"How to Determine if Your Religious Liberty Is Being Threatened in Just 10 Quick Questions." ...
1. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am not allowed to go to a religious service of my own choosing.
B) Others are allowed to go to religious services of their own choosing.2. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am not allowed to marry the person I love legally, even though my religious community blesses my marriage.
B) Some states refuse to enforce my own particular religious beliefs on marriage on those two guys in line down at the courthouse.3. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am being forced to use birth control.
B) I am unable to force others to not use birth control.4. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am not allowed to pray privately.
B) I am not allowed to force others to pray the prayers of my faith publicly.5. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) Being a member of my faith means that I can be bullied without legal recourse.
B) I am no longer allowed to use my faith to bully gay kids with impunity.6. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am not allowed to purchase, read or possess religious books or material.
B) Others are allowed to have access books, movies and websites that I do not like.7. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) My religious group is not allowed equal protection under the establishment clause.
B) My religious group is not allowed to use public funds, buildings and resources as we would like, for whatever purposes we might like.8. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) Another religious group has been declared the official faith of my country.
B) My own religious group is not given status as the official faith of my country.9. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) My religious community is not allowed to build a house of worship in my community.
B) A religious community I do not like wants to build a house of worship in my community.10. My religious liberty is at risk because:
A) I am not allowed to teach my children the creation stories of our faith at home.
B) Public school science classes are teaching science.Scoring key:
If you answered "A" to any question, then perhaps your religious liberty is indeed at stake. You and your faith group have every right to now advocate for equal protection under the law. But just remember this one little, constitutional, concept: this means you can fight for your equality -- not your superiority.
If you answered "B" to any question, then not only is your religious liberty not at stake, but there is a strong chance that you are oppressing the religious liberties of others. This is the point where I would invite you to refer back to the tenets of your faith, especially the ones about your neighbors.
Freedom of Religion. The only ones who don't understand what it means are those who most loudly demand it.
Julian, called the Apostate, persecuted Christians too!
ReplyDeleteChristians had grown mighty when Constantine had made their religion the law of the state.
Naturally, with the emperor on their side, they immediately began to behave like pigs in clover.
Thus were the gentle teachings of Yeshua, the Nazerine, inverted and transmogrified into corrupt worldly power.
When the great “Christian” Emperor Constantine died (having murdered his entire family, including his own son) there was left only the son of his half brother to assume the empire.
That was Julian: Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus.
Julian was so sickened and outraged by all that Christians had done; he resolved to do justice to all people of the empire.
Thus when he took power, he recalled all banished pagans.
He took away Christian political power, given to them by Constantine, power they had used to persecute, impoverish and humiliate non-Christians.
He made the Christians pay restitution for all the Pagan temples and property they had plundered and destroyed.
But worst of all, he allowed the free exercise of religion to every sect, with no special privileges for Christians.
And, just as they do today, Christians called that "Persecution."
"History repeats ... first as tragedy, then as farce"
EugeneInSanDiego