Is ‘Freedom of Religion’ merely code for hate and anti-LGBT rights? Are organizations which support religious liberties really ‘hate groups’? Are folks who want to live according to traditional Biblical beliefs nothing more than bigots and haters?

No! Certainly not.

This week I saw more articles than I can number that agreed with the ABC News assessment of the ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) as nothing more than an anti-LGBT ‘Hate group.’ What did the ADF do to deserve that designation? It defended freedom of religion and in particular Christians who want to continue to live according to Biblical teaching. Which is supposedly guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

This is not the first time that I saw the main stream media down playing religious liberty as a legal excuse for hate and actually code for opposing LGBT civil rights. A couple of years ago when the state of Indiana passed the ‘Religious Freedom Restoration Act’ it was assailed on the left as nothing more than a legal excuse for discrimination against LGBT folks. Ditto for every state law protecting the freedom of religion passed since then.

Recently Senator Sanders supported a ‘religious test’ which would ban Christians from serving in the government if they continue to support Biblical teaching over LGBT rights. He reasoned that the First Amendment would continue to allow Christians to believe what they want but that didn’t mean that the government had to continue to employ or tolerate haters in the public square.

Point is, this is becoming a prevailing theme and notion on the left that religious freedom is merely a legal excuse for keeping LGBT folks down and actually code for hate, bigotry, and discrimination. Therefore, every attempt by religious folks to upgrade laws protecting religious liberty is being vigorously opposed by progressives. Except when it comes to Muslims who continue to get a pass since they also need protection from right wing hate and islamophobia.

Meanwhile, Christian business owners are being forced to provide services which are in opposition to their closely held religious beliefs. Christian schools and organizations are being told by government authorities that they must accommodate transgender folks regardless. Christian chaplains and military personnel are being fired or censored for having Bibles on their desks or scriptural passages on display or for praying ‘in Jesus name.’  Christian students are being discriminated against on college campuses; their groups being banned, and some are being dropped from graduate programs because of their faith. Cities are banning home Bible study groups, arresting home fellowship pastors, and zoning property so that churches cannot be built.

Now the very groups (Like ADF) that are legally supporting Christians in the midst of all of this discrimination are being called ‘hate groups’ and freedom of religion itself, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment, is being characterized as a legal excuse for bigotry? Then there are many others like former president Obama which are pushing for the First Amendment to be reinterpreted as ‘freedom of worship’ only within the four walls of an official church or place of worship. What Senator Sanders recently said seems to support that view.

If Hillary Clinton was elected then the drum beat would have continued to another level entirely and I believe that conservative Christians would have been phased out of government service except those who are elected by the people, and the ‘freedom of worship’ interpretation of the First Amendment would have been confirmed by the courts due to the appointment of radical judges that would have made it so.

What ever you may think about President Trump, the appointment of conservative federal judges may save the freedom of religion in America as it has been traditionally understood. The battle is raging and the end is not yet in sight but we do now have a reprieve and a window of opportunity.

It is imperative for the millions of believing Christians to come out of the shadows and make their support for religious freedom and liberty known. The MSM and leftist narrative that denigrates our religious freedoms and liberties need to be rejected along with the purveyors of such notions. There is a cultural war raging in America and many Christians do not seem to realize that their Biblical beliefs and liberties are in the process of being outlawed, many times by unelected bureaucrats and judges.

It is time to stand up and support groups like the ADF which are holding back the tides of our spiritual enemy from ensnaring our land and destroying our liberties. We still have the vote, we can still pray, and we should be on our knees praying for our leaders and nation daily. Our greatest hope right now is for revival and a new awakening. Prayer still changes things.                 *Top

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