Our Heritage

          The Supreme Court recently struck down any semblance of there being such a thing as ‘hate speech’.  With their recent decision in the Westboro Baptist case, they established that any and all speech, no matter how hateful, is permissible under the first amendment. “The Supreme Court defended the right of free speech Wednesday, not the rightness of Westboro Baptist Church or its members, and like the defense of all rights, there is an implicit challenge to all those who cherish those rights”.[1]  Because of this, we know that any degradation of our Christian faith and principles, to which we have been exposed, is permissible, but, more importantly we are allowed to profess the truth contained in the Bible without restriction.  The significant thing to remember is that, around the world, there have been pastors arrested for hate speech simply for presenting what is contained in the Bible, and now this has been prevented here.  Although the Westboro Baptists are a splinter group with some really weird ideas, they do have the right to express those ideas.  To infringe on their right to do the hateful things they do would be to put a limitation on our rights as well.  The Westboro folk’s opinion is that because we (the United States) tolerate homosexuality, God in turn hates us and kills our soldiers.  What they fail to realize is that God loves everyone, regardless of lifestyle or anything else; the Bible says so.  There are some things He, however, is not in favor of because it is not the best He has for us.  The first amendment is part of our heritage and has been defended.

          Due to the current pressure from our government to expel God and it’s over reaching of their authority, America is today’s example of pride and greed.  Although obviously founded under the guidance of God, the sinfulness of man has taken over in the same way as it did in ancient Israel.  The prosperity provided by God has given way to the greed and lust for power of those with political power.  We, as Christians, have not fulfilled our obligation to see that our country continued to be ruled by the principles that were set up by its founders.  We, as a nation, have dismissed God and His principals because we think we know better and can do things ourselves.  Abortion on demand, God expelled from our schools, restrictions on our religious practices and speech, and spending our children’s future are all examples of an over reaching government.  “To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”[2]  “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”[3]  Currently medical personnel are required to perform procedures that are against their beliefs and the Federal Reserve Bank controls our monetary system.  “When may a revival be expected?  When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and distresses the Christian.”[4]  Every citizen of the United States has the same opportunity to succeed in life as everyone else has.  The problem is that the lust for power has (as the founders warned us could happen), through regulation and open greed, reduced most of us to a form of slavery to the state.  Our founding documents forbid this and it’s about time we, as a nation, once again stood up for our God given rights. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”[5]. Do you think that God was predicting the development of our political class?  They are exempted from many of the laws to which we are subject, and many of them have become rich and powerful while in office.

 

          Over 98% of our founding citizenry were professing Christians.  Even today, 76% of our citizens are professing Christians.  The percentage of professing Christians has dropped substantially since 1960.  This drop in percentage corresponds directly with the current surge of progressive political activity such as political correctness and multiculturalism.  Because of our heritage of Christianity and our founding Christian principles, those who espouse other religions are allowed to worship as they please.  Despite some of our earlier laws, even those who are anti religious are allowed in our midst.  Anyone who doubts these facts is grossly uneducated.  “Tolerance was an American Christian contribution to the world.  Just as you drop a pebble in the pond, the ripples go out, there was tolerance first for Puritans and then Protestants, the Catholics, then liberal Christians, and then it went out completely to Jews. Then in the early 1900’s tolerance went out to anybody of any faith, monotheistic or polytheistic. Finally, within the last generation, tolerance went out to the Atheist, the secular humanist and the anti-religious.  And the last ones in the boat decided it was too crowded and decided to push the first ones out.   So now we have a unique situation in America, where everybody’s tolerated except for the ones that came up with the idea.  And so when people say Christians are intolerant, we really need to correct them and say, ‘No, we’re the ones that came up with the idea of tolerance.’[6] 

 

          The current preponderance of thought on the “separation of Church and state” represents a gross misunderstanding of not only what constitutes a religion but also what the founding fathers set up for us.  What would be unconstitutional under some of the current progressive thinking and court rulings?  Perhaps the Constitution, the Declaration of independence, the Northwest Ordinance, and all of the state constitutions would be unconstitutional as well as the vast majority of our founding documents, subsequent laws and decisions of the Supreme Court.  Should anything and everything that mentions God be banned?  Will our children ever be given a historically accurate education?  Should we abandon our heritage?

 

          Coercion to any religion, sect or doctrine cannot be tolerated by mankind.  This also applies to coercion into a lack of religion as was the case in communist/Marxist countries.  Conversion by the sword is at all times repugnant to God as well as the unalienable rights of man.  Competition in the field of religion should always be peaceful and civil.  Tolerance does not mean that you give up your principles but rather that you present them to others in a respectful way.  Forced conversion always leads to resentment.  Our founding fathers, through Christian principles, set up the religious tolerance we have enjoyed for so many years, not the intolerance that we face by some of the recent unjustifiable declarations and rulings of our governmental institutions.  Remember, the free exercise of religion is part of our heritage.

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[1] Rabbi Brad Hirschfield 3/2/2011

[2] Thomas Jefferson

[3] Thomas Jefferson 1802

[4] Billy Sunday

[5] Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25

[6] Bill Federer Coral Ridge Ministries 2005 (One Nation Under God)