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 16th
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.