Religious Free Speech, and the Johnson Amendment

There is the notion that Pastors can't speak of political issues from the pulpit. Up until the mid twentieth century, no such idea existed. Pastors endorsed politicians and legislation all the time. What happened was that in 1954 then senator Lyndon Johnson put into a tax overhaul bill an amendment that would silence his political opposition, which was not from any religious institutions.

It said entities who are exempt from federal income tax cannot:

"Participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of – or in opposition to – any candidate for public office."

It was meant to quash political free speech of 501c non profit organizations, specifically those that were opposing him in his run for Senate. As it turns out, churches are 501's. Secularists and Atheists, Leftists and the Democrat Party have used it since then to shut down free speech from religious speakers. It's applied to the incorrect notion of separation of church and state, of which, no such thing exists in the Constitution.

Here's a short vid of the history of the Johnson Amendment.

http://youtu.be/P1PVMuxUgDg

Earlier this year, Houston Pastor of Grace Community Church, Steve Riggle, spoke from the pulpit about Houston Mayor Parker, a lesbian with a partner that advocates for gay marriage. Riggle pointed out Texas and the county which Houston is in overwhelmingly (over 70%) voted for the amendment stating marriage is between one man and one woman. What the mayor had done was, as a representative of the city, gone to Washington DC and as mayor advocated for gay marriage. Riggle stated this was not representing the will of the people.

He wrote a private email letter to her, which of course she released to the press, and the attack was on. Riggle remained quiet throughout the week, did no interviews and did not respond. He said on the Thursday following his letter to her, he would address the issue in his upcoming Sunday message.

Link to the letter and message:

http://www.grace.tv/pastoral-response-2 

(Just a note, I've seen Pastor Riggle speak, and he's way more dynamic than this. He wanted to make sure his statements were measured and precise. He said it took about 50 hours to prepare this, and ensure it was exactly what he wanted to say.)

It must be understood the State has no authority to silence Pastors or anyone representing a religious institution to speak on political issues and candidates. The State, through the IRS, has tried many times to force pastors to comply, and when a church had to resources to fight back, the State\IRS has lost every time. The reason being they have no authority to do so.

It must be made clear that issues such as marriage and abortion are not political issues, they're moral issues. Atheists, Leftists, Democrat Party, have kept stating these are political issues, the result being, it has become the meme, it's assumed to be true. This lie is the foundation of their attacks to silence free speech from the pulpit. That the Democrat Party is anti religious and anti God was born out during their convention earlier this year when they removed the word "God" from their Party Platform, and that they're anti Israel by refusing to name Jerusalem as Israel's capital.  When these were added back into the platform because of national blowback, it was to a chorus of boos from the convention floor.

The totalitarians of this president's political party and his oligarchy understand, like all totalitarians before them in the past 2000 years, Christianity must be silenced for State rule to be complete and unchallenged.  Applying this unconstitutional amendment, that was part of a power play by one of the most corrupt politicians in US history, is their primary vehicle.

We must encourage our pastors to speak out on moral issues like Pastor Riggle has, and continues to.

Religion of the State vs Religion of God

Alleged journalist and Leftist political hack, and anti Christian bigot Chris Matthews, said when the Catholic Church sued against the health care mandate to provide contraception, sterilization and abortion against religious belief and tradition, asked "Do you think they’re all Republican, the bishops?" Matthews himself is a Catholic, or claims to be, and definitely a Democrat. A 2011 Pew study showed 48% of Catholics are Democrats as opposed to 43% Republican.

Leftists\Democrats, are myopically political, so even see religion as politically motivated. They're incapable of knowing, or even seeing it's the other way around. Religious people put God first, in everything we think, say, and do. What we get then are Democrats that claim to be Catholic supporting abortion and gay marriage, even advocating for it. Nancy Pelosi, asked by  Christopher Goins of CNSNews.com,“Many of the people that are opposed to gay marriage cite their religion as the reason why they're opposed. You're a Catholic that supports gay marriage. Do you believe that religion and the idea that you can support gay marriage can be separated? And how do you grapple with the idea that you support gay marriage as a Catholic?” Her answer:  "My religion has, compels me--and I love it for it--to be against discrimination of any kind in our country, and I consider this a form of discrimination. I think it’s unconstitutional on top of that. "  That despite the very clear teaching and position of the Catholic Church to the contrary. Plus her dismissal several times of the Constitution and not being bound by it.

Back to the point of the politics informing Faith, Matthews has said: "I think there are people who have chosen to convert to the Catholic faith because they don't like the liberal positions taken by their sectarian groups. That's a fact. So, you can write that down. No, you can write that down."  Huh? People join the Church because of political reasons? Certainly makes my point. I wonder too why he doesn't quit the Catholic Church since it's against everything he's for. What studies is he referencing?

There have been several Democrats that have held office, claiming to be Catholic, yet passing legislation for abortion, sterilization and contraception against the teachings of the Church they claim to belong to. Plus use taxes to pay for these against the will of citizens that object to these practices.  The rationalization for it is they don't want to enforce their beliefs on others, but they will force obedience to the healthcare mandates,  claim separation of church and state is in the Constitution (it's not), and claim the Establishment Clause is to protect citizens from religion (it doesn't).  I'm sure we can all come up with long lists of things the government forces we citizens to do that are against our beliefs.

If these politicians were true practitioners of their religion, when campaigning would say they cannot vote for certain things because it's against their faith belief, then follow though in practice if elected. Truly religious people put God first, and He informs how we act. Politics trumps religion for Leftists\Democrats, and if a politician put his\her politics before religion, God, and the Church they should quit the Church, and state their religion is the State. If they don't they're immersing themselves in hypocrisy and should stop throwing stones at people that proclaim Faith and make errors in judgment and behavior at odds with their usual behavior and beliefs.

   

Kosher Deli's, Pork, and Religious Freedom

Great analogy for religious freedom, which the Dems and Obama are against.

http://youtu.be/qWeX81uzaJA

Fr. Baron Comments on the Persecuted Christian Church

While I’ve been focusing on our own government’s attack, in concert with NGS’s (Non-Governmental Secularists) on religion, there’s a huge, violent attack on Christians worldwide. 

http://youtu.be/lCiW_frCCZA

We must not forget these persecuted brave people and pray for them diligently. Would you and I stand up to this kind of hatred, violence and genocide knowing we could be killed doing so? 

Donald Cardinal Wuerl Responds to Attack on Freedom of Religion

This is a well reasoned defense against this Administration’s and the Democrat Party’s attack on the Catholic Church specifically and religion generally (except Islam, go figure). It’s noted here this goes beyond this unconstitutional attack on religion, but it reaches much deeper into our democracy, and is all about all our liberties.

 

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1450080861001/

Note here too Obama saying contraception and the rest will be provided for free by the insurance companies. Free? Does this guy have any clue that things have to be paid for? Part of ObamaCare, as with any socialist program, is the government can tell private companies what to charge for and how much to charge for it. If they can tell a company that, then they can tell you what procedures, care, medicine and all the rest that you will be allowed. I’m absolutely floored nearly half of Americans think it’s a good idea for government bureaucrats to decide what kind of care you get; especially after so many get angry with insurance companies for doing the same. The Political Class, which exempts themselves, will do better? Good grief.  

4th of July As a Religious Observance

Today is one of those July 4th's that happen on a Sunday. Despite protestations to the contrary from Secularists, this nation was founded on Judaic-Christian principles. Saying anything other than affirming this truth, makes them willfully ignorant or liars. Worshiping on this Sacred Day gives yet more meaning to our celebration of it.

I loved our Responsive Reading this morning:

Worship Leader: Many years ago the founder of our great nation gathered to initiate a new experiment in government.

Congregation: They were people of faith - faith in the providence of God and the competence of all citizens to manage their own destiny.

Worship Leader: They possessed a vision of a land where the human spirit, created free and owing ultimate allegiance only to the Creator, would be free to reach its highest potential.

Congregation: We are heirs of that faith and vision. We therefore come to worship this day asking God to continue to bless this land of ours, to keep watch over it and to protect it from the power s of tyranny and all that oppresses the human spirit.

Below is a rather long speech to read, but should be read by both Secular and Religious people. Secular people must be intellectually honest, and recognize that all they claim they believe in, the values, The Bill of Rights, the rule of law, the institutions of freedom, all have at their core, Judaic-Christian tradition. If there is no religious freedom, then there is no freedom, because there is nothing else to challenge the State.

On 23 August 1984, President Reagan spoke to an ecumenical prayer breakfast in Dallas, Texas.

Part 2

"I believe that faith and religion play a critical role in the political life of our nation — and always has — and that the church — and by that I mean all churches, all denominations — has had a strong influence on the state. And this has worked to our benefit as a nation.

Those who created our country — the Founding Fathers and Mothers — understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion.


The Mayflower Compact began with the words, “In the name of God, amen.” The Declaration of Independence appeals to “Nature’s God” and the “Creator” and “the Supreme Judge of the world.” Congress was given a chaplain, and the oaths of office are oaths before God.

James Madison in the Federalist Papers admitted that in the creation of our Republic he perceived the hand of the Almighty. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, warned that we must never forget the God from whom our blessings flowed.

George Washington referred to religion’s profound and unsurpassed place in the heart of our nation quite directly in his Farewell Address in 1796. Seven years earlier, France had erected a government that was intended to be purely secular. This new government would be grounded on reason rather than the law of God. By 1796 the French Revolution had known the Reign of Terror. . . .

In 1962 the Supreme Court in the New York prayer case banned the compulsory saying of prayers. In 1963 the Court banned the reading of the Bible in our public schools. From that point on, the courts pushed the meaning of the ruling ever outward, so that now our children are not allowed voluntary prayer. We even had to pass a law — we passed a special law in the Congress just a few weeks ago to allow student prayer groups the same access to schoolrooms after classes that a young Marxist society, for example, would already enjoy with no opposition.

The 1962 decision opened the way to a flood of similar suits. Once religion had been made vulnerable, a series of assaults were made in one court after another, on one issue after another. Cases were started to argue against tax-exempt status for churches. Suits were brought to abolish the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and to remove “In God We Trust” from public documents and from our currency.

Today there are those who are fighting to make sure voluntary prayer is not returned to the classrooms. And the frustrating thing for the great majority of Americans who support and understand the special importance of religion in the national life — the frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance, freedom, and openmindedness. Question: Isn’t the real truth that they are intolerant of religion? [Applause] They refuse to tolerate its importance in our lives.

If all the children of our country studied together all of the many religions in our country, wouldn’t they learn greater tolerance of each other’s beliefs? If children prayed together, would they not understand what they have in common, and would this not, indeed, bring them closer, and is this not to be desired? So, I submit to you that those who claim to be fighting for tolerance on this issue may not be tolerant at all. . . .

There are, these days, many questions on which religious leaders are obliged to offer their moral and theological guidance, and such guidance is a good and necessary thing. To know how a church and its members feel on a public issue expands the parameters of debate. It does not narrow the debate; it expands it.

The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they’re sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.

A state is nothing more than a reflection of its citizens; the more decent the citizens, the more decent the state. If you practice a religion, whether you’re Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or guided by some other faith, then your private life will be influenced by a sense of moral obligation, and so, too, will your public life. One affects the other. The churches of America do not exist by the grace of the state; the churches of America are not mere citizens of the state. The churches of America exist apart; they have their own vantage point, their own authority. Religion is its own realm; it makes its own claims.

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, to apply moral teaching to public questions. . . .

Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."