The Europeans that first arrived in North America on the Mayflower came here for religious freedom. The Pilgrims were on a religious pilgrimage. This was recognized by the founding fathers when they constructed the Constitution. The Bill of Rights starts with the first amendment to the Constitution, and it 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." This guarantees us the freedom of religion, and the parts regarding freedom of speech and peaceable assembly are also key to our expressions of our religious beliefs and our worship.
Today, freedom of religion means freedom from religion more than freedom to practice religion as you see fit. At least this is true if you are a Christian or a Jew. Every Christian or Jew must be very careful that practicing their religion doesn't offend anyone from the atheist to the Muslim. A radical Muslim has the right to wish death upon all non-Muslims or even members of another Muslim sect, but Christians are unreasonable for mentioning Jesus in mixed company.
It is true that I am able to attend the church of my choice on Sunday morning or any other day of the week. I can own a bible and read it any time or place I want. However, if practicing my religion involves discipleship or evangelism, that is not to be tolerated these days. Political correctness has many of us referring to the birthday of Jesus as the Holiday season or winter vacation. Too many people won't say Christmas anymore for fear of offending someone. Religious people are regularly called "holy rollers" of "right-wing nut jobs." Interestingly, I don't hear too many of the folks that say these things ridiculing Muslims. Do Muslims have the religious freedom to believe or say or think anything they want, but the Christians only have the freedom to practice their religion in private?
Like most Christians, I don't think the government should force any particular religion upon anyone. However, the government and the media seem to be infringing on that part of the first amendment that says Congress can't prohibit the free exercise of religion. The law can't make Christianity or any other religion the state religion or ban a particular religion from being practiced. At least this is true of religions that cause no harm to anyone. Should a religion be allowed to be practiced that would harm others? Is it within your religious freedoms to use bombs or Boeing 767 airliners to kill people that are of a different faith or that have no religious faith? It is nonsensical to oppress Christians or Jews in an effort to appease the Muslims so that they will stop hating us and quit trying to murder us.
When my kids were in middle school, all of the students were loaded onto buses and taken to a large Islamic temple just north of Cincinnati. They wanted all of these mainly Christian students to learn how the Muslims practice their religion. This was not a private school. It was a county school district that was funded by our tax dollars, and it was promoting a religion. What would have happened had the class been visiting a Methodist or Catholic church?
Racial profiling has been used as an excuse to treat everyone "fairly." There have been very few terrorist attacks committed by radical Christians or Jews or Buddhists or Hindus, yet it is politically incorrect to search all people with Islamic surnames without also searching everyone else equally. If you only thoroughly search 20% of Christians or Jews, then you must not search more than 20% of Muslims. You must also do this searching randomly. These rules sound more and more like something the MessAPolitico would come up with for running the TSA. Oh yeah, they did make up the rules.
I will say once again that the government is not very good at doing anything. There are some things that must be done by the government. Everything else should be done by the private sector, or we should do it for ourselves. We could cure the budget issues instantly if the MessAPolitico would just stick to those things limited by the Constitution. Please join me at the polls on primary election day and vote for freedom and for upholding the Constitution.
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