Volume 18 (for June/July) of the Department of Justice ‘Religious Freedom In Focus” is out. Of particular interest in article #4, “DOJ Again Supports Bronx Household of Faith’s Appeal to the Second Circuit”

The DOJ is defending the right of Churches to rent facilities from Schools. This is of particular interest to me in that I belong to a church organization that rents facilities from schools extensively. As much as I sometimes complain, the government has it right on this one. I wonder, though, if we should have ‘regime change’ a couple years from now, if things will change. Will we have to fight these battles again? And will the results change next time? We need to keep supporting those that support religious speech. We need to get commitments from all the candidates during the campaigns that they will keep religious speech free.

Religious speech in universities is one of the most endangered forms of expression. Too bad, too, because I enjoyed engaging in lots of it while I was at University.

A ‘Students For Life’ was prevented from holding an event at Arizona State. The university did everything in the book (and some stuff they made up along the way) and successfully kept them from speaking. The conservative voice has this article with the details.

I understand that the universities are full of ‘scholars’ that have well thought out ‘progressive’ agendas. However, they used to make room for some dissention in the name of free speech. Not any more. Today, liberals feel that any differing opinions are outrageously wrong and must not be allowed on campus. Doing so would ‘contaminate’ the holy liberal student body. Liberals control the universities, and they have returned to their ruling instincts of fascism. Well, with the help of the ADF, these guys are fighting back. Hopefully, freedom of thought and expression will again be the norm at our institutions of higher learning. However, that won’t happen under control of the fascist liberals.

Let Freedom Ring.

Today is a good day for free religious speech. The cross at the war memorial in California is going to stay, for now anyway, thanks to the Senate. See Stop the ACLU for details.

Here is an amazing article, very worth the read. Apparently, abortion has been shown to increase health risks to women … again. Not a surprise to most of us pro-lifers. Of course, it is being denied and covered up. Overall, the primary health risk is still to the baby.

The serious

The above story is a huge concern. A Muslim went into a room of Jews and opened fire, but didn’t injure himself at all. This is suicide bombers, American style. I’m sure his lawyers will blame the victims because of the ‘unchecked Israeli aggression’. The article even says that the authorities are protecting Mosques for fear of retaliation – from all those Jewish-American suicide bombers I guess. Problem is, the media will bury the story or agree with the lawyers. However, be aware, the attacks are here. It’s not just a mid-east problem any more.

The funny

This story is just funny – and the ‘pun’ headline is worthy of my contest as well. A woman has a sign that reads “Our dogs are fed on Jehovah’s Witnesses”. It doesn’t sound like the Jehovah’s complained, just the PC police. Apparently the sign is back up and the ordeal is over. The analysis is this. Some religions/people have a sense of humor and believe in free speech, some don’t. If the sign said “Muslims”, “Jews”, or “Liberals”, she would be in big trouble.

How do these stories relate? Simple. The American way has always been ‘free speech for all’, and it has served us well. I may believe in something (say, abortion is murder) and put a bumper sticker on my car. Someone else may believe the opposite and put a bumper sticker on their car. Although we disagree, we understand that if we want free speech for our cause we need to value free speech for the opposition as well. The opposition has a right to exist, and a right to speak. We fight the battle of ideas with words. Winning will require better ideas, not violence. Therefore, we leave each other’s cars alone, not peeling off the stickers or keying the cars. That’s the way it has been.

Today, people are turning this thinking on it’s head. We have hate crime designation. (Note: All crimes are hate crimes.) We have censorship, PC this and that, etc. Now we are becoming like the rest of the world. People hate and act on it.

Let’s keep defending free speech for all.

A Jewish man wearing a yarmulke was attacked in Norway. Now the Jewish community is instructing it’s members to refrain from speaking Hebrew loudly or wearing Jewish emblems. Here is the story. The obvious question is “What if a Muslim wearing a kufi was attacked?” “How would the Muslim community react?” It looks like anti-Semitism is once again in vogue in Europe.

In America, discrimination against Christians is even more popular. A group call Repent America has been at the forefront on the fight for free religious speech. Recently, they were asked to more their protest to a certain spot. When they did, they were arrested anyway. This article made me glad to see that they are fighting back.

There are a lot of factors why these two groups have different reactions in the face of discrimination. Jews want to obey their traditions. I hope they won’t compromise. Christians want to obey the Great Commission. I’m glad too see the Christians are fighting back. Let’s all obey God rather than men!

Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. Finally, the courts agree, and have begun to define it. Read the story here.

If I remember correctly (It’s been 25 years since I’ve read Animal Farm), only the pigs are enlightened enough to decide who are more equal. The enlightened pigs have decided that gays are more equal. Whites and Christians are definitely less equal, and they no longer deserve to have equal constitutional protection. Animal Farm was an enlightening work of fiction. Unfortunately, this story is really happening.

Here is an article out of the Seattle Times. The students unanimously voted to have ‘Ave Maria’ played by the band at Graduation. Many people consider this one of the greatest pieces of music of all time. It is one of those classical musical themes that can make you cry. Anyway, the superintendent vetoed the song because it was too Christian. Funny thing is, the tune is secular in nature, written by Bach as part of Das wohltempierte Klavier (First prelude from Book 1). In English, this translates to ‘The well-tempered piano’ – not too religious so far. ‘Ave Maria’, the words, were put to this music much later by a French Composer named Charles Gounod.

So, what the Superintendent did was ban the students from playing a secular Bach tune because someone, somewhere along the line, once put Christian words to it. I suppose if the Superintendent begins to lose the lawsuit, she may plead ‘musical ignorance’. However, I believe this is another case of, “when blinded by Christian-hatred, the facts don’t matter”. Seems like there is a lot of this going around.

Recently I’ve been discussing the NYT and Swift situation with a liberal friend via e-mail. During the exchange, I included this statement.

I want reporters (who obey the law) to stay free. For instance, a reporter can’t commit murder, pulling a pistol and unloading it into someone’s brain, in pursuit of a story and then claim “Right to Free Press.” That is not a right to murder. Agreed? Nor is it a right to commit treason, one of the highest crimes in our land. Agreed? If on June 4^th, 1944, the NYT somehow received the details of the Normandy invasion, would they have run it in the June 5^th addition, thus giving the enemy warning prior to June 6th? Well, not in 1944. Today, they would. They would sell-out the hiding place of Anne Frank. And it is not to sell newspapers, as circulation is plummeting. It is because they hate America and want to support our enemies. The NYT reporters that did this story should NOT be free. They need to be tried for treason. I don’t like to see that happen. It would be better is they used a little restraint, common sense, and check’s and balances. However, when that fails, then the government needs to get involved.

Thus, this cartoon really cracked me up. It would be funnier if it wasn’t so true.

I thought I’d just post a welcome message for now.

My previous posts are over on Blogspot and can be seen here. I thought my posts were pretty good, but I never had much traffic. Perhaps that will change here at townhall.

I also participate at Xanga. There is not so much here.