Attacks on Religious Freedom

                    The Obama Administration is attacking our First Amendment right of Freedom of Religion.  In some cases, it is just nibbling away, but in other cases, it is biting off huge chunks.  Some of the worst dangers to our freedoms come under the framework of ObamaCare.  Freedom of Religion is just the first casualty of ObamaCare, and more will follow.

                    Historian David Barton claims that President Obama is anti-Biblical, and he has compiled a list of all the ways the Obama Administration has shown hostility to Christians and Jews.  His article begins:  "When one observes President Obama's unwillingness to accommodate America's four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic.  But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years.  So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian.  But that, too, would be inaccurate.  He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular.  So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nations, it further strengthens the accuracy of the anti-Biblical descriptor.  In fact, there have been numerous clearly documented times when his pro-Islam positions have been the cause of his anti-Biblical actions."

                    Barton compiled his list in the following chronological order:  "(1) numerous records of his attacks on Biblical persons or organizations; (2) examples of the hostility toward Biblical faith that have become evident in the past three years in the Obama-led military; (3) a listing of his open attacks on Biblical values; and finally (4) a listing of numerous incidents of his preferential deference for Islam's activities and positions, including letting his Islamic advisors guide and influence his hostility toward people of Biblical faith."

We live in very perilous times, much like those the Apostle Paul said would come in the latter-days (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boaster, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.

"Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers [slanderers], incontinent [without self-control], fierce, despisers of those that are good,

"Traitors, heady [rash, reckless], highminded [puffed up, conceited], lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:  from such turn away."

We must stand in defense of our religious freedom or lose our nation as we know it.  President John Adams made two different statements that should illuminate how bad our situation really is.  The first statement is interesting due to the fact that so many people in the world are fighting and dying for "democracy".  Adams said, "Democracy … while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy].  Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."  We should be very grateful to our Founders for setting up a Republic for us and giving us the Constitution in order to safeguard it.

The Founders were very concerned about our ability to keep our Republic as reflected in Benjamin Franklin's reply when a woman asked:  "Well, Doctor, what have we got - a Republic or a Monarchy?"  He replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."  

   The second statement by President Adams applies directly to the importance of keeping religion and morality in our nation:  "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  This site has an excellent essay on this particular statement.  

President Calvin Coolidge was apparently as concerned as the Founders were about Americans' ability to remain religious and moral.  He made the following two statements about the importance of religion in the United States, and I believe his statements reflect Truth - eternal truths that never change. 

"The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country.  There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man.  Of course we endeavor to restrain the vicious, and furnish a fair degree of security and protection by legislation and police control, but the real reform which society in these days is seeking will come as a result of our religious convictions, or they will not come at all.  Peace, justice, humanity, charity - these cannot be legislated into being.  They are the result of divine grace."

President Coolidge also said:  "Our government rests upon religion.  It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind.  Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.  There are only two main theories of government in our world.  One rests on righteousness and the other on force.  One appeals to reason, and the other appeals to the sword.  One is exemplified in the republic, the other is represented by despotism."

Other quotes of President Coolidge can be found at this site or this one.  

Like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Calvin Coolidge, many people today are very concerned about American freedom, particularly freedom of religion and the necessity for Americans to remain religious and moral.  The Obama Administration is aggressively working to destroy our freedom of religion, and many Americans are unaware of these dangers because our lame stream media is working hand-in-glove with the administration.

One such organization is The Heritage Foundation, who is actively working to get this information out to the general public.  Mike Brownfield of Heritage wrote an article on the attack on religionon March 1, 2012. 

"Since 1791, when the Bill of Rights was formally adopted, America has enjoyed the legal protection of religious freedom, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.  Today, 221 years later, centuries of progress in the protection of religious and other liberties is at risk of being rolled back in one fell swoop.  The culprit:  Obamacare.

"As we all know, President Obama's health care law will mandate that religious hospitals, charities, and schools abandon the tenets of their faiths and provide their employees insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization.  This anti-conscience mandate is but the latest assault on liberty Obamacare has ushered in.  Its shock waves are reverberating across the country, waking Americans to the fact that our first freedom - religious liberty - will be the first to fall now that the federal government has unfettered control over the country's health care system."

A week later Brownfield wrote another article about this subject and began it with this statement:  "Call it what you want - a circus, a sideshow, or just plain old political rhetoric - but for the past week America has watched the media elite and some in Washington bend over backward to turn attention away from an issue that is fundamental to the future of this country:  ObamaCare attack on individual liberty.  While those who favor its mandates may think they have changed the debate and quelled opposition, they are sorely mistaken.

"It all stems from a decision by the Obama Administration to mandate that religious employers, including schools, hospitals, and charities, provide health care coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and contraception despite the fact that such coverage is in total contradiction of many of these groups' core religious beliefs.  Some have attempted to make this a debate about other issues, but despite their efforts, the core complaint about this anti-conscience mandate remains.  The President's policy is an unprecedented attack on all Americans' rights as protected by the First Amendment.  And those who prize religious liberty aren't backing down."

No President of the United States has shown such contempt for the rule of law and particularly the Constitution, the Supreme Law of our nation, as has Obama.   We can expect more of this kind of treatment if Obama gets re-elected.  We know this by the very fact that the Obama Administration has declared war on the Catholic Church while at the same time campaigning for re-election.  I think it is fair to say that any person who casts a vote to re-elect Obama also chooses to destroy more freedom.  This President and his minions do not believe in obeying laws, only in doing what they desire - with or without legal means.  A wonderful essay on this subject can befound here.  

The following two statements by President Calvin Coolidge seem to be appropriate for this essay because they relate to the importance of religion and morality as well as the fight between good and evil.

"The only way I know to drive out evil from the country is by the constructive method of filling it with good."

"It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist.  Without the sustaining influence of faith in a divine power we could have little faith in ourselves.  We need to feel that behind us is intelligence and love.  Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do not contribute; cynics do not create.  Faith is the great motive power, and no man realizes his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is a part of an unending plan."

We must keep our faith in a Divine Being.  Religion and morality are important if we are to maintain our Republic.  We know that our Constitution works only when we the people have good morals and live by religious principles.  Our very liberties are at stake as the Obama Administration is painstakingly taking apart our Constitution and the rights it was meant to protect.  Now is the time for all freedom-loving Americans to come to the aid of this nation or risk losing life as we now know it.  If this nation falls to socialism/communism, there is no hope for the world because America really is the last great hope of mankind!