Within the past few years, the left has made religion of all things a politically correct subject. No longer are we able to let our children recite the Pledge of Allegiance because of the word “God”. For the same reason, some schools are pulling historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence. Even in everyday conversation, religion has become taboo. For years now television stations, radio and print media have been using weak substitutes to replace the good old fashioned “Merry Christmas”. Among the copouts are “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays”.Just the other day, driving in the car, the people on the radio station I was listening to were discussing how they were going to spend Christmas. After the conversation was over, one of the DJ’s said “well I hope you guys have a happy holiday”. I don’t have a problem with his gesture, but would it kill him to say “Merry Christmas”. I even say “Merry Christmas” to people who I know don’t celebrate it. I still want them to be merry on Christmas, no matter what their religion is, even if they have no religious belief.

I guess the big problem that I have with this watering down of Christmas and religion in general is the argument used by the left to justify it. They whine about the separation of church and state, which has become such a catchy phrase that people don’t even realize it’s entirely fictional. Well unless you’re talking about the objective of the left when it comes to religion.

They get their argument from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, specifically the first part that says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” If these people knew anything about our country’s history, they would know that some of the first people to flee Europe were people who were forced to practice a religion other than their own. That is why this clause is in there. It is so that the government, specifically Congress, cannot establish a national religion. Learning about the Declaration of Independence in a public school, despite it’s mention of God in no way establishes a national religion that everyone has to practice. Alexander Hamilton wrote a comparison between the President of the United States and the King of England in Federalist Paper No. 69 “The Real Character of the Executive”. In it he says “The one has no particle of spiritual jurisdiction; the other is the supreme head and governor of the national church!” This is what they were trying to protect against in the First Amendment. They had no intention of keeping public officials and other state employees (teachers, etc.) from mentioning religion.

When I was in elementary school, we put on a holiday concert, where all the students sang holiday songs. Now I use the term “holiday” here because I’m referring to Christmas and Chanukah. Coming from a town that has a large Jewish population, we sang both types of songs despite the differences in our religions, and no students or parents complained about it. No one forced me to go to the local temple and celebrate Chanukah, just like no one forced any of the Jewish kids to go to church and celebrate Christmas. We all just sang and had a good time.

And on that note, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a Happy New Year.

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Just before WWII, Adolph Hitler’s Nazi party began making Jews the scapegoat for all of Germany’s problems. By the end of the war millions of European Jews were murdered by the Nazis, simply because people bought into Hitler’s twisted logic.Luckily for Americans, we have the First Amendment to our Constitution, which guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” What this means, in simple terms is that the federal government will not establish a national religion where everyone is compelled to practice that religion (like England did a few hundred years ago). It also means that the government will not prohibit you from exercising (or not exercising) the religion of your choice.

What the First Amendment does not say, is that people cannot practice or display their religion in a public place, such as a school, courthouse, park, etc., which is what some people are perceiving it to mean. Recently, there have been people trying to ban children from voluntarily reciting the Pledge of Allegiance because it mentions the word “God”. These people, in some elementary schools this past holiday season, caused music departments to sing only winter songs like “Frosty the Snowman”, but no Christmas songs like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” simply because they feel that the voluntary singing of these songs in a public school violates some student’s First Amendment rights.

One California elementary school in particular, this past holiday season, placed such restrictions on their holiday music program, but still thought it was OK to sing Jewish Chanukah songs. One brave parent pulled her child from the holiday concert, because she felt that her child would receive the wrong message about their religious beliefs due to the school’s decision to remove Christmas songs from the concert. If it wasn’t for this brave parent, who discussed her case on national television, I wouldn’t know about this problem, nor would anyone else who lived outside that local area.

At this point you may be wondering, why I mentioned the problem the Jews had in Nazi Germany, and how it relates to the problems we are having today in America. After all the First Amendment protects us, right? Well, yes, it does, but only if it is interpreted and applied correctly. The way it is being interpreted and applied, however causes a major problem. What is happening, is that Atheists and other groups are beginning to complain that it isn’t OK for a person with a particular religious belief to practice their religion in public because it may offend someone who does not share the same religious beliefs. In many cases, particularly in California and other typically liberal states, these people are taking their cases to court and winning because they claim that these religious acts in public places violates the separation of church and state.

The real threat to our freedom of religion comes, not from the anti-religion nuts (although they were the catalyst that started the threat), but rather it’s from members of the government who agree with their position. Currently, people with these views are a minority in government, but as they gradually gain in numbers, it will become much easier for them to impose their views on the rest of us with little to no opposition (since being anti-religion will become the Politically Correct thing to do).

I wouldn’t doubt that pretty soon, the anti-religious groups will claim that having a church in view of a public road violates their First Amendment rights because it is imposing someone else’s religion on them when they use the public road. They will wind up getting their government friends to place zoning restrictions on churches, prohibiting any place of worship from being visible from public lands. As we saw in Nazi Germany, nothing good can come from the government placing restrictions on our religious beliefs, no matter what they may be, because these restrictions will only lead to harsher restrictions.

The First Amendment gives us the freedom of religion (to practice the religion of our choice), not the freedom from it.

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After hearing several hours of testimony Wednesday, an Alabama judicial panel voted today to remove Chief Justice Roy Moore from his position as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Justice Moore had been suspended with pay since August for defying a court order to remove a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments from in front of an Alabama court building. The unanimous decision did not come as a surprise to Moore, as the Presiding Judge was quoted saying “the chief justice showed no signs of contrition for his actions.”Moore testified on Wednesday that he was fulfilling his duty to voters by not following the court order, and even after the decision today he said “I have absolutely no regrets. I have done what I was sworn to do.” When asked what he would do with the monument if he returned to office Moore said “I certainly wouldn’t leave it in a closet, shrouded from the public.”

The constitutional matter at hand in this case is whether the monument with the Ten Commandments inscribed on it in front of the court house violates the First Amendment rights of religion. In relevant part, the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Does, in simplified terms, a rock with words on it (even if they are religious words) violate anyone’s right to establish a religion or to exercise it? No, and how could it? It’s just a rock, if you don’t want to look at it then don’t it’s as simple as that.

If you take a look at the money in your wallet/purse right now you will see the phrase “In God We Trust.” The phrase does not necessarily mean that everyone who uses that currency believes in God, and it’s not an attempt by the government to get everyone to conform to a national religion. It is just stating that our country, our constitution, and our rights are derived from a belief in God.

The fact that there is a monument in front of a courthouse with the Ten Commandments should not worry us. A national religion has not been established, nor will one be established, and until our right to exercise the religion of our choosing has been violated we’ve got nothing to complain about.

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