Religious Liberty and Rights of Conscience

Before I start, let me state that I know many friends and family whom I love dearly disagree with me on the points expressed in this post. I respect their views and them. I ask only for the same respect to be heard and understood where possible. If you feel that is too much to ask, this post is probably not for you, so move onto a lighter post. ;-)

We live in a country founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In recent times this has sadly been taken to mean liberty to pursue anything except for timeless truth and spiritual freedom. The press is rife with concerns about the "radical right" taking over the country. This fear shows ignorance of a couple basic facts.

There is nothing radical about the Christian faith, except the radical demands it places on its members to love and serve others. Others here means all your neighbors including those of different faiths, cultures and lifestyles. Note however that loving someone does not mean accepting everything they do. Some things are just wrong for all people at all times and places. Murder is an example. Marrying a close relative is an example. There are others.

The other thing being ignored in these articles and conversations is that this country is not being taken over by Christianity. It was created and founded that way. Our laws are based on Judeo-Christian ethics that assume that basis for their proper functioning. To exclude (and persecute) Christian belief, is to destroy the foundation on which our nation is built. (And yes - I know that some of our founding fathers were not Christian, and were far from morally perfect. That does not negate the history and precepts they were relying on when they wrote our founding documents).

Some view belief in a moral truth, and simple convictions like the fact that sound societies must be built on sound families as a form of discrimination and intolerance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most Christians believe in freedom of speech, religion, etc and simply wish those right's to continue to apply to them. By contrast, those on the political left demand recognition of their views as right, true and superior to all others. Where is the true intolerance there?

Take the debate on same sex unions as an example. The lines on extending financial and legal recognition to significant others and non-marital partners have long ago been crossed and extended. But that is not sufficient for these minorities. Marriage (which is primarily a religious and not a civil union, founded by the Church from God's own teachings on this subject) must be redefined to suit their whims and dispositions.

Why is maintaining the definition of marriage as a relationship between a man and woman important? Is it to exclude same sex relationships and make their members feel inferior? Of course not. It is recognition of a simple, biological fact which hardly needs to be explained to your average rational adult. Only through the natural complementarity of men and women can new members of society come into existence. Same sex relationships cannot generate new families or members of society. Societies cannot sustain themselves, much less grow and flourish without the birth of new children.

Science, and man made contrivances are a poor substitute for God's plan for men and women and the natural family. Study after study in the fields of psychology and social science have affirmed that children develop best in homes with their biological parents and the balanced influence of male and female personality and parenting. Obviously this does not mean that all heterosexual homes are balanced and functional - some are quite disfunctional. The same can be said of alternate lifestyle homes and families.

What is the solution to all this in the end? It starts with the ultimate of American "virtues". Respect for the individual and the rights of all people, which includes the rights of expression and freedom of conscience of Christians.

It continues with the rational acknowledgement that Christian marriage and civil unions are different for the reasons stated above. US Law may choose to acknowledge them as having equal civil privileges. Christian churches cannot ever acknowledge them as equivalent, because to do so would contradict the explicit design of our Creator. To demand the redefinition of a church institution/sacrament to meet civil or social whims and fads is a violation of the rights of conscience of our Christian majority (though by a small margin) in this country.

May God bless our land with compassion, and a willingness to hear and understand one another that we may once again have the blessings of peace and prosperity.

For more on why issues of family, life and conscience are things for which we must stand against the political tides, see the Manhattan Declaration, an ecumenical statement by hundreds of thousands (over 460,000 at present count) of reasonable Christian believers. Don't assume you know what it says and the writers must be religious extremists. Read it first before you judge. Isn't that the ultimate expression of tolerance?