First Amendment

Our First Amendment is being dismantled by "progressive" liberals in our nation. This Amendment has only forty-six words, but they are possibly the most important words in the United States Constitution. These forty-six words protect many of our freedoms, but our Rights protected by this Amendment are under siege by the progressives and their allies. Our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution in plain and simple language in order that it could be understood according to their intent. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Note that the Founders used the words "Congress shall make no law…." They could have said, "Congress should not…." They didn't. They used words that state what definitely should not happen: "Congress shall not…." There are people in this nation who think that our Constitution is a "living" document that has "evolved" into something much different than what the Founders wrote. I belief that if any of our Founding Fathers - such as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson - were to visit the United States today, they would wonder what in the world happened to the government they set up. Our constitutional Rights have been whittled away slowly for the past one hundred years, and we are almost to the point where we are no longer free. Progressives have tried to eliminate God from our government, from our classrooms, from our holidays, and from our individual lives. Now they are using our faith in God to complete their "fundamental transformation" of our country. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) recently said about cap-and-trade: "I think this could pass. And the reason it could pass is that we have the broadest base of support, as I said. We have faith-based community support for this bill." John Kerry is not the only progressive who gets excited about faith-based initiatives. President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships recently issued its report of recommendations, and the Obama administration is about to take faith-based initiatives to a whole new level. The council hopes that government and religion can partner to push the good news of global warming, climate change and green issues. It could become the religion of environmental and social justice. There is a new EPA faith office that is supposed to help churches and other non-profit organizations improve "access to financing," including "establishing revolving loan programs or working with utility companies to help finance greening building projects." Obama is merging the EPA with churches to make it easier for churches to get loans to green up and push green initiatives on their parishioners. If churches don't cooperate, their 501c3 status could be in jeopardy; if they agree to help with the administration's agenda, the government might help them build a new chapel. The administration's emphasis on faith goes beyond cap-and-trade. Nancy Pelosi is now asking churches to help her pass immigration reform: "On the subject of immigration because I think the church is going to have to play a very major role in how we, how people are treated. The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me and say we want you to pass immigration reform and I said but I want you to speak about it from the pulpit. I want you to instruct your, whatever the communication is - they - the people some oppose immigration reform are sitting in those pews and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the Gospels." Net Neutrality is another area that is getting support from religious groups like the Christian Coalition. The coalition agenda for 2010 includes, "Prevent discrimination on the Internet by passing Net Neutrality." A group known as Free Press is also campaigning for Net Neutrality through events such as "faith-based community organizing and media reform." The ACLU gets upset about children singing Christmas carols in school. They get upset about the Ten Commandments being seen by the public. Somehow, they think it is great if the EPA merges with churches. It seems like the perfect program for the ACLU: They replace God with the government. They replace the Creator with the created. The religion of environmental justice is so powerful now that one of the leaders of the movement - one of its high priests - has admitted that what they are forcing on Americans won't even solve the supposed problem. Joel Rogers said, "I hope you all realize that you could eliminate every power plant in America today and you could stop every car in America - take out the entire power generation sector, take out all of the transportation sector - and you still would not be anywhere near 80 percent below 1990 levels. You would be closer to 60 percent - it would be around 68 percent - and that is with bringing the economy to a complete halt, basically." Progressives use Acts 2:44-45 as their guide to social justice: "And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." To any person who understands the gospel of Jesus Christ, this scripture is obviously describing a group of people who were living the law of consecration. These people chose to give all of their goods to the Church. This scripture does not describe the agents of Rome taxing and/or confiscating property and then redistributing it to the poor as progressives are trying to do today. Social justice is a code word for Marxism. Consider the following conversation between the host Maureen Fiedler and a Reverend Jim Wallis. Fiedler: "Are you then calling for the redistribution of wealth in society?" Wallis: "Absolutely. Without any hesitation. That's what the Gospel is all about. I get a call one day from a priest. And Dorothy Day is in town opening a Catholic border house on Kenmore up on the north side. She wants to meet you; do you have time? Do I have time? We had one community car, which was always broken and so I ran, you know, 20 blocks. And I'm in the parlor of the Catholic worker and in walks the great lady. Dorothy wrote a book about her life called "Love is the Measure," but she wasn't ever soft. Very tough. So you're a radical student like me, right? You were a Marxist like me, right? Yeah." Americans must understand what is happening with this social justice and EPA-faith office. It is a radical perversion of the Gospel. Suddenly, it seems that the radical left is no longer concerned about "separation of church and state." They obviously know that this isn't about God. They know that it is about control and the fundamental transformation of America. It is very important that Americans be aware of what is happening in our churches. Your church is either for socialist government or it is for living the gospel - and you need to know which they are teaching. If your church has "social justice" or "environmental justice" on its web site or in its teachings, it is Marxist - and you need to run from it as fast as you can. The First Amendment is very important in protecting our Rights. If this Amendment falls, we will have no way to communicate with each other in any way without permission from the government, and we will have lost our liberty.