Obama's Assault on the First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is undoubtedly the most significant of the Bill of Rights.  It is undoubtedly the most significant.  It is the bedrock or foundation of this great nation and speaks to the who we are as a nation and what rights (or freedoms) we hold true.  The right to free speech; the right to choose and practice religion; the right to press;  the right to peacefully assemble; and the right to petition our government for grievances symbolize a nation that promotes individual liberty over government tyranny.

However, as of late, one of those freedoms is under attack.  Despite being mentioned twice in the First Amendment – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof – the Obama Administration did not get the memo.  Our Founding Fathers intentionally framed religious liberty twice – the establishment of one religion over another and the practice of one’s religion – intentionally.  They did so because of the significance religion plays in a moral and just nation, but religion liberty also played a major role in why we became a nation in the first place.

Many of the early settlers to Colonial America - in the early 1600s - did so because of religious persecution in their native homelands.   If you look back at 16^th Century England for instance, King Henry VIII martyred un-loyal dissidents who refused to recognize him as Supreme Head of the Church of England.  Despite the Act of Supremacy of 1534, many faithful felt the royal crown went too far.  Not too long after, Charles I of England created a schism between Protestants and Roman Catholics, of which many British Catholics fled to Colonial America.

Many of the framers of the Constitution remember what brought them or their ancestors to America – religious persecution and they wanted religious freedom to be protected.  And they did so with the First Amendment – the first protection of five key freedoms not witnessed by any other nation.

Fast forward to present day America and look no further to the Obama Administration for a present King Henry VIII or Charles I.  From the on-set of his inauguration Obama and his cabinet have embarked on a mission to divide the American religious faithful.  Despite those powerful and eloquent  sixteen words of the First Amendment, the Obama has ignored the rule of law and imposed his will on Americans who want to practice religion freely and dutifully.

The first salvo against the faithful was in February 2009 when the Obama Administration reversed the Mexico City policy which originally prohibited federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions around the globe.  Obama, well known for his abortion rights, in this action willfully uses taxpayer dollars earned by American faithful to fund abortions – or infanticide- against their conscience.  This action also cements America’s legacy in state-sponsored infanticide world-wide.  Not a legacy a moral nation would endure.

The 2011 full repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, instituted by the Clinton Administration advanced Obama’s agenda for sexual liberty.  That sexual liberty, reminiscent of the 1960’s sexual revolution endangers the moral conscience of the faithful in the military who must now cohabitate with who are not of the sexual persuasion.  This action compromises the faithful whose religious and moral teaching prohibit anything other than traditional marriage – between one man and one woman.  This policy also compels the military chaplains to compromise their faith by not condoning non-traditional relationships as immoral which is contradictory to their faith.

The precipice of Obama Administration divide of the faithful was cemented in the embattled Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.   Passed in March 2010 along party lines, the behemoth of a bill is the hallmark of religious intolerance and government tyranny rolled into one.  The tenants of the bill which are an affront to religious liberty center on the mandatory funding of abortion and the conscience violation of contraception funding mandated by the new federally-compliant health care plans.  Despite empty rhetoric and promises from the Obama Administration, a citizens free exercise of their religion is compromised with the implementation of this legislation.

Whether the faithful knows this or not, the faithful’s conscience is compromised by de facto funding of abortion services, abortion drugs and contraception under the new health care plans.  The actions by Obama, his cabinet and the Democrats in Congress is so egregious to the integrity of the First Amendment that many organizations with the Catholic Church had no choice but to take the Obama Administration to federal court.  But let’s not forget that despite the deception by the Obama camp towards the Catholics on this issue, this is an assault on all faithful whose religious teachings put life over death.  An assault on one is an assault on all.

The fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is up for judicial review by the U.S. Supreme Court with a ruling in late June 2012.  Despite the ruling, the legacy of the Obama Administration is one that does not value the tenets of the U.S. Constitution and clearly not the Bill the Rights long cherished this republic for over 230 years..  Rather the Obama camp is more determined to govern via despotic rule.