Freedom of Religion – Page 2 – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Verse 60 of the Obama impeachment song. The Pope visits the Little Sisters of the Poor.

On day two of his trip to Washington, Pope Francis made an unscheduled surprise visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor following his canonization Mass. The sisters have a convent in the city. The pontiff made the visit to show support for the sisters, who are suing the federal government over the contraception and abortifacient drugs mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

Which leads to is verse 60 of the Obama impeachment song. (Imagine it sung by Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”).

Little Sisters of the Poor

they won’t embrace my death-cult lore.

The Pope came knocking at their door

I’m outwitted, can’t rule anymore.

The complete Obama Impeachment song.

The wall of separation between church and state. A Limerick.

“Separation of Church and the State”

is not “Of the Church from the State.”

Let our freedom hold sway

in the politics’ fray.

It is part of our Founders Estate.

President Obama and Hillary Clinton are leading the fight to change our constitutional right of “Freedom of Religion” to “Freedom of Worship” and even “Freedom From Religion.” But from the beginning it was not so.

It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and of James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson’s example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House–a practice that continued until after the Civil War–were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.) As early as January 1806 a female evangelist, Dorothy Ripley, delivered a camp meeting-style exhortation in the House to Jefferson, Vice President Aaron Burr, and a “crowded audience.” Throughout his administration Jefferson permitted church services in executive branch buildings. The Gospel was also preached in the Supreme Court chambers.

Jefferson’s actions may seem surprising because his attitude toward the relation between religion and government is usually thought to have been embodied in his recommendation that there exist “a wall of separation between church and state.” In that statement, Jefferson was apparently declaring his opposition, as Madison had done in introducing the Bill of Rights, to a “national” religion. In attending church services on public property, Jefferson and Madison consciously and deliberately were offering symbolic support to religion as a prop for republican government.

Thomas Jefferson’s reply of January 1, 1802, to an address of congratulations from the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association contains a phrase familiar in today’s political and judicial circles: “a wall of separation between church and state.” Many in the United States, including the courts, have used this phrase to interpret the Founders’ intentions regarding the relationship between government and religion, as set down by the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . .” However, the meaning of this clause has been the subject of passionate dispute for the past fifty years.

Verse 42 of the Obama impeachment song. Pastor Saeed Abedini abandoned.

Verse 42 of the Obama impeachment song (as if sung by Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”)

Pastor Saeed left behind

He really wasn’t of my kind

It is not my axe to grind

My treasonous acts will blow your mind.

And here is the whole impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/

The NEA to vote against RFRA. A Limerick.

To be voted on at the next NEA ( National Education Association) meeting: New Business Item A, submitted by the NEA Board of Directors:

“The NEA will develop educational materials for its state affiliates and members about the potential dangers of so-called ‘religious freedom restoration acts’ or RFRAs, which may license individuals and corporations to discriminate on the theory that their religious beliefs require such actions.

The materials will describe the current legal landscape at the federal and state level, provide model state legislative amendments to modify existing laws to prevent such discriminatory applications, provide talking points for advocacy, and link to existing resources for members and state affiliates to use in efforts to prevent the use of such laws as a license to discriminate.”

No RFRA NEA

Faith’s Freedom must not go away

God’s old truth called a lie.

That’s how freedom will die.

But Christ is still Lord; come what may.

The ACLU no longer supports religious freedom. A Limerick.

News headline: ACLU: We’re Not Defending RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) Anymore

The ACLU just reported:

Religious freedom supported

is a thing of the past.

I say: This must not last!

Our freedoms must not be aborted!

source: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/06/28/aclu-were-not-defending-religious-freedom-laws-anymore-n2018582?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

A limerick about Sarah Palin.

Can anyone show us the way?

Our freedoms are taken away.

Sarah Palin with love,

metamorphosed Guv.

As president she’ll seize the day.

Verse 30 of the Obama Impeachment song. Genocide of Christians and Iran going Nuclear.

Former Rep. Frank Wolf, the leading voice for religious freedom in Congress for decades, says Christianity is on the verge of extinction in Iraq and the remaining steadfast believers do not see much effort from the U.S. or other Western nations to improve their plight.

He co-led a trip to Iraq in January to observe conditions for Christians and other minorities and to speak to people firsthand. The group recently released a report based on that trip titled, “Edge of Extinction: The Eradication of Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Iraq.” He said the conclusions of the visit were obvious.

“Two things. They’re really suffering and they’re really facing extinction,” said Wolf, who added that the people there are mystified at the relative silence in the midst of their suffering, since the Islamic State has very real plans to bring its savagery to the West as well.

“The threat ISIS poses is not only to them but to people in the West and, quite frankly, people in the United States,” Wolf said. “It’s kind of a conglomeration. They kept saying, ‘Why will no one in the West speak out for us? Does anyone care?’

This leads directly to verse 30 of the Obama Impeachment song (As if sung by Obama to the tune of “Please release me, let me go”).

Christians killed in Middle East.

It doesn’t bother me the least.

Give Iran the nuclear beast.

“Religion of Peace” will have a feast.

The complete Obama impeachment song: https://lenbilen.com/2015/02/25/the-complete-obama-impeachment-song/

Gunfire at a debate at the Cultural Center “The Powder Keg” in Copenhagen. Subject: “Blasphemy and Freedom of Speech”.

Gunfire in Copenhagen art debate featuring the theme “Blasphemy and freedom of speech”. The featured speaker was to be the Swedish Cartoonist Lars Vilks, famous for his Muhammad Cartoons. The gunfire started before he was to speak.

First a background on Denmark and its people:

The Danes, a friendly people are hard to impress and hard to scare. Lately, they too have had to take in their fair share, (as defined by EU) of Muslim refugees and immigrants. The Danes decided to distribute them evenly across the country and thus they would be absorbed into Danish culture in no time. After all, they had successfully assimilated even the Gypsy. However in mid 2000 they experienced a few honor killings in their peaceful country, since some young women sought to assimilate into Danish Culture. The Danish judicial system decided to apply Danish law on the perpetrators and everyone associated with one honor killing got long prison terms, including the taxi driver who provided the getaway car. The Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten gave it maximum publicity. This didn’t sit well with the Muslim Imams, so they complained and threatened them, telling them to stop writing evil of our sense of honor or else. The newspaper editors responded with a competition who could produce the best Muhammad cartoons, and so in 2007, slowly at first, but the religion of peace activists grew angrier and angrier and a total of about 93 people were killed worldwide. The results linger as we saw in Paris lately.

Now back to the Cultural center “Krudttønden” (The Powder Keg) in Copenhagen.

One person is dead, a 55-year-old male, film director Finn Norgaard. 3 policemen wounded, none life threatening.

Two armed gunmen opened fire at the attendees of the debate, one gaining entrance through the kitchen, and the other shooting from the outside through the windows.

About 30 shots were fired from automatic weapons, more powerful than the police weapons

The getaway car, a stolen VW Polo was found a few blocks away but the gunmen, described as “Of Mideastern Descent” are still at large.

Update:

There is since 2007 a Fatwa on Lars Vilks, and a $100000 reward for his death.

There were 40 shots at the Culture Center.

They now think there was only one gunman at the culture center, not two as first reported

The first shooting at around 4:p.m. local time.

There has been a second shooting outside the Jewish Synagogue on Krystalgade in Central Copenhagen about 12:45 a.m. Monday, three people wounded, including 2 policemen, one shot in his head, the policemen with flesh wounds.

There also may be a shooting at the Norreport Metro Station, two blocks from the Synagogue.

The person killed outside the synagogue, 37 year old Dan Uzan was standing guard safeguarding a Bat Mitzvah (coming of age for 12 year old Jewish girls). He was a member of the Synagogue.

After a shootout the perpetrator, 22-year-old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein,a person on the police watch-list was killed by the police.

A second arrest has been made, reason unknown.

Obama’s Jihad against the Crusades, the Inquisition and Jim Crow laws. A Limerick.

Obama has made his decision:

Blame Christ for the great Inquisition,

But “the Prophet” is pure

and Islam is the cure.

His worldview? A Caliphate vision.

President Obama tipped his hand at the Presidential prayer breakfast last Thursday.

To be fair to the President I will quote him in context:

“We see faith driving us to do right.

But we also see faith being twisted and distorted, used as a wedge — or, worse, sometimes used as a weapon. From a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris, we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it. We see ISIL, a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism — terrorizing religious minorities like the Yezidis, subjecting women to rape as a weapon of war, and claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions.

We see sectarian war in Syria, the murder of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, religious war in the Central African Republic, a rising tide of antisemitism and hate crimes in Europe, so often perpetrated in the name of religion.

So how do we, as people of faith, reconcile these realities — the profound good, the strength, the tenacity, the compassion and love that can flow from all of our faiths, operating alongside those who seek to hijack religious for their own murderous ends?

Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. Michelle and I returned from India — an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity — but a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other Peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs — acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhi, the person who helped to liberate that nation.”

Why is that offensive?.

He says violence in the name of religion is to blame, and the only examples he can come up with are age old atrocities done in the name of Christ, but fails to give examples of atrocities done by Radical Islam. In fact he has never used that term, preferring to call it workplace violence or extremism in general.

On slavery in the U.S. it was Abraham Lincoln, a Republican that championed its abolishment.

On Jim Crow laws, it was the nearly exclusive domain of the Democrat party. The Democrat Party identified itself as the “white man’s party” and demonized the Republican Party as being “Negro dominated,” even though whites were in control. Based on Obama’s logic, he and the Democrats should never cease to apologize to the blacks and to the Republican Party.

On violence in the name of Islam is betraying it:

Number of non-Muslims killed since 602 A.D. Between 200 and 400 million. Of these are about 100 million slaves from sub-Saharan Africa that died during their march from their home to the Mediterranean.

Number of Muslims killed by Muslim Governments from 632 to 1945: About 40 million

Number of Muslims killed by Muslim Governments since 1945: About 12 million and rising (Pakistan and Sudan (Darfur) come to mind.

On the Crusades: Obama gives the ISIS propaganda line calling us “The Crusaders”. The truth is that the Crusades were largely in response to relentless Muslim aggression:

The first Crusade began in 1095 after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians…

460 years after the first Christian city was overrun by Muslim armies

457 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies

453 years after Muslims first plundered Italy

427 years after Muslim armies first laid siege to the Christian capital of Constantinople

380 years after France was first attacked by Muslim armies

249 years after the capital of the Catholic world, Rome itself, was sacked by a Muslim army

By the time the Crusades finally began, Muslim armies had conquered two thirds of the Christian World.

On the Inquisition: Total trials: 44674. Conviction rate 1.8% or about 800. About as many convicted in absentia and never executed. Jews were expelled, not executed. Muslims were expelled. The total number of executions performed in all Inquisitions, about 2200.

Obama mentions the genocide of the Yezidis but omits the genocide of Christians, which in much larger.

On Slavery: Muhammad was a slave trader. Mauritania abolished slavery in 2007, Saudi Arabia in the 1950’s. Slaves taken under Muslim rulers, well in excess of 100 million. Slaves taken by Europeans: less than 4 million.

FDR Thanksgiving day proclamation 1942 versus BHO Thanksgiving day proclamation 2014. A timely reminder.

In the year 1942, with WWII raging and the outcome was far from certain, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made this Thanksgiving day proclamation:
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words, for the days are with us again when, at the gathering of the harvest, we solemnly express our dependence upon Almighty God.
The final months of this year, now almost spent, find our Republic and the Nations joined with it waging a battle on many fronts for the preservation of liberty.
In giving thanks for the greatest harvest in the history of our Nation, we who plant and reap can well resolve that in the year to come we will do all in our power to pass that milestone; for by our labors in the fields we can share some part of the sacrifice with our brothers and sons who wear the uniform of the United States.
It is fitting that we recall now the reverent words of George Washington, “Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy Protection,” and that every American in his own way lift his voice to heaven.
I recommend that all of us bear in mind this great Psalm:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Inspired with faith and courage by these words, let us turn again to the work that confronts us in this time of national emergency: in the armed services and the merchant marine; in factories and offices; on farms and in the mines; on highways, railways, and airways; in other places of public service to the Nation; and in our homes.
Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby invite the attention of the people to the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, which designates the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day; and I request that both Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1942, and New Year’s Day, January 1, 1943, be observed in prayer, publicly and privately.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

.
One generation has passed, and under similar circumstances, the war on Radical Islam has been waging since Sep 11 2001, ISIS is gaining strength, genocide against Christians and other religious minorities is increasing, riots, arson and anarchy in the streets, President Obama makes this
Presidential Proclamation — Thanksgiving Day, 2014
– – – – – – –

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION
Thanksgiving Day invites us to reflect on the blessings we enjoy and the freedoms we cherish. As we gather with family and friends to take part in this uniquely American celebration, we give thanks for the extraordinary opportunities we have in a Nation of limitless possibilities, and we pay tribute to all those who defend our Union as members of our Armed Forces. This holiday reminds us to show compassion and concern for people we have never met and deep gratitude toward those who have sacrificed to help build the most prosperous Nation on earth. These traditions honor the rich history of our country and hold us together as one American family, no matter who we are or where we come from.

Nearly 400 years ago, a group of Pilgrims left their homeland and sailed across an ocean in pursuit of liberty and prosperity. With the friendship and kindness of the Wampanoag people, they learned to harvest the rich bounty of a new world.
Together, they shared a successful crop, celebrating bonds of community during a time of great hardship. Through times of war and of peace, the example of a Native tribe who extended a hand to a new people has endured. During the American Revolution and the Civil War, days of thanksgiving drew Americans together in prayer and in the spirit that guides us to better days, and in each year since, our Nation has paused to show our gratitude for our families, communities, and country.

With God’s grace, this holiday season we carry forward the legacy of our forebears. In the company of our loved ones, we give thanks for the people we care about and the joy we share, and we remember those who are less fortunate. At shelters and soup kitchens, Americans give meaning to the simple truth that binds us together: we are our brother’s and our sister’s keepers. We remember how a determined people set out for a better world — how through faith and the charity of others, they forged a new life built on freedom and opportunity.

The spirit of Thanksgiving is universal. It is found in small moments between strangers, reunions shared with friends and loved ones, and in quiet prayers for others. Within the heart of America’s promise burns the inextinguishable belief that together we can advance our common prosperity — that we can build a more hopeful, more just, and more unified Nation. This Thanksgiving, let us recall the values that unite our diverse country, and let us resolve to strengthen these lasting ties.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 2014, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to join together — whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors — and give thanks for all we have received in the past year, express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.
BARACK OBAMA
The contrast could not be greater. The only reference left to God is God’s grace taken for granted. All the other references are about our dependence on each other, apart from God.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. While Obama speaks of getting together, his actions are driving us apart. This 2014 proclamation giving thanks to each other for a very successful year is not in the spirit of Thanksgiving, but is a symptom of the times we live in, “A Nation, divided, apart from God”.