Tuesday
A SECONDARY RELIGION
HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THE CHRISTIAN
FAITH IS A SECONDARY RELIGION
IN AMERICA; SAD BUT TRUE
The Historical Background: This is the way it was.
When our nation’s Founding Fathers assembled in 1787 for
the first Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, there
were 55 delegates who would discuss, debate and edit the
document until they reached agreement, and began the
signing process which was completed in 1789.
One of the first actions taken while the formal signing was
still in process, was to develop a set of Amendments to the
Constitution, the first ten of which were finalized in 1791 and
became known as "The Bill of Rights."
The First Amendment can be said to have been the
most important in the minds of the Founding Fathers, if for
no other reason than it was the first amendment they proposed.
It dealt with the issues of our rights of freedom; freedom of
religion, of speech, of the press, and of the right to assemble.
Concerning religion, here is what the First Amendment says;
just 16 words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof."
The Founding Fathers obviously felt that the right of freedom
of religion was extremely important, so important that they
made it the first freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The
wording and the intent are clear and simple: Congress can
not make any law affecting any establishment of religion, nor
can Congress make any law which would in any way restrict
the right of the people of the United States of America to have
freedom to worship and to express themselves on religious
matters.
And what religion did the Founding Fathers have in mind
when they established the Bill of Rights? Very obviously it
was Christianity. It was the only religion in which they were
in any way involved. The 55 delegates were members of
these denominations of Christian churches: Episcopal/
Anglican; Presbyterian, Congregational; Quaker; Catholic;
Methodist; Lutheran and Dutch Reformed.
As confirmed by the writings and the speeches of the
Founding Fathers, no other form of religion was involved
in any way; this nation was founded on the principles of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Christianity.
That is the way it was in 1791 and that is the way it was
until 1948 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that any
religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional
because it violated what the Court termed "separation of
church and state," a concept which the Court now considers
to be based on the First Amendment.
In the immediate succeeding years, spurred by the perhaps
overly aggressive action of the ACLU, other aspects of
the Christian faith were banned by the Supreme Court, and
soon any kind of prayer, any Bible reading, any posting of
the Ten Commandments, any display of the Nativity Scene,
and even the use of terms like "Christmas recess," or "Easter
recess" were banned, as was any use of the term "God" by
school officials.
So that is the way it is. But we already knew that. By the
action of the courts, all the way from the Supreme Court to
local municipal and state courts, in just those 60 years any
expression of the Christian faith in schools or in public
facilities has just about been made "unconstitutional." That
this could happen in a nation founded by Christian men on
historic Judeo/Christian principles would seem impossible.
But the evidence is all around us. In those years since God was
thrown out of our schools, teen age crime, teen age drug use,
teen age pregnancies, teen age suicides have all increased. The
only notable decline has been in the level of SAT (Scholastic
Aptitude Test) scores.
But amid all this, we made a false assumption. We made
the assumption that the courts would use the term "religion" in
a generic sense, and that these new rules and restrictions would
apply to all religions.
But this is not the case. As the Muslim followers of the Islam
religion became more active and more aggressive, it has
become obvious that any relationship between governments
and Islam is not considered to be "unconstitutional."
Increasingly public universities and cities are paying to have
foot-washing facilities installed for Islamists to perform the
act of "ablution" before their several daily prayer times. This
action includes facilities for taxi drivers outside municipal
airports. And in schools allowances are made to accommodate
the Muslim students in their prayer needs, and to allow for
school holidays on Islamic "holy days." Those are just a few
examples of a rapidly growing trend.
Those supposedly "little problems" which are rigidly enforced
against Christian students become openly permissive practices
with respect to Muslims, but there has been no relinquishing
of control of Christian students. Thus, in a very real sense, the
Christian faith has become secondary in America, a nation
which has always been considered to be Christian, in one degree
or another.
And who is responsible for degrading Christianity?
It is easy to point to the courts as responsible, and it is true that
the strange interpretation of the First Amendment originated
with the Supreme Court, as did all the subsequent limitations
of any expression of the Christian faith. And it was a majority
of one in the Massachusetts Supreme Court which made "same
sex" homosexual marriage legal. But the courts did not act in a
vacuum. They were aided and abetted by organizations like the
ACLU, but probably more so by people across America who were
actively expressing their opinions.
But look at the numbers. There are in this country something
between 1.4 and 2.4 million Muslims, or between .5 and .8% of
the population. There are approximately 2.5 million atheists
and agnostics, or about .8% of the population. There are about
4.3 million BGLT (all types) homosexuals, or 1.5% of the
population. But there are an estimated 125 million born again/
evangelicals, or 44% of the population.
The answer is glaringly obvious. As Christians we have been and
still are outmaneuvered by much smaller numbers of opponents.
We appear to be content to sit back in the hope that the status quo
will continue, while those who oppose our way of life are actively
seeking ways to change it. They are not willing to come to this
country, content to accept the right to worship freely in a Christian
environment, but they come with their own religion and demand
that it be honored and revered above the faith upon which this
nation was built and under which it has grown and prospered to
represent the best hopes of men and nations throughout the world.
A very applicable quote. Speaking of the Liberal mantra,
"Anything and everything Islam is okay with us, " Sher Zieve
wrote "Perpetuated by these same groups, anything and
everything Christian is in process of being removed from life
as we know it. Christianity, which essentially preaches peace,
is being barred from American life while Islam, that preaches
war and death to all non Muslims, is being deified. We the people
have but two choices. We can ignore these mounting perils to
our existence, and choose to end our lives, or we can fight them."
- Sher Zieve, New Median Journal. 08/02/07.
Afterthoughts . . .
A new name for God. Or at least a different name. Actually
this one has been around since sometime in the 7th century
when Muhammad came up with it. Now a Catholic Bishop in
the Netherlands has proposed that all churches use the name
"Allah" for God to ease the tensions between Muslims and
Christians. One might ask why the Bishop didn’t suggest that
the tension might equally be resolved by the Muslims giving
in and use the name God, which has been around a whole lot
longer, and there are more of us than there are Muslims. But
those people never seem to be involved in any form of logic.
A note for avid computer users. One of the most used
"Free" services of the Internet is "Wikipedia," the on-line
encyclopedia. One of its weaknesses is that almost anyone
can make changes in the explanatory sections of the many
subjects included therein. Recently it was disclosed that
some corporations were altering descriptions of their
products – making them look better, of course. But here
is one of a different sort. Traced to a Democrat HQ the
page dedicated to radio spokesperson Rush Limbaugh,
spoke of him as "idiotic" and "ridiculous" and described
his millions of listeners as "legally retarded."
One of the effects of a non marriage society. Europe
may be awakening to the fact that the plunging birth rates
on the continent may lead into national extinction. Of the
10 nations of the world with the lowest birth rates, 9 are
in Europe. Year after year, fewer children are being born
to support, and in turn replace the world’s community. In
some European countries the birth rate is as low as 1.2 per
woman. The World Conference of Families and the Family
Research Council are working to awaken world leaders to
the need to return to pro marriage and pro family values.
A final decision by Lutherans. It was under discussion
and debate for a long time, but on the last day of the annual
meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) last week a decision was reached. The resolution,
adopted by a delegate vote of 538-431 urged Bishops to
refrain from disciplining pastors "who are in faithful
committed same gender relationships." It has been pointed
out that the "faithful relationship" with homosexuals replaces
a "faithful relation ship" with Jesus Christ. Sadly, what we
have is another group of church leaders under the name of
"Christian" establishing themselves as a higher authority
than the Bible.
A good word from an old friend. It was good to see
Joseph Califano on TV this past week, in his present position
as President of the National Association of Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University. As one of the better
(perhaps the best) choices made by President Jimmy Carter,
Califano served as Secretary of Health Education and Welfare.
In this most recent appearance he warned of the drug scene
on America’s High School campuses (giving very frightening
examples) and commented on the fact that parents are greatly
concerned about sending their children to a school where there
may be some asbestos dust, but are not concerned about
sending their students into the world of readily available drugs.
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