Friday, April 26, 2013

Freedom of Speech Compromised: Pentagon Blocks Hostile Southern Baptist Website, among other things

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The liberal left, and the federal government, say they believe in freedom of speech. . . yeah, as long as it agrees with their agenda.

A military member attempted to access the website of the Southern Baptist Convention's website, and it was blocked, and labeled as containing "hostile content."  This comes mere weeks after the Army labeled Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics as examples of religious extremism.  The Southern Baptist denomination is known for its pro-life and pro-traditional marriage stances.

Southern Baptist chaplains have reported that SBC.net has been blocked at military installations around the nation.

A liberal recently told me that churches can't have an opinion on any subject considered political.  "That is why they don't pay taxes.  If they want to have an opinion, they need to pay taxes like the rest of us."

Using that argument, the lower income folks that pay no taxes should have no allowance to have a political opinion, either.

This is not the only hostility we are seeing pointed at Christianity in this nation.

In Arizona, Pastor Michael Salman served a 60-day sentence for holding a home Bible study.  Zoning laws were used to imprison Salman for holding home Bible studies.

“If you have a small gathering in your home for any kind of religious meeting, you’re going to be harassed by the government to somehow square with the zoning regulations for a formal institution," he said.

In New Orleans, street preachers have been forced, by law, to become a thing of the past.  New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, in 2011, approved a ban prohibiting loitering on Bourbon Street "for the purpose of disseminating any social, political or religious message between the hours of sunset and sunrise."  Punishment includes a fine and jail time.  An Assembly of God pastor that has preached on Bourbon Street for the past 30 years has been told he may no longer share his religious views on the street.  

Joseph La Rue of the Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel said of the ban, "New Orleans cannot make criminals of people simply because they want to talk about their faith."

City Officials in New Orleans have chosen to criminalize speech about faith while allowing just about every other conceivable topic to be discussed and exposed. Its not up to the government to decide the topics we can and cannot discuss.  Coincidentally, the ban came on the heels of President Obama's UN address that threatened to curtail speech denigrating religion, notably Islam

Of course, flashing your breasts for beads is still legal in New Orleans.

Christians are being targeted for daring to speak out against abortion, homosexuality, and a myriad of political issues.  If those that oppose Faith decide to speak out against Christianity, or use government to force The Church to accept the gay agenda, or the genocide of the unborn, that is considered to be just fine.

Could you imagine if the Pentagon blocked a gay website, or told Muslims they could not speak of their religion on Bourbon Street, or a city used zoning laws to shut down a pro-abortion meeting in someone's home, and then jail the person hosting the meeting?

All hell would break loose.

No prayer is allowed in school because they don't want Christians forcing their religion upon anyone through the school system.  Yet, the liberal agenda, the gay agenda, anti-religious topics like evolution, and pro-abortion topics are being forced on our children without even a consideration that they are doing exactly what they dared to accuse the Christians of wanting to do.

My daughter was once told in school to tuck her crucifix under her shirt, because it being exposed was offensive to some students.  Other students wearing pro-gay T-shirts, shirts with images of the Marxist murderer Che Guevara on them, peace signs on tie-dye shirts, a shirt with a fish with feet and the word "Darwin" inside the walking fish, and Muslim shirts were never addressed by that same school.

The Left supports the First Amendment's call for Freedom of Speech, as long as you dare not disagree with them.  Otherwise, you will be forced into silence, or ridiculed into silence (i.e. accusations of homophobia, Islamophobia, War on Women, etc.).

The goal of the progressive left is to eliminate all opposition, force the church into the four walls of a church, and force individualism and opinions that disagree with their agenda into silence.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary



Religious Expression Banned on Bourbon Street? - Christian Persecution Magazine

No comments: