Three recent decisions by authorities that threaten religious freedom in the United States are cause for great concern on the part of all Americans, particularly Christians. Incidents like these will come to your neighborhood or church is they are not stopped.
The first decision was the announcement by the US Department of Health and Human Services that all insurance providers must provide free coverage for contraceptive, sterilization, and abortifacients, including those companies that provide insurance coverage to religious organizations whose moral beliefs oppose use of such devices or services.
This is a freedom of religion issue that challenges the freedoms set forth in the US Constitution. This mandate is an encroachment by the government on our First Amendment rights.
Another heavy-handed move against religious freedom came recently at Vanderbilt University. The school has placed InterVarsity’s Graduate Christian Fellowship (and other religious organizations) on notice that they may no longer require that their officers hold beliefs consistent with their organization’s stated purpose. In other words, a Christian organization may not require their officers to be Christians. This is tolerance gone amuck. Such regulations could require an atheist be made an officer in a theistic organization. That’s like requiring a person who doesn’t believe in space travel be president of the flying club.
The third incident occurred on Monday when the New York City school board removed 68 churches from NYC schools by refusing to no long rent facilities to them . A judge upheld the board’s decision, saying the church presence in school buildings in some way transformed the facilities into religious edifices. Such thinking not only defies logic, it defies American history. Have we forgotten the scores of schools that were started in churches? Have we forgotten how many public schools religious leaders started in the early days of this country?
The battle is raging for the soul of America. Christians must let our voices be heard in the halls of government and in the boardrooms of school systems. Be silent today; be silenced tomorrow.
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