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« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2017, 03:43:49 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 9-20-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Today, almost 400 years later, the United States has become an increasingly difficult place for a Christian to work, be educated, and to serve his or her country. This has happened despite the statement found in the First Amendment26 of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
In fact, First Liberty Institute’s 2017 report27 notes that in the past five years, documented attacks on religious freedom have increased 133%. In the past year, attacks have increased 15%. These attacks take place across broad sectors of the public arena — education, religious institutions and the U.S. military.
A case from the public arena, Barton v. Balch Springs, involved a Texas senior center in which city officials told the senior citizens that they could not pray before meals, listen to messages with religious content, or sing gospel music because public buildings do not allow religion. The senior citizens filed a lawsuit, and the government officials threatened to take away their meals if they won because praying over meals paid for by the government violated the “separation of church and state.”
In Pounds v. Katy I.S.D., a school district in the Houston area banned religious Christmas items and religiously themed Valentine’s Day cards. School officials told one student that she could not answer the question “What does Easter mean to you?” with “Jesus.” A federal court ultimately ruled against Katy I.S.D. for its hostility to religion and for violating the student’s constitutional rights.
In Sterling v. United States, Montifa Sterling, a Marine Corps lance corporal, placed three notes in her cubicle that referred to the Bible verse: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). While her supervisor allowed the other service members to display personal items, he ordered Sterling to remove the notes. Sterling believed that her First Amendment rights protected her ability to post the notes, so when she found them in the trash the following day, she reposted them. As a result, Lance Corporal Sterling was court-martialed. The highest U.S. military court, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, believed the note to be minor and thus unworthy of religious protection. First Liberty Institute is appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
These examples, a small selection of more than 1,400 documented27 incidents, illustrate the direct assault on the constitutional rights of Americans. A combination of misinformation among the populous and lobbying efforts by atheist groups such as the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the American Humanist Association and the American Atheists have resulted in prayers being banned, Ten Commandments displays being made illegal and veterans memorials with crosses being torn down or moved.
The American Atheists28 claim to not be a religion, yet require equal representation of their “non-religion” at interfaith events and councils. Additionally, college campuses routinely list humanists, secularist, free-thinkers and agnostics among other religious groups. They claim to believe in nothing, but in fact believe in a lack of belief and have faith in a lack of faith.
Atheists claim that Christians force their religion on others. Yet atheistic secularism has been forcing students, military personnel, ministers and workers to adhere to their lack of belief standards or suffer the consequences. Far from learning to “coexist,” as many bumper stickers advertise, atheist lobby groups seek nothing less than to persecute and destroy all religions except their own lack of one. Their rejection of religion is their religion and their unrelenting desire to “convert” the rest of us is unconstitutional, intolerant and wrong.
In terms of the quest to totally eradicate religion, the Soviet Union at least communicated its objectives honestly: to destroy religion and establish an atheist, secular state. A state church or a state “non-church” both qualify as an establishment of a religious state. Are atheist lobbyists, then, not the greatest offenders of their own unconstitutional demands of others?
The Pilgrims came here for religious freedom, not freedom from religion imposed on them by atheist lobby groups. The right to “not be offended” does not outweigh the right to practice one’s religion. Ironically, people rarely ask Christians if it offends them to have their child told he cannot pray. Christians have a right to believe in God, just as much as atheists have a right to believe in nothing. The assault on religious liberty only gains victory if people of faith choose fear over courage. As Ronald Reagan stated, “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.” While courage may cost social standing, job mobility or favor among others, ultimately standing tall in the face of evil gives others courage and reminds us of our purpose: to do the right thing, despite the consequences.
If you are experiencing religious persecution and need legal representation, contact these non-profit law firms:
Alliance Defending Freedom29
First Liberty Institute30
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty31
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
Will Clinton Challenge the Election Results?32 — She’s lied to herself and others so often, she seems to believe she really was robbed.
Spokane Sheriff: Guns Didn’t Change, Society Did33 — He pinpoints the problem of youth violence.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
Jonah Goldberg: Only One of Two New Health Care Proposals Qualifies as ‘Extreme’34
Ed Feulner: Salary Suspicions35
Gary Bauer: Trump Addresses the UN36
For more, visit Right Opinion37.
OPINION IN BRIEF
Jonah Goldberg: “With 52 GOP senators, Graham-Cassidy can only pass if at least 50 of them vote for it, and they must do so before Sept. 30, when the arcane budget window known as ‘reconciliation’ closes. … Heritage Action for America has grumbled, rightly, that Graham-Cassidy doesn’t repeal all of the Obamacare taxes. But the choice for Republicans isn’t between this and a better reform. It’s between this or letting Obamacare continue intact, violating all of those repeal-and-replace promises entirely. That’s what’s so silly about the claim that Graham-Cassidy is as ‘extreme’ as Sanders’ radical and shoddily written proposal (the bill is totally silent on how to pay for any of it). Graham-Cassidy is very close to the kind of legislation we would have ended up with if Republicans had an idea of what they wanted from the get-go and the Democrats were interested in compromise. But we live in a time when extremism is defined as not getting everything you want.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.” —William Hazlitt (1778-1830)
Upright: “A first-trimester fetus has moral value because whether you consider it a potential human life or a full-on human life, it has more value than just a cluster of cells. … There are people who are adults who are alive because of a pacemaker. They need some sort of outside force generating their heartbeat. … The problem is, any time you draw any line other than the inception of the child, you end up drawing a false line that can also be applied to people who are adults. So, either human life has intrinsic value or it doesn’t.” —Ben Shapiro
Non Compos Mentis: “The words ‘totally destroying’ a nation of 25 million people, that borders on the threat of committing a war crime.” —ABC’s Terry Moran (“So do little Kim Jong’s threats to NUKE America count as a war crime too?” —Katie Pavlich)
Non sequitur: “If you ask yourself, ‘What would I do if I was a gentile in 1941 [and] my Jewish neighbors were under attack by the Nazis — would I give them sanctuary?’ you might be about to find what you’d do. Will you pass that moral test, or will you fail it?” —Rep. Keith Ellison on DACA
Double standards: “The EPA has been run by Democrats, by Republicans, but has never … been run by someone who seems to be determined to do the one thing that could destroy its credibility, which is not making it transparent.” —former Obama EPA head Lisa Jackson (“Jackson resigned from the EPA amid accusations that her department was deliberately attempting to circumvent open-records laws.” —Daily Wire’s Aaron Bandler)
Village Idiots: “I thought [Trump’s UN speech] was very dark [and] dangerous, not the kind of message that the leader of the greatest nation in the world should be delivering.” —Hillary Clinton (You know what else is dark and dangerous? Hillary’s Benghazi coverup.)
Late-night humor: “Here in New York City, everyone is at the UN. That’s right, the UN General Assembly kicked off … and I read that 193 countries will be attending. They’re all committed to one goal: making New York City traffic a total nightmare.” —Jimmy Fallon
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. |
