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]
