Fortnight for Freedom
Today begins a two week long campaign by the Catholic Church focusing on the issue of religious freedom in the United States. Called Fortnight for Freedom, the next two weeks will be filled with study and prayer remembering Christians who have been persecuted for their faith. It ends on July 4.
Please pray for our nation and its leaders to honor our First Amendment right of freedom of religion. Right now the Catholic Church is in the hot seat. They are but the first if we allow the government to trample on our God-given unalienable rights.
Remember the words of Martin Niemoeller: “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Here is a prayer that is included in some of the information about F4F. I thought it was beautiful.
Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty
O God Our Creator,
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be “one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
© 2012, Esther4HB. All rights reserved.
Help HillBuzz by Shopping Amazon
"Bee" Advised!
I look forward to your comments. Please follow these simple guidelines:
- Please do not complain about your comment not yet showing up
- Stay on topic of the article ("This is OT, but..." = bad!)
- I will STING if you troll, spam, bait, swear or attack someone
What must be remembered is that it is the progressives, the liberals and the Communists or Marxists who have distorted the whole issue regarding religious freedom in the USA.
The issue is about separation of Church and State, which is a concept that I agree with in principle. That principle has been distorted by a minority group that wants to take away the right of any religious person to believe in God.
The meaning of separation of Church and State is tied to the history of the Church. In particular it is tied to England, as well as parts of Europe where there was religious persecution. It must be remembered that the history does in fact go back well over 2000 years and it encompasses those early Christian martyrs, plus it includes those Jews who were persecuted by the Greeks at the time of the Maccabees. In those ancient times it was generally believed that the emperor was a god. In fact even in China and Japan in the 1900s the emperor was considered to be a god. As a result of these beliefs any challenge to the emperor or the head of state was seen as a direct challenge to the state.
The principle itself is that no one religion is to be the State religion. It is based upon the Freedom OF Religion, not Freedom FROM Religion.
It is a good idea to do some historical research on this subject and thank you Esther4HB
we’ve never had a president (nor nearly any other politician) who wasn’t a christian….we have churches on every other corner from coast to coast….the airwaves are filled with religious broadcasts…most of our government holidays have a religious origin…some 90 percent of americans claim to be religious and most of those cite christianity as their religion of choice….how, in the name of god, can it be said that there is anything akin to religious persecution in the united states ?!?
The concerns the Catholic Church has are with the mandates that require private health plans to include contraception, sterilization and abortion inducing drugs. This directly violates the teachings of that church and thereby forces them to provide services that violate adherents’ consciences.
I agree that we in the United States have a level of religious freedom that is unique in the world. When one looks at the persecution of various religions in many parts of the world, we are quite fortunate by comparison. This was built into our system from the beginning.
In a free society such as ours the loss of rights comes incrementally, otherwise freedom loving people would protest. Over the last few decades I believe we have seen that incrementalism take place, both in religious and secular areas of our lives. We are regulated and prohibited from engaging in behaviors that border on the ridiculous in some cases. The slippery slope is there and I believe it is our responsibility to call it when we see it and resist it when necessary.
If you want to know about America’s future according to Bible prophecy, read The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. It is an extremely telling analysis of the reasons our country is in it’s current condition. We need a strong revival of the traditions that endeared us to God. I think most of all, we need leaders who know how to pray.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/what-glenn-beck-says-about-the-harbinger/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H13DPkb6kjQ&feature=related
Ana, I finished The Harbinger last week and was struck by how informative it is. I have been strongly recommending it to others. God’s word does not return void. He has been merciful and gracious to give us ample warning and we would do well to heed it.
This is said with all due respect for your faith: I’m not a Catholic, I don’t share the Catholic Church’s abhorrence of contraceptives and I see their actions in trying to avoid including contraceptives in their employees’ health insurance in the opposite way that you do –they’re trying to prohibit their employees’ freedom.
I wouldn’t go to a Catholic hospital as a patient and expect them to prescribe the Pill. But as an employer, a Church-run institution is not allowed to tell me that I have to behave like a Catholic when I’m not.
If my employer were a Jehovah’s witness, it would be none of his business whether or not I used my job-provided health insurance to get a blood transfusion. No-one is forcing contraception on their employees, it’s simply one of the benefits that their insurance provides and whether or not the employee chooses to use it is none of the employer’s business.
You’re using a slippery slope argument to debate this. Well, that works the other way too. What other freedoms might church-run institutions try to take away from their employees?
You are right that slippery slopes can slide in a number of directions. I think this is an issue that can and should be debated further, and that those with differing views listen to their opponents to deepen their understanding of the complexities involved. I am not a Catholic either, but I support the principle of freedom of religion and the Catholic church’s right to speak up when it feels its rights are being infringed.
I agree with your opinion about not expecting a Catholic operated hospital to prescribe the Pill for patients if it violates its beliefs. I feel that same argument holds true for the benefits that they provide employees. Must they provide a health insurance plan that includes procedures that are incompatible with Catholic doctrine? Why can’t they provide an adequate plan that excludes those specific procedures, but provides basic health coverage? Is it the government’s place to require these things? This seems to me to be in direct conflict with the First Amendment. I think Congressman Gowdy addresses this here: http://youtu.be/NnO7qa7fMRc
I also feel that employer provided health care insurance is not a right. This is an excellent example of how the slippery slopes work. What was non-existent a century ago has now become a “right.” While health insurance is beneficial, why is it a supposed right? Why is it that employers are burdened with providing it? What other forms of insurance should be included in our list of rights? Where does it end?
Another good Bill Whittle video on what is a “right”
http://www.therightscoop.com/firewall-with-bill-whittle-why-dont-you-mind-my-own-business/
If you go to work for a Catholic Institution, you know in advance what the Church Doctrine. Remember, this is not just birth control, it’s the abortion pill and sterilization all for “free” Many of these institutions self insure.
When you buy car insurance, do you expect it to cover oil changes and tire rotation? Contraceptives can be purchased for $9 at Walmart / Target. Many country health departments and PP provide it for free as they have for years under Title X (signed into law under Nixon). The more the government subsidizes anything, the more costly it becomes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_X
“But as an employer, a Church-run institution is not allowed to tell me that I have to behave like a Catholic when I’m not.” However, as an employee, I have the option to leave a job if the benefits package isn’t to my satisfaction. I have to agree with Esther on this one, and altho’ I may not agree with the Catholic’s perspective on contraception, I have no right to tell a Catholic employer that he or she must offer a benefits package (something that is totally voluntary to begin with) that complies with MY beliefs.
this is NOT about contraception/abortion, it is about the government dictating to a religion, to change their doctrine.
What is next? Do Muslim/Jewish schools serve pork products at lunch? After all, it is the “other white meat” and wouldn’t the pork industry have a RIGHT to have their product served at all schools? Shouldn’t the Muslim/Jewish schools have to PAY for the food, —
Substitute Muslim/Jewish for Catholic, and pork products for birth control. Substitute Baptist and EPA rules using bodies of water, Christian Scientist and Penicillan,
Respectfully, it is about a dictatorship and about murder also known as abortion, including abortofacient contraception.
I don’t work for a Muslim institution because I don’t respect and don’t agree with Islamic teachings. I don’t work for a Jewish institution because I respect, but don’t agree with, Jewish teachings. I don’t work for an employer who, say, owns a vegan restaurant because I disagree with the vegan lifestyle.
To say that an employer, a religious employer, must provide something that clearly and consistently violates that employer’s long-held beliefs (and the Catholic Church didn’t just start opposing contraception when Obama took office), there is something wrong.
Either the First Amendment, as written, applies here or it doesn’t apply at all.
If people want the freedom of contraception, the Catholic Church is not stopping them from 1) finding another job or 2) paying the $4-$10/mo out of their own pocket fir birth control.
I’d be far more concerned with religious freedom if people of organized faiths were not out trying to influence the Government solely on the basis of their religious convictions. Moreover they are using the Government to STEAL the just, lawful earnings of productive individuals and redistribute those stolen goods to people they deem worthy based on their religious convictions.
So one the one hand these hypocrites want to use the Government to deprive honest men of the just fruits of their labor and give to the people they favor and yet on the other hand when the government steps in and tells the church how they must behave they cry like a bunch of babies.
I no longer have sympathy for they cross the line between church and state deliberately.
This is OT, but you may want to go be Breitbart and comment at this officail Obama website. Conservatives have taken over the site!
http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/the-obama-event-registry?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#comments
Sah-weet! Never underestimate conservatives who have done their homework. Channeling Patton: “Alinsky, you magnificent b@$t@rd! I read your book!”
You’d think they’d learn from all the Twitter takeovers.
June is wedding month, let’s guilt people into donating their wedding gifts to Obama…
lower than whale poo
Thank you for posting this — It is important
That looks like George Washington in the picture. He was actually the first President to die as a Catholic (not the first catholic President since his converstion was deathbed.