Death of Freedom of Religion: Compelled to Violate Conscience

What happens when the State compels you to allow your customers to have sex with your wife? What would you do? Of course, you would oppose such a move, even if you lived in a society where the “proper” thing to do was to allow this. I know this sounds absurd, but there have been States that have required this, perhaps not for everyone, but at least for those in power.

You would protest that you have an unalienable right to guard your own family and to live by your beliefs. However, reasonable this might sound, what is reasonable no longer applies. Take this example:

• A Kentucky Human Rights Commission examiner has ordered a Christian screen printing company to print t-shirts that bear pro-homosexual messages and undergo diversity training for declining to make shirts for a “gay pride” celebration two years ago.

• The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission issued the recommendations of its hearing examiner on Tuesday, declaring that Hands On Originals–a company that identifies as “Christian outfitters” on the home page of its website–violated the Lexington Fairness Ordinance by passing on the requested order because of its religious convictions.

• The Gay and Lesbian Services Organization of Lexington (GLSO) had wanted the company to print t-shirts for the 2012 Lexington Gay Pride Festival. When manager Blaine Adamson declined the order due to the company’s biblical convictions not to be partaker of another man’s sins (1 Timothy 5:22, Ephesians 5:7), GLSO filed a complaint with the HRC.

• HRC examiner Greg Munson ruled this week that Hands On Originals violated the law by not printing the shirts for the event.

It is one thing to refuse to serve gays because they are gay, but this isn’t the issue here. The owner, Blaine Adamson, explained that he couldn’t partake in sin:

• “I want the truth to come out—it’s not that we have a sign on the front door that says, ‘No Gays Allowed… We’ll work with anybody. But if there’s a specific message that conflicts with my convictions, then I can’t promote that.”

Should a gay shirt-maker be compelled to print shirts for a pro-family conference reading, “God will only sanction heterosexual marriage!”? Of course not! Or should a Jewish owner be compelled to print, “Hitler understood the Jews”? Or a Muslim forced to print, “The Koran is Wrong!”?

No one should be forced to print or utter an oath in contradiction to what they believe. Such a requirement is dehumanizing and can only breed conflict! What is the State’s compelling need to coerce such behavior? Of course, there is none, other than the State’s own ideological militancy to force their ideology on the rest of us:

• In his decision, Munson ruled that Hands On Originals must accept orders to print t-shirts or other products that bear messages advocating for homosexuality, and mandated the company to undergo diversity training.

It is not enough for the State to deprive Hands On Originals of their freedom to practice their faith. They must now adopt the State religion and be sent for indoctrination, “diversity training” – nothing short of a Maoist tactic! How could Munson possibly justify such a decision? By misrepresenting the “offense”:

• “The evidence of record shows that the respondent discriminated against GLSO because of its members’ actual or imputed sexual orientation by refusing to print and sell to them the official shirts for the 2012 Lexington Pride Festival.”

• “The respondent is permanently enjoined from discriminating against individuals because of their actual or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity,” he wrote. “The respondent is ordered to participate in diversity training to be conducted by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission within 12 months of the issuance of this order.”

What! Hands On didn’t discriminate against gays but against the gays’ demand that they violate their faith!

How can such rulings not breed cynicism and contempt for the authorities who bring about such deceptive and prejudicial decisions! How can this nation survive, if it reneges on the basic values and freedoms that have built this civilization!

The Abuse of Power: Few Seem to Care

After the Department of Justice secretly obtained phone records from Associated Press reporters, the press awoke from their long sleep and were understandably outraged by this abuse of power. The Washington Post wrote:

• “Whatever national-security enhancement this was intended to achieve seems likely to be outweighed by the damage to press freedom and governmental transparency.”

The New York Times was also outraged:

• “This action against The A.P. … ‘calls into question the very integrity’ of the administration’s policy toward the press.”

USA Today wrote:

• “Another day, another excessive use of government power by the Obama administration. … At first blush, seizing reporters’ records might sound too arcane to be of much public interest. But that’s far from the case. When the Justice Department grabs reporters’ phone records, it insulates the administration from the scrutiny that a free press is supposed to provide. … This administration needs some hard thinking about abuse of power.”

However, after this issue passed, the press fell back into its self-imposed sleep, the very thing that it shouldn’t do, the very thing that betrays its very reason-for-being. What good is the press if it refuses to expose the continuing abuses of power! How can congressmen stand against it when their constituency remains unaware of the justice of their cause!

Our Founding Fathers had warned about the abuse of power. George Washington cautioned: “Occupants of public offices love power and are prone to abuse it.” Benjamin Franklin advised:

• “This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.”

Our fourth President, James Madison, also cautioned:

• “The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”

If this is so, then eternal vigilance is necessary. However, we bask under the illusion that a police state could never happen here, at least not one which would turn against us. Fox News asked college students to sign a petition calling for the recall of our constitutional rights. Fox was astounded by the number who readily signed this petition.

Do we have anything to fear regarding the imposition of a police state? Jay Tapper writes:

• CNN has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly Benghazi terror attack.

• Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings.

• The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.

• It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.

• In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You don't jeopardize yourself; you jeopardize your family as well."

• Another says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation."

• "Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that," said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.

There had been numerous CIA personnel and contractors at the Benghazi compound at the time of the attack. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf had wanted to subpoena them and grant them immunity. However, things have changed:

•   "Initially they were not afraid to come forward. They wanted the opportunity, and they wanted to be subpoenaed, because if you're subpoenaed, it sort of protects you, you're forced to come before Congress. Now that's all changed," said Wolf.

Meanwhile, our President calls this a “phony scandal” along with the many others – Fast and Furious, NSA, IRS - our administration is sitting upon. At the same time, a host of other potential abuses of power are shouting to be exposed.

The Examiner reports that:

• A brochure emailed to Department of Justice employees requiring them to verbally affirm homosexuality regardless of their personal beliefs has sparked accusations of religious intolerance and viewpoint discrimination,

• Liberty Counsel vice president Matt Barber told Fox News, Eric Holder's Justice Department has created an extremely hostile work environment for Christians.

• "This is ‘1984’ just a few decades late,” he said. “This is so Orwellian. President Obama said he intended to fundamentally transform America. That’s exactly what they are doing and they are doing it within the Department of Justice.”

This represents more than just the infringement upon our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech. It represents the most malicious form of rape – a coercion of not only body but also of mind!

If the press continues in their unconscious state, future generations will point their fingers at those who had been entrusted to protect our liberties against these egregious abuses of power.

Where will all of this lead? Pastor Martin Niemoller had become one of the leaders of the “Confessing Church” during the National Socialist insanity that had taken captive perhaps the most educated nation of the world at that time. He opposed Adolph Hitler and was consequently sent to jail in 1937 and then to a concentration camp for the remainder of the war. Later, Niemoller famously confessed,

• First the Nazis went after the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not object. Then they went after the trade-unionists, but I was not a trade-unionist so I did not object. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to object.