Highlight: An Introduction to Religious Freedom

“A free society committed to religious freedom and freedom of conscience means that all its members are vigilant in protecting the freedoms of each other. Maintaining this most basic of human freedoms and the harmony it brings is imperative for us all.” So concludes a recent article published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). The article titled “An Introduction to Religious Freedom” is a “broad introduction for a forthcoming series of articles on religious freedom”. I look forward to reading the series.

Judging by the related links accompanying this article in the LDS Newsroom, educational emphasis on religious freedom is a current priority of the LDS church:

• “Apostle Says Religious Freedom is Being Threatened” – 13 Oct 2009
  
  
• "Religious Values in the Public Square" - 15 Dec 2010
  
  
• “Apostle Emphasizes the Importance of Religious Freedom to Society” – 4 Feb 2011
  
  
• “Selected Beliefs and Statements on Religious Freedom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” – 4 Feb 2011
  
  
• “The Case of Religious Freedom” – 25 May 2011
  
  
• “Religion and Freedom” – 1 Jul 2011
  
  
• “Elder Quinton L. Cook Delivers Speech on morality and Religious Freedom” – 16 Dec 2011

“An Introduction to Religious Freedom” first establishes that freedom of religion “is not simply the freedom to worship or to believe the way one chooses...neither is it just for religious people”, but rather it “is the human right to think, act upon and express what one deeply believes, according to the dictates of his or her moral conscience”. The article further states that religious freedom is “the preeminent freedom in the U.S. Bill of Rights... the first among other essential liberties ...often referred to as the 'first freedom'. It is characterized this way because it enables and protects other human freedoms, like freedom of speech. Indeed, the culture of liberty and peaceful democracy in the United States in large part emerged from its firm respect for religious freedom".

After a brief discussion on “Religious freedom and society” and “Mormons and religious freedom”, the article gets to heart of why this topic deserves the recent emphasis given it by the LDS church:

“Challenges to religious freedom are emerging from many sources. Emerging advocacy for gay rights threatens to abridge religious freedom in a number of ways. Changes in health care threaten the rights of those who hold certain moral convictions about human life. These and other developments are producing conflict and beginning to impose on religious organizations and people of conscience. They are threatening, for instance, to restrict how religious organizations can manage their employment and their property. They are bringing about the coercion of religiously-affiliated universities, schools and social-service entities. They are also resulting in reprimands to individuals who act in line with their principles — from health practitioners and other professionals to parents. In these and in many other circumstances, we see how religious freedom and freedom of conscience are being subtly but steadily eroded. And of equal concern, the legal provisions emerging to safeguard these freedoms are often shallow — protecting these liberties only in the narrowest sense. In many aspects of public life, religious freedom and freedom of conscience are being drawn into conflicts that may suppress them".

The article's conclusion leads off: “Religious freedom, or “freedom of conscience,” has long been the bedrock of democracy. Long buried and taken for granted, it is now an elevated concern. There is need for Americans ... to become reacquainted with this freedom and recommitted to it".

Amen.

Don’t assume someone else will preserve your “first freedom”. It will surely die the death of a thousand cuts if patriots fail to stay on top of current issues, identify where and how liberty is under assault, and unite together in its defense.

Make Mine Freedom

I'm posting this video on my blog for those of you who haven't already had the opportunity to view it.

It pretty much speaks for itself. Rarely does government offer us anything that doesn't come at the expense of liberty. Our citizens are easily seduced by the allure of more for less or something for nothing and are not as discriminating as they should be of the legislation and programs coming out of Washington.

Bottom line: When we allow government to grow and touch more aspects of our lives, our liberties shrink and we literally open the door more widely for the advance of absolute tyranny.

America's Drift Towards Socialism

“America was built on the principle of faith in God, self reliance, the profit motive, individual action and voluntary charity. It was built by those who believed that the surest helping hand at was at the end of their own sleeves. These forefathers of ours shared one thing in common, an unshakeable faith in God and a faith in themselves. There are indications that America is moving away from the philosophy that made her the most prosperous nation in the world.” – Ezra Taft Benson

SOCIALISM: The Core of the Health Care Debate

Being stationed overseas sometimes makes it challenging to keep abreast of the latest political and social debates and developments back home. I spent some time this Labor Day weekend catching up on the health care debate in congress. It appears that the proponents of nationalized health care are on the ropes, so patriots need to maintain the momentum and defeat their cause. There are many well meaning citizens in our country that support nationalized health care because no one has yet laid bare the real issues and exposed the fallacies in the health care debate. Nationalized health care is not charitable, is calculated to increase dependency on government, and significantly erodes the freedom established by our Founding Fathers, furthering our nation’s decline towards the absolute despotism of a socialist government.

The prophet Ether wrote, “…when ye shall see these things come among you …awake to a sense of your awful situation, for it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies;" (Ether 8:24-25).

The big fallacy, I mean lie, perpetrated in the health care debate is that since it is good to take care of the poor and needy, a public health care system must be good. This is the same argument used in the War in Heaven – Satan’s position was that he could bring to pass a great good if no one had free agency and he forced them to keep the commandments. Satan spoke of lofty goals, but power and control were his real goals.

Nationalized health care is about force and control – granting more power to the government to forcibly take the fruit of one person’s labor, and control it’s disposition. This is not charity. Jesus commands men to follow his example and be charitable, but allows them the freedom to choose.

Watch the following clip and think about the main points that Milton Friedman attempts to teach Phil Donahue’s audience:



Clip Summary:

There is a difference between greed and self interest.

Socialism has failed to deliver on its promise to eliminate poverty to every nation who embraced it.

More people rise out of poverty when societies are free and citizens rely on their own industry instead of government doles.

There are no “angels” in our government we should trust any more control or power to than our constitution grants them.

The prophet Ether warned that, “… whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed;” (Ether 8:22).

Some of our citizens support the idea of nationalized health care because they haven’t adequately considered the Christian implications of forced charity. Others do so because they want power and gain – power over someone else’s money for their gain. Many ignore the commonsense realities of the law of the harvest and desire to get something for nothing, or more for less. Many that are currently on the government dole desire to stay on it, and not earn their own way. Many politicians want to increase their political power by making the citizenry increasingly more reliant on government solutions and increasingly less reliant on themselves. Most disturbing to me are the many that desire to divorce their aging parents with their health care problems and force society to pay for them. This in turn creates many who realize that they have not provided for their own future healthcare needs, cannot rely on their own offspring to tend to them in their waning years, and therefore desire that government forcibly take money from others in society to pay for what they and their thankless children cannot or will not.

Patriots should ensure that the debate on nationalized health care is centered on our national decline towards the despotism of socialism. The core of the issue has always been about greed, lusting for control over the fruit of another's labor; in a word, socialism. Wherever this greed exists, we should expose it and not allow someone to camouflage it with altruistic platitudes.

Against All Enemies

‘I, …, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.’ (US Code: Title 5, Part III, Subpart B, Chapter 33, Subchapter II, Sec. 3331)

This is the oath I took when commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in 1995 and three times since in conjunction with promotions. I tend to agree with Abraham Lincoln who opined that no “transatlantic military giant” would ever invade our country and take over our government. Rather, he said, “if [danger] ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” (Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838)

I’m sure that many who took the oath of office often ponder on the concept of a “domestic enemy” to the Constitution. Thus far, the Army has never called on me to support and defend the Constitution against a domestic enemy. I imagine that insurrection or rebellion of some kind will be the only conditions under which they will do so. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that an armed insurgency will not likely spring up within our borders, at least not during the remainder of my military career.

Yet, the Constitution has always been in need of supporting and defending against fellow citizens who wittingly or unwittingly erode its foundations through political and/or social action. As a citizen first, pledging allegiance to the flag, and a duly sworn defender of the Constitution second, I have attempted to do this my entire adult life. Now, with this same end in mind, I join the blogosphere.

Our Constitution is built on the premise outlined in the Declaration of Independence that all people “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” If our Creator intended us to enjoy these rights, it follows that depriving or taking away any of these same rights is an evil pursuit. At least this should be the logical conclusion of anyone who has faith that a Creator did in fact endow us with certain unalienable rights.

The bible details a strategy used by Michael and his angels to prevail over evil pursuits: “ And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels…And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (KJV Revelation 12:7-11)

I follow the same strategy, as I understand it, in my efforts to defend the Constitution from all enemies. First, I strive to follow the will of my Creator according to the dictates of my own conscience and importune Him that the blessings of liberty will endure in this land. Second, I unabashedly profess my belief that our Constitution is divinely appointed and that all political action must be consistent with the preservation of our aforementioned unalienable rights. Again, I am initiating this blog as another means to accomplish this. Finally, I am ready to die in defense of the Constitution if it comes to that, and have already sworn to do so.

I’m sure that there are many domestic enemies of the Constitution who purposefully pursue its demise. Lacking a crystal ball, I doubt I will be able to name many of them. Regardless, I don’t have any illusions that my efforts can bring about a change of heart in such, whoever they are. Therefore, my purpose is add my voice to what Samuel Adams described as the “…irate, tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men,” to motivate the persuadable portion of our population to embrace Constitutional principles recognize what actions endanger them.

The direct result of Constitutional erosion is a decrease of liberty. Our Constitution will never collapse all at once, but rather by degrees. As frogs boiled alive by slowly heating up water, so can Americans find themselves serving a despotic government unless wide-eyed patriots resist all efforts that will weaken the Constitution and fight to repair damage already inflicted upon it. As a defender of freedom, my writings will center mostly on themes relating to our divinely established rights. These fundamental concepts undergird our form of government and are an important lens through which to evaluate the issues of our day: e.g. abortion, national defense, self-defense, social programs, expansion of government, and even foreign policy.

I urge all defenders of freedom to demand Constitutional justification for all political action, existing policy and law. Likewise, where justification does not exist, I urge you to demand that your representatives take action to abandon or reverse such measures. Further, I recommend that you make every effort to center all political discussions and debates on Constitutional principles. In military terms, we call this Mass, Economy of Force, and Simplicity.

(cross posted at redstate.com)