SelahV Today by hariette petersen

Religious Liberty: the Real Issue, and the Battle for Christian Bloggers Like Me

It's not easy to discern the battles worth fighting sometimes.

After I wrote my post last week entitled, Should Jesus Be None Of My Business, I was cautioned by a commenter that quoting someone is "risky" and could lead to "gossip". Suffice it to say, when bloggers write, bloggers battle all kinds of things.  Some worthy, some not.

The conversation that sparked my critic's comment involves a column in USA Today written by Kirsten Powers in which she quoted Andy Stanley advising a Christian baker: "Jesus died for a world with which he didn't see eye to eye. If a bakery doesn't want to sell its products to a gay couple, it's their business. Literally. But leave Jesus out of it."

I beg to differ. This is not some obscure philosophical, political debate; it's a genuine spiritual dilemma for all Christians.  It pierces the core of an individual's conscience and targets the personal freedoms this country holds dear.

The "real issue" is Religious Liberty.

Yes.  Religious liberty.  For those who are unconcerned about such liberty, I suppose they could "leave Jesus out of it" all.  For Christians who have valued, and until lately, felt free to express and practice their faith without fear of retaliation from society and punishment from government, this is crucial.

This is about religious discrimination, not homophobic bigotry.  Never, in all 65 years I've lived have I seen such intimidating cultural disdain for Christians and people of faith in America.  Ridicule, silencing, rejection, and censoring.  Schools, media and government. This is real.  It's not our imagination.  Businesses, and citizens alike, are feeling the pressures and the strident straps of retaliation.  We do not live in some third world country.  This is the United States of America.

Yet, our country is changing at break-neck pace; we can barely keep up with the issues being thrown in our faces. As President Obama promised in 2008, he is  "fundamentally transforming America". Religious liberty in America is in peril--especially for Christians.

Just yesterday, a story broke regarding two Muslim truck drivers who didn't want to deliver alcohol for their employer because it is against their religion. The government defended them against the trucking company. The trucking company is sued and must compensate them with back pay and who knows what all else before this is over.  Yet, a self-employed Christian baker cannot make a personal religious decision to refuse to bake a cake for a wedding they believe violates their religion?  Where is the equality?

To own a business without freedom to provide services as a conscience demands, is tantamount to being shackled to a government's dictates and consequences.  A Christian photographer, who refused to use god-given gifts and talents to photograph a gay nuptial, was fined 7-thousand dollars.  Should that Christian photographer be forced to photograph a porn-star's portfolio, also?  Should an African-American Christian baker be forced to bake a cake that has a black man hanging from a tree to celebrate a KKK rally protesting Martin Luther King Day?

The Seattle Christian bakers are not forcing their view upon the gay couple who demands a wedding cake-- they are upholding their belief in a biblical view of marriage.  They refuse to serve mammon by sanctioning an act they view in conflict with deeply held faith beliefs.  They're exercising their guaranteed right to practice their faith as they see fit. Would they be forced to bake Halloween cupcakes for Satanists, too?  Where does is stop?

Violating their right to practice their heart-felt faith, rapes the conscience of man. The government usurped their conscience, destroyed their business, and impaired their right to make a living.  How many more businesses will this effect?  Will they have to add mal-practice insurance to their already strapped operating budgets in order to protect their religious liberty and conscience?

There is a message being sent by the liberal courts of this land today-- religious liberty is either extremely costly--or worthless.

Make no mistake, here. Either Christian business owners acquiesce and submit, or they are punished for holding their beliefs.

If government can force us to serve others in a free-enterprise system, then we are not under a free-enterprise system.  We are under a totalitarian regime-- under which the government decides what we do, say and think. If government can dictate that a baker bake a cake, it can dictate that a Christian publisher accept and publish books by atheists and other religions in direct contradiction to their mission in life.  It follows government can force any business to do anything for anyone, or face discrimination penalties.

Have you struggled with where all this is leading?  Will homosexuals progress to a point someday wherein they try to force churches to officiate or host their weddings under threats of discrimination law suits?  Will churches lose tax-exempt status for refusing?  Will they have to cower in upper rooms?  Time will tell.

This threat isn't new, nor is the conversation, but it has reached high-pitch chatter status in the social media, news coverage, and legislative branches of government. It's backed up by a United States Attorney General who tells state attorneys general that they do not have to pay any attention to enforcing laws of the states if they feel it is discriminatory.  Free pass; don't bother.

This is no longer about "letting homosexuals do what they want in the privacy of their own bedrooms," or legalizing their unbiblical unions. It's escalating to legalizing that men be allowed to walk into ladies bathrooms if they feel more like a woman than a man.  They are protected.  Who protects me and my grandchildren in restaurants and movie theaters?  Will businesses have to hire restroom guards?

Friends, our voice is being silenced in a world in need of higher volume.  Fear. Intimidation. Threats of removing income from states which seek to protect Religious Liberty.  He who shouts loudest wins. Business owners are being sued out of existence and jobs being lost as a result.  Patriots intimidated and badgered by the IRS to answer questionaires that ask who they are praying for and what they are praying about.  Do you sense the fear and tension?  I do.

Will all Christians someday be forced by law to withdraw from society as the Amish and Quakers choose to do in order to practice their faith?  Will the internet be closed down to our ponderings on this issue and any other issue the government deems hateful or intolerable for us to discuss? I have little doubt anymore.

Seems anytime any Christian takes an opposing viewpoint on most any issue, they are labeled a bigot of some kind or another.  In Kirsten's column at USA Today she likened the Christians' mindset to Jim Crow lunch-counter racist bigotry. I liken her arguments to that mindset in reverse. It appears it is Christians who are being forced to the back of the bus and out of the business market. And if things don't change, we will soon see religious liberty as a thing of the past. 

RESTORING HONOR with Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck believes America has lost her way.  He has some heavy-duty critics who slice and dice his every word.  He's been threatened and condemned--lied about, and ridiculed.  Yet, he keeps on speaking what he perceives to be the need for America to stand up and meet the challenges of today head-on.  He tells us that it will take sacrifice.  It will take courage.  It will take character.

Today Beck is issuing a clarion call to Americans.  They'll meet at the Lincoln Memorial to emphasize the honor of America.  We have traveled far away from the principles upon which our founding fathers intended.  Beck seeks to kindle enthusiasm for that lost honor among men.

Glenn hopes to restore honor to the American spirit.  He plans to spotlight people who desire the same thing--character, integrity, truthfulness.  Faith, hope, charity.

Some folks say he is self-aggrandizing.  Some are angry that he would dare choose to meet on the steps where Martin Luther King stood and gave his "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago.  Some have gone so far as to threaten Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther, because she would dare to speak alongside Glenn Beck.  Such irony.  MLK spoke of being defined by character--not the color of one's skin.  Yet critics would silence Alveda King; they would silence Beck.  Just this week, Eugene Robinson wrote in his editorial for Washington Post that the best way to respond to Beck's call for Restoring Honor is to ignore it.  "Ignore him."

Friends, we've ignored honor long enough in America.  We've ignored the voices of those who cry out for justice and listened to the voices who would silence them.  I don't know exactly what Beck has planned for today.  But I'm willing to listen.  Will you?  selahV 

FROM SPIRITUAL TO MUNDANE "FISHY" STUFF AND "MOB MENTALITY"

Just taking a quick break from my series on Thessalonians to mention a mundane matter.  Fishy stuff, and Mob mentality.

I've been watching the speculations of pundits, spectacles of health-care town hall meetings, and explanations from politicians and meeting attendees for some time now.  Last night I was listening to one news show, and a panel was trying to figure out why the White House and politicians were so adamant about calling vocal citizens "mobs".  Some of the discussion hit upon the distant drumming of these people not being representative of Americans.  The pro-health-care reformers and single-payer proponents are calling their opposition crazies, and dangerously reminiscent of Tim McVeigh anger, and militant enthusiasts.  So, it occurred to me that possibly I have an answer for those pundits who are wondering why The White House wants everyone in America to report their neighbors' casual conversations, forwarded emails, websites, ETC. (my newspaper column, COMMON MATTERS), to [email protected]. *

Now, to be quite clear, I don't have the answer, just an answer.  Who could possibly know the mind of the present administration?  They're never clear.  But in light of the following statement by President-elect Obama, I submit it may be part of the reason:

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set.  We have to have a Civilian National Security Force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded..."?

Could calling the thousands of citizens protesting health-care and government invasion of their lives have rendered these opposing voices as "mobs", "crazies" and "fear mongers" have another goal in mind?  Could it be just the fuel our now, duly elected, President Obama needs to form this National Security Force, he thinks we need?  Could this National Security Force be the force to reckon with these "right-wing fringe groups", "astroturfers", "organized", "orchestrated", "manufactured" people, who are "distorting the facts" and creating fear in the hearts of the real America?  Could we need a "Force" to assist city police departments, to control these "angry, yelling" crowds who may swell all the more, the more the government ignores their voices?  Is this the force we need to enforce the rules of that HATE Bill that's been passed?  I don't know.

It's hard to discern which people will be considered "mobs", "haters", and "fear mongers".

Did you hear about that one man who got bullied by some thugs who didn't like him handing out flags and buttons that said, "don't tread on me"?  Yep.  Happened last week.  He was an African American Republican and some guys (one, another African American), knocked him down to the ground and called him the "N" word.  Is that the kind of "mob" they are talking about?  Or is it just "mobs" of citizens who are tired of being ignored by their government and saying so?  You know..."mobs" of housewives, nurses, doctors, retired salesmen, and white-haired old ladies and veterans (who know what the VA health-care delivers).

This makes me wonder, if all these citizens with "mob mentality" that politicians, today, are citing will someday be silenced with greater force than ever imagined in America?  Surely not.  This administration doesn't seem too worried about people intimidating people.  Our Attorney General's office just quashed the prosecution of the Black Panther dudes who showed up with a billy-club at the voting booths last November, so why would they be disturbed by a four folks who jostled a man who was giving away flags and buttons saying "don't tread on me" at one of those town-hall meetings?

I don't know about you folks, but I've never considered myself part of a "mob".  I've had times when I did not like what I saw my government doing, and even went to a couple of town hall meetings to voice an opinion.  That was years ago, however.  I never did anything that would or could be classified as a "mob".  I listened to each side.  I tape-recorded their words.  I wrote letters, even hand-delivered a couple to some politicians.  When that didn't do much, I started a newspaper.

That was then.  Today, well...I'm gonna just go to a few town hall meetings and see for myself what all the fuss is about.  And I'm gonna write on-line what I think about it while I still can.  selahV

* [UPDATE, Aug. 17, 09...The White House disabled the email address for reporting "fishy" emails and conversations among Americans.  Guess they realized that was rude and an invasion of privacy.  Why else would they remove it, after requesting information?]