Christian Citizenship - Religious Liberty
- Jul 1, 2006
“Statesmen … may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.”
[John Adams, 1776] Glen Gorton, What Would They Say? (Lafayette, LA: Huntington House Publishers, 1998), 140.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity…whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Washington’s Farewell Address 1796 (The Avalon Project at Yale Law School) [Accessed February 3, 2006]
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”
“He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind.”
[John Witherspoon, 1776] Glen Gorton, What Would They Say? (Lafayette, LA: Huntington House Publishers, 1998), 143.
“History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”
[General Douglas MacArthur] Glen Gorton, What Would They Say? (Lafayette, LA: Huntington House Publishers, 1998), 138.
“This country must continue to remain free and must recognize the importance of protecting religious freedom. Once religion is suffocated or stuffed in a box, this country will certainly fail. The history of the former Soviet Union should teach the United States a lesson. For many years, religion was found mostly in churches turned into museums. However, religious belief and practice continued to operate underground. When the Soviet Communist government failed, the faithful rebounded and now religion flourishes within Russia. At one time Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the atheist who removed Bible readings from school, wanted to defect to the Soviet Union so that she could live in a country run by atheistic principles. She lost her desire to defect after some of the decisions by the United States Supreme Court in the 1960s began to secularize America. We must never take religious liberty for granted, freedom was bought by sacrifice, and it’s about time we defend our God-given liberty.”
Mathew D. Staver, Eternal Vigilance (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 13.
“An employer is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief of an employee or prospective employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship.”
Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions and Answers (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) [Accessed February 3, 2006]
“As every American knows, the first part of the Declaration of Independence establishes the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Nothing, it seems, could be more fundamental to Americans than the protection of these rights. We are all well aware of them, and these days not shy about asserting them. However, few Americans pay enough attention to the last line of the Declaration of Independence. There Jefferson wrote: ‘we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor,’ These are not empty words; they are as important as the opening paragraphs of the Declaration. Rights are important. But just as we have a fair claim on our rights, so America’s honor—our sacred honor—has a fair claim on us. The fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence and the other leaders of the American Revolutionary War would either become glorious Founders of a new nation or they would swing from the gallows. As Benjamin Rush said, his fellow signers knew they were signing their own ‘death warrants.’
“Most of the signers of the Declaration as well as other Americans at the time suffered for their devotion to the cause of independence—many had to flee their homes; some lost their property and their fortunes, which they and their families never recovered. A few joined the Continental army. One of the sentiments that moved them to make these sacrifices was patriotism.
“Patriotism means love of country, and it can call for great sacrifices and courage, perhaps even for the sacrifice of one’s own life. Most of us don’t have as keen a sense of that now as did the Founders. Though the word patriotism, from the Latin pater for ‘father,’ implies a familial connection, love of country is in fact different from all other attachments. We have natural ties to our families, and sacrificing for loved ones is something each of us does every day. But sacrificing for our country requires a commitment to something more abstract and distant. It requires that we sacrifice our self-interest and private attachments for the sake of the common interest and public good for people we have never seen, for those who have gone before and for those who will come after us. And in America, what brings forth our patriotism—our greatest sacrifices—is our steadfast devotion to the ideals of freedom and equality. American patriotism, in short, is not based on tribe or family, but on principle, law, and liberty.”
William J. Bennett, The Spirit of America (formerly published as Our Sacred Honor) (New York: Touchstone, 1997), 25-26.
“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams, “To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts,” October 11, 1798 in William J. Bennett, The Spirit of America (formerly published as Our Sacred Honor) (New York: Touchstone, 1997), 369-370.
Religious liberty is under attack in America—all in the name of human rights. Religious freedom has been considered foundational to all other rights until the assaults by various groups promoting their human rights agendas. For example, a Swedish pastor was imprisoned for 30 days for preaching against homosexuality, stating that it was a sin. Canada has a similar law. Now homosexual activists are attempting to get laws passed in the U.S. that categorize anti-homosexuality messages as hate speech. Other examples include attempts to require religion-backed hospitals to provide abortions, even when that practice is diametrically opposed to the denomination’s teachings; requiring pharmacists to dispense the “morning after pill”—an abortifacient—even when that act violates their conscience; requiring religious organizations to provide coverage for abortion and contraception in their health coverage; and the attempt to remove the expression of religious convictions from the public square. This is no time for Christians to remain silent. Christians must protect religious liberty or see it slowly dwindle away.
Gene Edward Veith, Losing Liberty (World Magazine), September 4, 2004
Four Illinois pharmacists have lost their jobs for refusal to dispense the “morning after pill.” The Walgreen Company of Deerfield, Illinois—one of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains—terminated the pharmacists after Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich signed an order in April 2005 requiring pharmacies to fill prescriptions for federally-approved contraceptives “without delay.” A Walgreen spokesman said they were following the law by terminating the pharmacies. Well, maybe not! At least that is the opinion of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) which has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the pharmacists. The lawsuit is based on a piece of legislation enacted in Illinois which makes it “unlawful for any person, public or private institution … to discriminate against any person in any manner … because of such person’s conscientious refusal to … participate in any way in any particular form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.” Some lawmakers in the state are attempting to get legislation passed to negate the governor’s order but he has stated emphatically that he will veto any such legislation. ACLG Senior Counsel Francis J Manion said, “It couldn’t be any clearer. In punishing these pharmacists for asserting a right protected by the Conscience Act, Walgreens broke the law.” It would appear that the governor has done the same.
Battles Over ‘Morning-After Pill Law Heat Up in Illinois (The Christian Post), January 28, 2006
In April each year, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLESN) sponsors a nationwide “Day of Silence” to promotes acceptance of homosexual behavior in public schools. The handbook for the 2005 event asked students not to talk or respond to questions of fellow students, teachers, or administrators. They were also encouraged to make a list of who “the enemy” might be including teachers, counselors, administrators, peers, relatives, school board members, and people in the community.
The Alliance Defense Fund has established the “Day of Truth” to counter the homosexual political agenda in the schools. It occurs on the day after the “Day of Silence.” “Participating students are encouraged to wear T-shirts and pass out cards (not during class time) with the following message:
I am speaking the Truth to break the silence.
Silence isn’t freedom. It’s a constraint.
Truth tolerates open discussion, because the Truth emerges when healthy discourse is allowed.
By proclaiming the Truth in love, hurts will be halted, hearts will be healed, and lives will be saved.”
Mike Johnson, FIRST PERSON: Students Took Important Stand for Truth (Baptist Press), April 21, 2005 [Also see Day of Truth – April 27, 2006 (Alliance Defense Fund) [Accessed February 7, 2006]
Woodrow Connors, 92, a deacon at North Jacksonville Baptist Church for 40 years, has made and given away more than 20,000 crosses to people that he meets. Most are accompanied by a gospel tract. Everywhere he goes, he carries along a sack of crosses to give away.
Because of his age, others in the church have pitched in to carry on his vision. Several thousand have been donated by his church to Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse. Still others have gone to another longtime deacon at North Jacksonville, Wesley Moseley who is affiliated with Amazing Grace Ministries.
Connors says that before he meets Jesus, he wants to see other cross-making hubs started in churches around the country. Imagine! Ninety-two and still giving out crosses—still concerned about the lost. That’s a vision!
Doug Waters, He Carries His Cross to Whomever He Meets (Baptist Press), May 25, 2005
[Editor’s note: A call to the church revealed that Woodrow Connors turned 93 on March 4 and is still giving out crosses. If you would like to begin a ministry like his, contact the church at 904.757.3000]
A special chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, challenged the student body to go to Siberia to preach the Gospel. Siberia is one of three regions that President Paige Patterson is leading the seminary to focus on over the next five years.
The chapel was conducted by three men who are actively engaged in evangelization in Russia: Yuri Sipko and Peter Mitskevich, president and vice president respectively of the Baptist Union of Russia, and Vincent Price of the European Christian Mission International (ECMI). Each shared their burden for Russia.
Mitskevich: “This is really a mission field. Our dream and calling is that each town and village in Russia would have an evangelical church … that each pastor in Russia will have a theological education, and that each church will have its own building or place to meet. And we dream that each citizen of Russia will hear and receive the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Sipko, speaking in Russian, with Mitskevich translating: “Who will bring truth and light to Russia? Who is ready to go and set his foot on this frozen land? Who is ready to give his heart to die for Jesus Christ? If our Christianity is not full of love and ready to sacrifice and go where Jesus is sending us, we have only an empty Christianity. I want to invite you to come to us. We love Jesus with fire, with passion. Cold Siberia has to become a light and warm place for the people to know Christ.”
Price: “I pray before you leave here today that God will break your heart, that God in His in mercy will burden your heart, that God will teach you to weep and cry out for men and women who have never, ever, even once, heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . In Russia there are multitudes, hundreds and thousands of towns and villages with no Gospel witness, no church, no preacher, no Jesus, no ‘for God so loved the world.’ They will never, ever hear unless someone goes and preaches the Gospel to them.”
One hundred-fifty students, faculty, and staff responded to the call.
Marc Rogers, Seminarians Respond to Call to Take Gospel to Siberia (Baptist Press), February 8, 2005
Further Learning
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