2010 the administration cuts all funding to abstinence education programs. Feb 2011 Obama directs the Justice Department to stop defending the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. In October 2011 the administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized underage girls. September 2011 Obama orders the Pentagon to direct chaplains to perform same-sex marriage in violation of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. January 2011 the Obama administration disobeys a court order to transfer federal land to a private entity for a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert. August 2012 ObamaCare mandates Catholic Hospitals and Universities and private companies owned by religious people to pay for abortion and contraception as part of the health care they provide for their employees.[1]

There is probably no group of people that has seen its religious liberties ripped away as much as military chaplains under the Obama rule. They have been told they will not be exempted from performing same-sex marriages. They have been ordered to not explain the biblical view of homosexuality from now on because it is no longer acceptable to this administration. They have been told that no disobedience on this area will be tolerated. It has become very clear that any chaplains who are enticed to reject biblical Christianity can expect promotions and those who teach the Biblical view will be court martialed.

There is more than a pattern here; there is blatant hostility toward the church, pastors and Christians. If Obama has another term, we will see the treatment chaplains are receiving now extended to pastors and churches.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago writes about the crisis of our freedom of religion:

Liberty of religion is more than freedom of worship. freedom of worship. Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union. You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship—no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice, and the works of mercy that flow naturally from a living faith. All of these were co-opted by the government. We fought a long, cold war to defeat that vision of society.

The strangest accusation in this manipulated public discussion has the bishops not respecting the separation between church and state. The bishops would love to have the separation between church and state we thought we enjoyed just a few months ago, when we were free to run Catholic faith, when the government couldn’t tell us which of our ministries are Catholic and which not, when the law protected rather than crushed conscience. The state is making itself a church. The bishops didn’t begin this dismaying conflict or choose its timing.^[2]

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[1] http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=106938

[2] Phylllis, Schlafly, No Higher Power, Regnery Publishing, Washington, D.C. 2012, pp. 11-12.