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Freedom of Religion or Freedom of Worship?
by Kate Warren Of late, the term Freedom of Worship has been gaining popularity. It has begun to be substituted for what we have always called Freedom of Religion. So, is Freedom of Worship the same thing as Freedom of Religion? I am talking about the First Amendment. I do not know if you realize it, but many of our rights have disappeared, especially during our present administration. We have lost a lot because Barrack Hussein Obama believes he knows what we need better than we do. Basically his decisions are based purely on his own personal agenda. Anyway, that is a topic for another time. Allow me explain the politically correct meanings of Freedom of Worship and Freedom of Religion. Freedom of Religion is exactly what it says: the freedom to believe what you want how you want. This implies a particular world view. For instance, the world view of someone who embraces the Islamic faith is different from a person who embraces the Christian faith, which is again, different from an atheist. This is the freedom expressed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The concept of Freedom of Worship is a new term. It refers to what an individual does in his or her place of worship for an hour or two a week. This does not dictate actions outside of that time of worship. It implies a global world view as the act of worship; according to the individuals who coined the phrase does not impact actions once outside of the room, church, temple, etc. Are you seeing the difference? Freedom of Worship means that, in my case, I give worship and praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ every Sunday, but on Monday I follow the world view and actions set forth by my government. Thus I will support Planned Parenthood; if I am a service provider I make no distinctions that would be biblical in any way. You see, Christian, biblical decisions and actions would only take place during my worship time or in the privacy of my own home. The teachings of Jesus Christ could not impact my actions outside of my church or my home. Thus I would not live and act with a Christian world view but with a post-modernist world view. So, by a clever use of words, our Freedom of Religion, as guaranteed by our First Amendment, is wiped away. Those in power would say no, we do not understand, we still have Freedom of Worship. We would be offered re-education classes in human rights, sensitivity, and non-discrimination so we could be "welcomed back into the fold" so to speak. You may ask why this differentiation is so important. There is a huge difference between these two terms. Our forefathers came to America to practice their faith in God as they chose. The Pilgrims, actually Quakers, had a specific belief in Jesus Christ, more Calvinistic than the Church of England and this formed their world view. You see, one's belief in God dictates their actions in their life. For instance, compare the world view of an atheist, a Muslim, and a Christian. The atheist has no higher power to be responsible to, no set of morals to live up to other than the laws of the state and his own viewpoint. He believes in the relativism of right and wrong and will say that what is right for one person may not be right for another; all is relative to the situation and the individual. On the other hand, the Muslim is controlled by the Quran. His treatment of family, friends, eating habits, business practices, worship are all found in the Quran. His world view is dictated by his religious belief. The same goes for the Christian. The Old and New Testaments of the Bible shape the Christian's behavior not only in church and with his family, but in the real world. If this nation were to adopt a Freedom of Worship policy, Christians would be forced to accept abortion, sale of fetal body parts, even the purposeful harvesting of fetus.....heck, BABIES, for their pieces and parts, distribution of birth control to pre-teens and teens through our public schools, the closing of private schools based on a faith. Christmas would be gone and something else would be in its place, Easter would become Spring Solstice or some such thing. Parents would lose what little influence they have over their children as the "State" would step in as it would have rule, regulations, and prescriptive actions, reactions, and discussions that it would provide to the parents to use with their children. Those are not the only ways we would be affected. Books with a religious theme, be they fiction or non-fiction would not be found in book stores; publications from only world-based publishers and authors would be available. Children would receive worldly teaching with regard to sex education and birth control. Chaplains in any organization would become mental health workers. Think of other basic changes; in court, who would you swear to? Fodder for further thought ... Our liberal leadership has already discounted, ignored, "modernized" our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution; history is being rewritten to suit the post modernistic philosophy of relativism; today's students are being taught that capitalism is bad and socialism is good, the list goes on and on. At what point will we, as citizens of the United States of America say ENOUGH!!!! When will we stand up and honor our founding fathers? If you read, I mean READ the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and it becomes evident that these papers as well as the Federalist Papers are as applicable today as they were when they were written. We have a choice, remain free and stay vigilant and protect our freedoms or allow the more liberal thinkers of our day tell us how to live. For me, I tend to adapt Patrick Henry's thoughts from his address to the Second Continental Congress: "Give me liberty or give me death!" Katy Curry kafrak.com Kathy is a retired teacher in SW Florida who enjoys writing about politics, faith in Jesus Christ, and other topics as they seem timely. www.kafrak.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |