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I have always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library.
Jorge Luis Borges

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Saint John, Letter to Galatians 4:16

Freedom of Religion - Freedom from Religion - Freedom of Public Display of Religion and Traditions

We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief.
--
Ronald Reagan (Temple Hillel Speech, 1984)

Thursday, October 30, 2014

On Freedom of Religion and First Amendment, an Essay of Common Sense

A Madison County school board voted unanimously to alter a monument at the entrance of a Georgia high school football stadium in order to remove biblical scripture. The monument was erected in August and two different groups sent letters to the school stating that the monument violates the separation of church and state, demanding it be removed. There were two references to scriptures:
Romans 8:31: If God be for us, who can be against us?
Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

 

After the motion of a board member, Robert Hooper, was made, the board voted to either remove it or cover it up. Soon after the vote was announced, 150 people showed up in protest.
The words “separation of church and state” are NOT in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, but taken from a letter in correspondence from Thomas Jefferson to a clergy ministry, Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut. But that makes no difference to atheists and those who believe they have to appease them, despite the First Amendment protecting those liberties. Progressives socialists choose to add or delete from the text of the Constitution as they feel fit. The First Amendment text:
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.
The progressives supposedly  agree that the majority shall rule, but only when it applies to their political agenda and policies. Atheists are NOT a majority, I am sure, in the community of that Madison county, Georgia high school. The school board allowed the monument to be erected, but caved in to a political group to remove it that is a minority. The decision was upon the community, not the school board. Every one of those on the school board should be fired. The school board meeting lasted about two hours, a closed session, and one speaker stated:
It seems as if these groups [atheists] are here as haters, willing to spend millions to remove God from our society, which means they are antichrists by definition – they must have hatred in their hearts to fight so hard to remove him from this small object that was placed for others to enjoy.
By no means is this an isolated incident.
Two Christian ministers, who own an Idaho wedding chapel, were told they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time, up to $1000 fine. It is because the chapel is listed as a for-profit business, not as a church or place of worship. The chapel is the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel. City attorney, Warren Wilson made a statement that any wedding chapel that turns away a gay couple would in theory be violating the law.
What law?
Certainly NOT any constitutional law.
Property rights were important to the American colonial patriots who fought to remove tyranny from their adopted homeland. It was important to protect that and other rights - putting into writing after the articles of the Constitution was decided upon. 
Property rights was one of the first liberties to fall by the way as time progressed and our nation grew. Today we can see the result of not adhering to constitutional law and ignoring liberties by those who insist that the US Constitution is outdated. If freedom of choice, property rights, and the right for a community to erect a monument with religious words of proverbs no longer applies, how can the rest of the Constitution ever be acknowledged?
Recently, Mayor Annise Parker and her city lawyers, subpoenaed five local pastors and demanded their sermons. The mayor is the first lesbian to be elected in Texas. Her lawyers obviously missed the class concerning the articles and amendments of the US Constitution in law school. Preachers have a right under the same amendment that protects religion to speak out against homosexuality. We can blame the legislation of the Ted Kennedy hate crime rhetoric for part of this problem. Laws should never be made against what people think, only for their actions.
Any elected official that votes for such anti-constitutional legislation should be removed from office at the earliest opportunity by the voters, citizens who have the duty to protect the Constitution just as much as the public officials who swear an oath to do so.
If atheists do not like what they see written on monuments and other publicly erected things – don't read or look at it.
If atheists and those who are homosexuals are turned away from a privately owned wedding chapel because that chapel's owners believe that same-sex marriage is wrong – go somewhere else to get married.
Solution to many problems can be solved just be using common sense.
In the United States, common sense is becoming extinct, just as the wisdom of the Founders who created the Constitution and its amendments of the United States.
Common sense is no longer applied by the majority of those holding public office in our government, either elected or employed by those elected.
It is long past the time for We the People to take back the control of the government, away from the hands of a minority who cares nothing for the rights and liberties of others – only their own ideology and twisted agenda.
I do not like the character of BH Obama and his associates, and I voted against him and them; however, the majority vote and the Electoral College system put him in the office of the President of the United States TWICE. I must accept that despite there being a clear indication that a person with dual nationality cannot hold that office legally. It is because the majority voters (and those who cheated) were in favor of putting that person in the White House. I can protest, but I must accept that; just as military personnel are obligated to obey orders of the President of the United States, no matter how they personally feel about him.
That common sense ideology applies to atheists constantly harassing those who believe in something. 
As far as Islamic Jihadists - no religion can be tolerated that commits violent acts in the name of that religion against all who are not part of that religion. Islam is influenced by Shariah law, which certainly is a government (civic) institution that insists upon a theocracy - clearly against the First Amendment of the US Constitution.  Yet, progressives in the United States insist upon catering to Islam while persecuting Christians in various ways.
The argument over same-sex marriage is not hinged upon the federal, central government, but the individual state governments - where marriage laws are enacted. In addition, the sanctity of marriage, in the gist of the argument falls upon religious doctrine, except in the case of non-denominational wedding chapels. 
Frankly, if the 16th Amendment (that should never have passed and should have been struck down by the US Supreme Court) is repealed; most of the hullaboo about same-sex marriage will die down. It is because the unfair income tax system provides tax shelter that single citizens are not allowed.

 


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