Religious Freedom at Risk
By: Dr. Jerry Newcombe
Blue city mayors along with blue state mayors and now it seems a blue president elect are a clear and present danger to religious ✝️ liberty all across America. They have used a disease sent to us by communists in China 🇨🇳 as a tool a weapon to beat our religion out of us.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Four hundred years ago this month, a weary band of Christians from England came ashore in New England after a grueling 66-day voyage aboard the Mayflower.
The Pilgrims came for one purpose, which they spelled out in writing: "for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith."
It was all about religious freedom. They wanted to worship Jesus in the purity of the Gospel.
150 years after the Pilgrims came, the founders of this nation enshrined religious freedom in our national charter, the Constitution.
When the Constitution was first written, there were some hesitations toward ratifying it. Many of those who accepted it did so upon the assurance that religious freedom would be guaranteed. Thus, the founders amended the Constitution with the Bill of Rights, the document's first 10 amendments.
First and foremost among these was religious freedom. The first two freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment deal with religious liberty. In effect, these liberties were understood to mean there would be no national denomination, and people were free to practice their faith as they saw fit. Implied in that is that the non-believer would be free to practice his lack of faith.
Jump forward to today, 400 years after the Pilgrims arrived, and in the land for which they sought refuge, religious freedom is at risk. With tongue in cheek, one wag asked, "Can we uninstall 2020 and install it again? This version has a virus."
That virus, COVID-19, has been the excuse many anti-Christians bigots have used to try to hamstring churches. We have seen in the last several months an unprecedented assault on religious freedom.
Just consider a few examples:
- Last week a judge in California ruled that strip clubs should be allowed to re-open, despite the pandemic, because the First Amendment is not nullified by a virus. And yet at the very same time, officials in California insist churches must be closed or severely limited because of the pandemic.
- The Supreme Court ruled in the Calvary Chapel v. Sisolak case (July 24) out of Nevada that it was OK for the state to limit how many people could attend worship services, but the casinos were allowed to operate more freely. In his dissent on this case, Justice Neil Gorsuch declared, "…there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel."
- Abortion clinics have been deemed "essential services" by a number of liberal governors, while churches are categorized as "non-essential."
The Rev. John MacArthur is one of the most listened-to and respected Bible teachers in our time. His church is in the greater Los Angeles area. He is generally not one to speak out on political matters. But after months of the pandemic and the way many state officials impair churches because of it, MacArthur decided that enough is enough. He reopened his church — despite threats from state and local officials.
Jenna Ellis, MacArthur's attorney from the Thomas More Society, said "Our position has been that LA County shutting down churches indefinitely amid a virus with a 99.98% survival rate, especially when state-preferred businesses are open and protests are held without restriction, is unconstitutional and harmful to the free exercise of religion."
Kelly Shackelford of First Liberty, which also fights for religious freedom, told D. James Kennedy Ministries: "All people have to do is look at the 'experts' saying, 'Well, you can't sing at church, but oh yeah, the [BLM and Antifa] protests, we're OK with that because that's important."
It would appear that Christophobic bigots are using the pandemic to curb religious freedom in a country that was born for religious freedom.
Author and speaker Bill Federer once told me in a TV interview:
"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, then Catholics, then liberal Christians, and then it went out completely to Jews. Then in the early 1900s, tolerance went out to anybody of any faith, monotheist or polytheist. 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 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.'"
The Pilgrims sacrificed everything they had to practice religious freedom. It would be horrible to see the gift they bequeathed to the world uprooted in our time by secular fundamentalists.
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It would appear that Christophobic bigots are using the pandemic to curb religious freedom in a country that was born for religious freedom.
Author and speaker Bill Federer once told me in a TV interview:
The Pilgrims sacrificed everything they had to practice religious freedom. It would be horrible to see the gift they bequeathed to the world uprooted in our time by secular fundamentalists.
https://thenewstalkers.com/vic-eldred/group_discuss/11269/religious-freedom-at-risk
derp.
In the case of some here that about nails it...✝️
[Deleted]
It’s nice to protect our religious now as we approach the holy holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
an early happy Thanksgiving 🦃🍽🍁 as we give thanks to God for all that we have.
I am going to wish churches which hold in-house services against the advice of scientists and health professionals well with their services. I do so, because it is the right thing to do and because our health care workers are overworked already as it is. I really, really do not wish our doctors and nurses more extreme cases of Covid-19 infected persons this quarter and the first quarter 2021.
Just more "crying wolf" nonsense.
Not at all. Just standing up to those who would use the pandemic sent by China as a tool to take away our free speech, assembly, and free exercise there of rights.
Yes, it is. And your statement proves it.
The thing is that the wolves exist and are now a clear and present hanger to the religious liberty and free exercise rights of many believers in the here and now.
Still paranoia crying wolf
We are well aware of what the secular progressive left would do to us if only they could. Accusing us of exaggerating the danger does nothing but focus us on that danger all the more.
Just more paranoid delusions.
yup. it's going to come down to pay up or stfu in the next 4 years. the tax exempt RNC money laundering machines are headed towards the footnotes of history.
Was that by UPS or FedEx? Quit trying to make it sound like they intentionally sent it to attack the US. Also, as has been stated, trump is as guilty as China given that he literally did nothing to stop the spread of covid. The deaths of 260,000+ dead Americans rests squarely on trumps head.
Lets face facts?
The only reason trump is trying to shift blame to China is to cover for his epic failure of a response to covid in the first place. That's a fact. Sadly and not shockingly, most trump supporters bought it, along with his 20,000+ other lies he has told over the last 4 years.
Inquiry: Which came first Trump's mind or this single-mindedness of Trump supporters? In reality, do we see any daylight between the two "entities"?
Secular country.
If you want a theocracy move to Iran. Christians are not persecuted so all of their complaints boil down to them not being allowed to persecute nonbelievers...
Nobody is asking for a theocracy except the secularists who want all religion and any mention of it forever gone from our country and our lives. We are not getting out of the boat!
List them. Which leaders are advocating for abolition of the 1st Amendment?
Most blue city mayors and blue state governors fit what you describe....
Nonsense. What we’re witnessing is just conservative Christians desperate to be victims. Like many other conservatives, any inconvenience resulting from the pandemic is completely intolerable, and a personal attack on them. My Mom is deeply religious, but she’s also in her 90s and liberal. She attends church online because she thinks congregating is both stupid and unnecessary. Why risk spreading the disease when such easily accessible alternatives are available?* If people simply wore their masks, social distanced, and avoided unnecessary potential exposure, we would have this pandemic under control.
Countries adjacent to China whose populations understand their civic responsibilities suffered very little compared to us. E.g. Taiwan, population 24M, 618 cases, 7 deaths. Japan pop 126M, 134,000 cases, 2,000 deaths. South Korea pop 52M, 31,000 cases, 510 deaths. If we performed like the worst of them we would have about 5,000 dead. Many Americans are too self-centered and appear to be completely ignorant of civics. But, perhaps if we had a president who lead and said we need to make some sacrifices to save our people and economy, we could easily be looking at half the deaths. Imagine there being 125,000 fewer family tragedies.
*One very likely reason that risking spreading the pandemic is acceptable to conservative churches is money. Fewer congregants, less money collected.
Non sequitur. I'm pointing out that the perceived victimhood and selfishness of some people negatively affects a lot of people. I don't even suggest that we stop them, because that's impossible. Their leaders need to help them understand what their civic responsibilities are.
They are free to believe and worship. One does not need a religious building to worship. But buying food is a necessity.
Like I said, list them.
I was unaware that state governors can now get rid of constitutional amendments.
So one needs a religious building to worship?
It's not about what they can do. It's about the necessity of a specialized location to do it.
Strawman. There are no laws prohibiting free exercise (which itself has limits).
Ok, I'll tell them. It's not! One can "worship" anywhere they want.
If your religion required human/animal sacrifice, are you allowed to do it?
I'm not deciding for anyone. I'm just saying. But I imagine most people would feel comfortable praying anywhere outside a religious building.
I say governors should give in to the opinion of the Supreme Court justices. For they read it correctly, this time. Let religious people who take a "devil may care" approach to life face every pandemic or epidemic which crosses their church thresholds. As will any fall-out, if any, the hospitals and caretakers can deal with it as with any other set of critical patients walking in through their doors from out of the communities.
Of course, Christian people are, that is, were intended to be examples of Christ-like living in the Earth. Thus, not given to leading the way into sickness and death due to errand displays of holiness. After all, we have technology to mutually share worship and comment in real-time, pray together, and send tithes, offerings, and those gifts of love across the wires.
Indeed, I am aware of churches at-large which as part of weekly programming, the "congratulate" God for providing technology (during a pandemic) for their purposes of religious expression.
Lastly, I am fully conscious of the stresses and strains pulling on church leaders and laypersons to come together, but yes - some of this is nothing more than strong programming which many fear that over time will weaken "holy" resolve—especially among those who are the weaker sectors of faith. Internal fortitude is a thing a profound individual believer has in spades, you know - for those truly gifted to walk by faith.
Finally, the health care workers have spilled their hearts and minds out to the public in pleading for relief from overrun facilities. Wits ends. Tireness. And worse: worry of sickness and death for themselves and their love ones because they are caring to do the work of well, genuine HEROES.
The solution is obvious.
Amen and praise the Lord. Lol
Bars should rebrand themselves as churches and offer continuous communion
If that happened, I just might "find" religion.
No worry. Religious persecution is still alive and well. The COVID has nothing to do with this. There are to many religious------------excuse makers in the courts. And religion has nothing to do with any of this.