“But we have separation of church and state here let’s be clear…”

"You can have religious freedom… you probably shouldn’t work in an emergency room."

Hear for yourself what Coakley has to say in the following video:

Response: What Coakley has to say here is scary. She is the State Attorney General and should be knowledgeable about the Constitution. However her take on the ‘religious freedom’ and the First Amendment leaves a lot to be desired.

For her the so-called separation clause seems to mean that the church is subservient to the state and people of faith merely have the freedom to be marginalized by the law.

This is the complete opposite of what the originators of the Constitution intended in the Bill of Rights in the first place. They were supposed to limit the powers of government rather than extent them.            *Top

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Rev. Carlton Veazey at a pro-abortion rally on Capitol Hill proclaimed that women have a “God-given right” to abortion. He was the final speaker in a small rally staged by major pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, NARAL-Pro Choice, along with pro-abort members of Congress. The rally was held to demonstrate opposition to the ‘Stupak Amendment’ of the House health care bill. The amendment prohibits spending federal money on abortions.

The ‘Reverend’ is President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and also a actual minister in the National Baptist Convention USA.  At the rally, Veazey along with Pro-abortion members of Congress encouraged those in attendance to lobby against the Stupak amendment and seek to have it stripped from the final version of the bill.

Here’s a couple of highlights of what the ‘Wrong Reverend’ Veazey proclaimed in his speech:

“Don’t let anybody tell you that religious people don’t support choice, you not only have a constitutional right for abortion, but you have a God-given right.” …

“Stupak will not make it, I want you to go leave this place knowing that right will always win, and we are going to win Stupak.”

Response: I wish that I was as confident as the ‘Wrong Reverend’ that the right would prevail in this case. Of coarse my perspective of what is right as a pro-life supporter is entirely different than his.

I am interested in hearing what theological and Biblical support he gives for his declaration that abortion is “a God-given right”. I spent 7 years in seminary and the only ‘God-given right’ that I know of that might apply is the right of people to exercise their ‘free agency’ and rebel against God and His laws –which as far as I’m concerned is the case when it comes to abortion.

It is incredible that this minister not only supports abortion but actually claims that God does too! Where does he get the idea that the Almighty somehow favors the killing of innocent unborn babies? This is way beyond the pale.

There has to be a special place in Hell for those who teach that God somehow supports the abortion holocaust in America.            *Top

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Response: Atheists and agnostics have every right in this country to advertise their own belief system or lack there of. If they want to use billboards to ‘evangelize’ than more power to them. I see all sorts of Christian messages on billboards all the time if atheists want to ‘praise Darwin’ then so be it.

Actually I think the ‘Praise Darwin’ sign is rather clever and humorous. But it does remind me that humans have an innate desire to seek something greater than themselves and Darwin along with evolution meets that criteria for many. The fact is, even as ‘scientific’ as evolution purports to be it still demands a certain amount of faith to totally accept it as ‘fact’ with the partial evidence before us today—actually a similar ‘a leap of faith’ and belief that atheists are so critical of when it comes to religion.

Then there’s the “Imagine no Religion” sign which is a take off on Lennon’s old song. The ‘no religion’ message is supposed to conjure up a vision of a better world but for me a world without Christianity is one that I would rather not live in. Besides, the science and progress we now enjoy and even Darwin’s theory of evolution is the product of a Western civilization that was built upon the foundation of Christianity and Christian morals and values. Who is to say where we would be today without that religious foundation.

However one message in particular does somewhat bother me–”Keep religion out of government”. This message stands the US Constitution on its ear. The intent of the framers was exactly the opposite–to keep government out of religion. You say that that is basically the same? Hardly. The government is Constitutionally barred in the 1st Amendment from making laws establishing or prohibiting the free exercise of religion:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The statement also seems to mean to some that ‘religious people should be keep out of government service’ but the Constitution is also clear one way or another on that issue in article 6:

“No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

Recently atheists were unsuccessful in their legal challenge opposing the prayers included in the presidential inauguration in January. People of faith are still constitutionally able to freely exercise their religion in America in spite of all of the recent legal challenges to the contrary.

Soon we will be in the midst of the Christmas and holiday season which in recent years has been a battleground when it comes to the public display of traditional religious decor and music. We will be monitoring every challenge and we plan this year to establish and announce a new ‘Bah Humbug Award of the Week’ to the most worthy anti-Christmas recipient.             *Top

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Over 151 Christian leaders from all sorts of different denominations and organizations have signed a document called the ‘Manhattan Declaration’ which is a call for Christians to stand together on a number of major moral issues that face America. The following three points summarize the major issues addressed by the document :

1. The sanctity of human life

2. The dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife

3. The rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Here’s the final paragraph of the document which reflects these key areas of concern:

“Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”

Response: There is a real concern among many Christian leaders that religious freedom in this country is beginning to be challenged by recent legislation. The country seems to be pulling away from its Judeo-Christian moorings and different values are now being touted by many. The purpose of the document is to make it plain that Christian institutions answer to a higher power and will not change with the tide of popular opinion or compromise basic Christian teachings and moral values.

The sanctity of life and God ordained marriage between one man and one woman are issues the church cannot compromise on if it wants to remain faithful to the scriptures and the theological foundations of Christianity. Some more progressive churches and leaders might evolve and change but the following leaders declare that they will remain faithful “in season or out” whether it is popular or not.

The document raises the issue of possible ‘civil disobedience’ which the church has had to face in the past and continues to face in the present. In the first generation, Christianity was at times outlawed by the Romans and many were martyred. Even today, there are lands where it is illegal to preach the Gospel and convert new members to Christ and yet the Gospel continues to be preached and the body of Christ continues to grow in spite of it all.

In some ways Christians in America have been spoiled and for much of our history the culture has been supportive of Christian Values and morality. Now we are living in times when the dominant American culture seems to be pulling away from the very foundational values and morals that made this country great.

It is time to stand up and be counted regardless—that’s what these Christian leaders have decided to do.    Here’s a link if you want to sign on to the document. Over 5,000 signatures so far.            *Top

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(Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey- via Wikipedia)

Here’s an article from Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey calling for the IRS to suspend the tax-exempt status of the Catholic Church because the Catholic Bishops actually lobbied to have Abortion dropped from the health care bill.

Also here’s a statement by Congressman Patrick Kennedy pertaining to the abortion issue:

“The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.”

Now here’s the response of his Bishop to that statement –Thomas J. Tobin:

“Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does. Although I wouldn’t choose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents.”

Over 40 Democratic members of Congress are reportedly angry over this issue and are demanding for abortion to be put back into any final bill before they vote for it.

Response: The Liberals don’t complain about the church when it serves their purposes and supports their views which in my estimation is far too often. In fact the Catholic Bishops did end up supporting the health care bill when Abortion was dropped from it.

The fact is, the Catholic Church and any other religious body including pastors and clergy should be free to speak out on moral issues and issues of life and death whether they have become ‘politicized’ or not. The Catholic Bishops are not supporting a particular party or candidate in this case only enunciating their stance on a particular moral issue. This is nothing new—actually for both sides except the call to question the status of the church.

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(Chris Matthews via Wikipedia)

Chris Matthews of MSNBC said the other day that ‘the religious right is like the Taliban’?

Ed Morrissey of Hot Air observes:

That must be from all of the times the Religious Right throws acid in women’s faces, or bars girls from attending schools, or beat barbers in the streets for trimming beards. Right? Because when the Religious Right set up their dictatorship in America, they were just like the Taliban, according to Chris Matthews.

Response: Shame on you Chris Matthews! I get it that you don’t like those of us on the ‘religious right’ and that we are on the other side of every issue you stand for, but this is over the top ridiculous and down right malicious and ignorant. After all, those of us who are religious and on the right politically in America are peacefully participating in the political process.

Obviously you don’t know anything about the Taliban or religious folks in this country. It is time for you to get a ‘time out’, leave your ‘beltway bubble’, and travel across this great land and learn something about your fellow Americans. Go to a few churches in fly-over country and stay and talk to some ‘real’ people at a potluck or two. Find out what America is really like out there then you know why your ratings continue to suffer and why MSNBC is in the proverbial dumper.

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(Image by kevindooley via Flickr)

When the new $621 million US Capitol Visitor Center opened in December 2008,  "E Pluribus Unum" was prominently displayed as the ‘national motto’. Only problem–the actual national motto is:

“In God We Trust”

Well that really wasn’t the only problem—the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ was also nowhere to be found in the center.

The House and Senate voted last July to order the architect of the Capitol to engrave the national motto and the Pledge of Allegiance in the visitor center. Now a year later they are on display for all to see.

Response: What are the chances that these two examples of official Americana that just happened to mention “God” were left out by sheer accident? Probably slim and none.

Someone had to decide to leave them out on purpose. The proof? Actually replacing the real motto with a more acceptable secular choice is the proof.

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