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Religious Liberty in the Public Square
by Ramona Cook I am hearing many voices deliberating the rightness or wrongness of Gay Rights, Abortion, Lying, Stealing, Discrimination, Separation of Church and State; the list goes on. I hear some saying, "Well, I feel it is alright for my friends to love whomever they choose." "I feel that if a woman doesn't want a baby, she has a right to abort." "I understand that a person needs to protect themselves by lying sometimes." "The Church has no right to voice against things people of our society choose to do." "We must get rid of the Cross in public places." If you evaluate what those persons are saying, it all about the one little Group, theirs; and it is not about all the persons involved in the entire social situation, nor in our society at large. When did it happen that our larger Society became subject to a minority Group of dissenters who make big noises? We, the larger Group, must also make big noises and demand for ourselves what the others are demanding, which is, "the right to a voice to speak and to engage our rights." In the political arena it is also true that the majority group should make the Laws. However, minority groups rage about "rights in the public square." Rights for the minority and with cancellation of rights for the majority. For instance, no one ever told the Atheists that they could not be Atheists. No one has restricted them from doing whatever Atheists want to do, lawfully assemble, evangelization, whatever: but they have become aggressors to try to force the Christian to be quiet and have no presence in the public market. There are also other Religions rising in American culture that would deny Christians rights to practice their faith. You cannot have "religious liberty," which you say you demand, and then force a muzzle on another part of the religious Society. So why does the Church not have a right to voice anything it chooses to voice? It is not a Law Making Body of the Land after all. The basic notion is that we must silence those who disagree with "US," whoever "US" may be. Let me advise you, I belong to a group of "US," and I do not chose for your "US" Group to silence me or my "US Group." Who are you that is better than I am, or than is my "US Group?" This entire Nation has been drilled about "Diversity" over a period of years, only to find that it is not really "diversity" that is wanted, but instead it is the tool used for the upper hand of oppressive power, of control, to wrap everyone into One Opinion, and definitely not the Christian's opinion. You certainly do have the right to do anything you choose. Not even God will demand you to do or to think otherwise, but be advised that "anything" may or may not be beneficial to you. If you chose wrongly, according to God's idea of right and wrong, it will not benefit you. Conversely, if you chose to do right, according to God's ideas of rights and wrongs, then you will be benefited. That is the message of my "US" Group. You may conclude that you are legitimate do whatever you please and that it is alright, ONLY IF there is no God! But you are privileged to choose to do it anyway, if you choose to do so. I have heard very nice people who say they are Atheists, state that they cannot believe, that they want to believe, but can't. How can anyone with good reasoning ability decide that there is no God and no life after death? Atheists who have clinically died and have been revived, aren't atheists after that experience, because they know that they could think and see outside their bodies. They know that there is life after death. To Atheists: if you have never died and come back, you do not know that there is no life after death, and you do not know that there is no God. You may think so, or believe so, but you are practicing the "blind faith" that you disdain Christians as doing. To All Persons: I ask why do you attack that which does not fit your ideas? Can't you be happy with your standards practiced in your individual world of "US"? People over the World continue to do what they choose, despite the OFFICIAL LAWS of that Land. The outcry of "Legalism" is an effort to stop some Group we feel suppresses the ideas of our own Group. Every Group evangelizes its own ideas, else it would cease to exist. The problem comes when the ideas of any one group physically encroaches upon the physical liberty of another group or an individual. For instance, human trafficking; no one has the "right" to enslave another person either physically, or emotionally, or spiritually, that is abuse, and no thinking human can think that to be acceptable behavior because it is confining, destructive, and oppressive to another human. I applaud everyone having the freedom to do according to what they choose as long as the choice does not violate the rights of others nor their well being; you cannot however, force any of the others of us to ditch our choices and be complicit with your choices. There is room for individuals and groups to have and to hold any number of opinions. However, those opinions must not be forced upon individuals nor the masses. The Church does not force people to do according to the choices and tenets of the Faith. Let me clarify what does happen: when you hear the Church make it's statements of right and wrong, and your heart knows the Church is right, but you don't like it, it is not comfortable, you feel angered; you think that if you could only shut the voice of the Church down, you could be happy with your choices. ONLY IF there is no God. The voice of the Church is not your problem, it is your own heart that condemns you. How will you shut that voice down? I have suggested that the Atheists should form things that represent them and place those things in the public square to express themselves. I see that they are doing that somewhat, but it will not weaken the voice of the Church, and they will find no peace in their activities. They will continue to think that the Symbols and the Voice of the Christian Church is the problem that keeps them from being happy in their atheism. I pray for them to get to the end of their conquest and come the knowledge that is true and factual and comforting to their hearts. Meanwhile, I will not move to annihilate Atheism nor any other Religion. Just leave me alone to practice mine; and if the voice of my faith bothers you, ask yourself, "Why?" it bothers you. If the message I carry, voiced into the air, with no force wielded upon you, bothers you, WHY? If I am not forcing my beliefs on you, making you abide by them, what is the problem? I have the same rights you do, to believe and to practice doing according to my choice, as long as it doesn't physically harm anyone. Ramona:06/30/2013 Ramona, Master in Ministry Arts, BA in Biblical Studies, I am an Ordained Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |