In Tennessee residents of an independent living facility have been ordered to remove religious decorations from common areas. At the Apartments for the elderly and disabled a cross was recently removed from a wall where it was displayed for decades. Angels, nativity scenes and all other types of Christmas displays have also been banned from shared spaces.
The residents are upset by the decision to ban religious symbols, one resident saying that "Jesus is the reason for the season."
The manager of the facility says that since the apartment complex receives federal government subsidizes to cover rent for residents, he must remove the religious symbolism (apparently under the guise of separation of church and state).
The management is also planning on ending a weekly Bible study in the common area.
A fair assumption would be that Bibles in plain view are also against the rules, and must be locked away and not seen.
In Florida, a controversial court ruling, under an order crafted by the ACLU, disallows school employees from "communicating with a deity", bowing their head, folding hands, or doing anything that looks religious while on or off campus representing the school district in any way. Three school officials are being charged with contempt while seeking to overturn the court order. The school employees have also been ordered to prohibit "third parties" from praying as well.
Christian employees have testified the order has literally driven them to hide in closets to pray to avoid contempt charges.
At one point, a clerical assistant faced contempt charges after her husband read a prayer at a private banquet held at a Naval base to honor non-instructional school district employees.
World Net Daily reports that One of the teachers "testified about how she was required to also inform parents that she cannot respond if they mention church or their faith. She said she is prohibited from replying to e-mails from parents if they contain Bible verses or even 'God bless you.' Instead, the district has instructed her to open a separate e-mail to answer the parents rather than hit 'reply.' The district calls for the action to eliminate any trace of religious language in school communication."
Liberty Counsel, a non-profit law firm defending the Christians in the school district, recently successfully defended Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman against criminal contempt charges after the ACLU complained when Freeman gave a 15-second blessing for a lunch meal for 20 adults with no students present. Had the men been found guilty of daring to say a short blessing for the meal, they could have faced penalties of up to six months in jail and $5,000 in fines each.
The ACLU began their crusade against Christianity in the school district when in August 2008 two anonymous students sued the district with the help of the ACLU over long-standing practices at the school allowing prayer at some events. The case resulted in a consent decree that "essentially bans all Santa Rose County School District employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities."
About 400 members of the 2009 graduating class at Florida's Pace High School, to express their objections to the ACLU restrictions on statements of religious faith at their school, rose up en masse at their graduation ceremony and recited the Lord's Prayer. Parents, family, and friends joined in the recitation, applauding the students at the completion of the prayer.
"The ACLU," says Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, "is obviously trying to criminalize Christianity."
Former President Jimmy Carter recently singled out Catholics and Southern Baptists as being guilty of "creating an environment where violations against women are justified."
Carter also indicated that the two Christian denominations "view that the Almighty considers women to be inferior to men."
Carter suggested church leadership does not permit women to become priests and pastors because male religious leaders wish to subjugate women, and do so ". . . for their own selfish ends."
Jimmy Carter claims that Christianity's major denomination's continued choice to "subjugate" women "provides a foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world." Carter then went on to provide a list horrific violations against women he felt are present because of the church's "subjugation" of women. The list of atrocities included rape, genital mutilation, abortion of female embryos and spousal battery.
To dare respond in the defense of Christianity, as this demonization of the faith ensues, makes one an alarmist in the eyes of those that support such actions against Christianity. They seem to forget that the faith they are attacking was a primary part of the founding principles of this nation. Therefore, I feel it necessary to address the issue, and the best way to address it is with the First Amendment, and the writings of the founding fathers.
The idea of Separation of Church and State is not even in the U.S. Constitution. The leftists that support the premise base their argument on a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut in 1802. Not only was Jefferson not saying in that letter what the leftists claim, but when it comes to the Constitutionality of Jefferson's letter, one has to realize that the letter is not a part of the Constitution, and that Thomas Jefferson was not even directly involved in the writing, or signing, of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, though he was stateside at the time of the ratification of the First Amendment. Jefferson, during the Constitutional Convention, was in France.
Even some of the citizens back in the years following the American Revolution misunderstood Jefferson's position on the concept of Freedom of Religion. After Jefferson was inaugurated as the third president in 1801, following being characterized during the campaign as an "atheist" that wished to take away religious freedoms, housewives in New England were actually seen burying family Bibles in their gardens or hiding them in wells because they fully expected the Holy Scriptures to be confiscated and burned by the new administration. Part of what fueled these fears was the fact that Jefferson had spent so much time in France as United States minister, and had voiced that he supported the French Revolution. The revolution in France was fueled by anti-Church sentiments, and Americans had been receiving reports that as the French Revolution swept across France, widespread desecration of religious sanctuaries and symbols in France were a daily occurrence.
It turned out that though Thomas Jefferson did not consider himself an extremely religious man, he did attend the largest congregation in North America at the time. This church held its weekly worship services on government property, in the House Chambers of the U.S. Capital Building. Funny thing for a man to do if, as the left claims, he believed in their modern interpretation of the separation of church and state. In fact, his respect for the principles of Christianity, his understanding of the influence those principles had on the founding of the nation, and his belief in the existence of God was very well intact. Despite the claim Jefferson was merely a theist, he was a man that invoked the name of Jesus Christ often.
Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists was not designed to set in motion the idea of a separation of church and state, but to advise the Baptists that though he understood their plight as the minority religion in Connecticut, since at that time the small state was being run as a Puritan theocracy, the federal government could not interfere with the dispute, because to do so would be unconstitutional. The federal government could not tell a state how to run its business. The federal government did not have the authority to intervene.
To further understand Jefferson's respect for allowing citizens to practice their religion as they deem fit, one has only to study his actions as a politician in the state government of Virginia. He was constantly submitting legislation that protected freedom of religion, while voting against all legislation that threatened to endanger religious freedom.
The concept of Freedom of Religion finds its greatest support in the text of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The First Amendment reads:
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.
Notice that the text specifically says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." In the case of the home for the elderly and disabled in Tennessee, just because they receive federal funding (which is unconstitutional in its own right), it does not mean the management must eliminate religious freedom within the property. Allowing religious freedom among the residents is not the equivalent of "Congress" making a law respecting the establishment of religion.
Congress is not establishing a state religion by teachers praying, or students holding up bible verses during football games, or parents saying "God Bless You" in an email, either. In fact, each of those things should be allowed because of the next part of the first amendment which says, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
"But Doug," will argue the leftist, "The Supreme Court has ruled. . . ."
The Supreme Court is a part of the judiciary, and the judiciary cannot make law. Making law is the function of the legislative branch, or more specifically, Congress. Therefore, no amount of precedent can make illegal the right of a citizen to freely exercise their right of Freedom of Religion. The Courts are not Congress, and the Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
Also, notice the verbiage. The language of the First Amendment restricts Congress, not the people. But by restricting the people from the free exercise of their religion at school, in federal buildings, or at an apartment in Tennessee that unconstitutionally receives federal funding, the federal government is literally breaking Constitutional law.
The First Amendment is very clear. The First Amendment gives citizens the Freedom to Worship God without Government interference. The First Amendment assures that the Government will not establish a State Religion. The First Amendment allows the people to freely speak their minds without the government arresting them. The First Amendment grants citizens the right to publish news that may be critical of the government without fear of arrest or fines, and assures the people the right to peacefully gather together or march in rallies or parades.
No interpretation is needed. It is worded plainly, and must be applied as it is written.
Finally, to address Jimmy Carter's remarks that Christianity is to blame for the subjugation of women, one must once again simply look at the facts. Biblically, men and women were created equally. Throughout history it has been in the nations where Christianity is the majority faith that women have enjoyed the greatest freedoms. Rape is not the result of religion, but the result of people who have their own issues based on their own instability. Genital mutilation is a rampant problem in Muslim Countries, not in Christian circles, unless Mr. Carter wants to claim that circumcision falls under that same umbrella (which is a ridiculous argument). The abortion of female embryos also is not something that happens in Christian societies, but in fact is most common in China, which follows the atheist/humanist teachings of communism. Spousal battery is most common in non-Christian households, and in fact worldwide is most prevalent in Muslim societies.
The practice of only having male pastors is simply because most Christian churches believe that it is not wise, or in line with biblical teaching, for a woman to council a man because of the obvious differences between the sexes. This in no way subjugates women. In fact, women play a very dominant role in the church as bible study leaders among women's groups, teachers in the child ministries, and women serve as a very important support system for their husbands who are pastors (or at least that is the case in non-Catholic denominations).
Carter, like usual, is simply revealing himself to be the bumbling fool we all know he is, and very little stake should be taken in what he has to say - especially when all of the evidence says different than what he utters.
There is an apparent push to eliminate the Christian faith from the societal fabric of America. What is even more shocking is that as Christianity is demonized, censored, and restricted, Islam is being given concessions, and special privileges.
Go figure!
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Elderly residents clash with management over religious decoration ban - Action News WMC Memphis
Teachers forced to 'hide in closets' to pray - World Net Daily
Jimmy Carter: Abuse of Women? Blame the Catholics and Southern Baptists - Life Site News
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