religion – Page 410 – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Freedom of Worship or Freedom of Religion? What difference at this point does it make? A Limerick.

Is ‘Freedom of Worship’ Religion?
Confusion? Yes, more than a smidgen.
Both Barry and Hillary
make Freedom auxiliary.
The first of five freedoms: Religion.

This country was founded by people of faith. What type of faith depended to some extent on where they settled. Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, Swedenborgians, Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, Baptists, Lutherans and Presbyterians to name a few settled in Pennsylvania, the champion province for freedom of Religion. Other provinces, such as Virginia and Maryland were founded by Anglicans and Catholics. And of course the Puritans landed on Cape Cod. Most of them had one thing in common, faith, so when the constitution was formed they agreed that the faith issue should be free from meddling by Congress, both to the establishment of religion, and to prohibit the free exercise thereof.

So, what is the difference between freedom of worship and freedom of religion?

Mark Twain once said: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Words matter. This is especially true when it comes to the words of our Constitution. Those words are especially cherished. Yet it seems the Obama administration has changed one key word in that foundational document.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 report revealed grave concern about both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton substituting the term “freedom of religion” with the term “freedom of worship” in public pronouncements. Why the change?

The First Amendment has two clauses about Freedom of Religion. The first part is known as the Establishment Clause, and the second as the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment Clause prohibits Government from passing laws that establishes an official religion or preferring one religion over another. The courts have interpreted the establishment clause to mean “separation of church and state”. The Free Exercise Clause prohibits Government from interfering with a person’s practice of his or her religion. However, courts have ruled that religious actions and rituals can be limited by civil and federal laws. Religious freedom is an absolute right, and includes the right to practice any religion of one’s choice, or no religion at all, and to do this without government interference.

November 2009, President Obama used the term “freedom of worship” at the memorial service for the victims of the Ft. Hood shooting. A few days later he did it again in speeches in both Japan and China. In December former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also used that terminology three times in a speech at Georgetown University and never once used the phrase “freedom of religion”. In January of 2010 Clinton used the “freedom of worship” term four times while addressing senators.

This change in phraseology could well be viewed by human rights defenders and officials in other countries as having concrete policy implications.” – U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 report.

That’s not an inconsequential change: Freedom of worship means the ability to have church services, which is crucial, but leaves out protection for Christian schools, publications, and Christian compassionate ministries…’Freedom of religion’ means that ministries designed to help prisoners change their lives, or to help the poor enter the workforce, can teach what the Bible teaches. Under ‘freedom of worship,’ these ministries could become illegal, as they are in many parts of the world. This is a development to watch warily. – World Magazine.

This President clearly sees religion as a key part of foreign affairs, especially when the Muslim world is involved. He is ultra-careful to not offend followers of Islam. We already know the administration has rejected the term “radical Islam” or any similar language and refuses to admit religion plays a major role in terrorism.

This new terminology of “freedom of worship” might be given as a sign to Muslim nations and places with Christian persecution like China that they are not going to crack down on religious persecution for minority religions in those countries. That could explain why Obama first used the term after a radical Muslim killed Americans at Ft. Hood. And it could also explain why he used the term in speeches in China and Japan.

In my opinion Obama’s goal is to accommodate some aspects of Sharia law in this country. The State Department’s goal is to make this country sign the UNITED NATIONS Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention is signed by 194 countries but not US and Somalia. While looking good on paper the effect of this convention is that the State (Remember “separation of Church and State”) has superior claim on the children, not the parents.

We are talking Freedom of religion versus Freedom of worship. Let me illustrate the difference. Many missionaries and ex-pats live in Muslim countries. They enjoy freedom of worship, but not freedom of religion. One of the tenets of the Christian Faith is the obligation, right and privilege to proclaim the Good News. You can worship without fulfilling the great commission, and missionaries in Muslim countries risk their very lives were they to proclaim the Gospel without first being invited to do so. Even in this country some Christians were arrested for handing out Gospels of John outside a Muslim festival in Dearborn, MI. They exercised freedom of religion. Islam does by its very tenets not tolerate freedom of religion, but it does accept freedom of worship as a rule.

Our freedom of religion is at risk. This is a spiritual battle, and it must be fought with spiritual means. Pray! The future of our nation is at risk. Pray! The future of the world is in jeopardy. Pray!

Obama’s 2013 Thanksgiving proclamation vs Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation.

THANKSGIVING DAY,

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Thanksgiving offers each of us the chance to count our many blessings the freedoms we enjoy, the time we spend with loved ones, the brave men and women who defend our Nation at home and abroad. This tradition reminds us that no matter what our background or beliefs, no matter who we are or who we love, at our core we are first and foremost Americans.

Our annual celebration has roots in centuries old colonial customs. When we gather around the table, we follow the example of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags, who shared the fruits of a successful harvest nearly 400 years ago. When we offer our thanks, we mirror those who set aside a day of prayer. And when we join with friends and neighbors to alleviate suffering and make our communities whole, we honor the spirit of President Abraham Lincoln, who called on his fellow citizens to “fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

Our country has always been home to Americans who recognize the importance of giving back.

Today, we honor all those serving our Nation far from home. We also thank the first responders and medical professionals who work through the holiday to keep us safe, and we acknowledge the volunteers who dedicate this day to those less fortunate.

This Thanksgiving Day, let us forge deeper connections with our loved ones. Let us extend our gratitude and our compassion.

And let us lift each other up and recognize, in the oldest spirit of this tradition, that we rise or fall as one Nation, under God.

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 28, 2013, 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 twentysixth Day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty eighth.

BARACK OBAMA

This time Barack Obama quoted directly a part of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that mentions the Almighty hand. Unfortunately the quote is hanging without reference to what the Almighty hand refers to. Unfortunately the Almighty hand has gotten a wider connotation in modern use. Sen. Orrin Hatch among many others has mentioned “the almighty hand of the federal government”. We get a hint that it must refer to God since he puts it in the last part of the proclamation One Nation, under God. When he recited the Gettysburg address just a few days earlier he omitted the two words “Under God”.

In Abraham Lincolns address on the other hand it is obvious that it is to God we give thanks, not neighbors friends, first responders etc. We should and must be thankful for that.

But first we must give thanks to God. That is what Thanksgiving is all about.

See his proclamation below.

October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States
A Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

Prayer at the cross at Mt Nittany. A Limerick.

Some friends from of old came to pray

how this land, full of sin lost its way.

So we went to the cross

to bemoan the great loss.

GOD answered: “I’m with you alway.”

Sunset over Mt Nittany, State College Pa. Aug 14 2013

Sunset over State College.

A pot-smoking paranoid boy could have been Obama 35 years ago.

A pot-smoking paranoid boy
Was Trayvon, sought fights just for joy.
Said Obama: “You see,
that boy could have been me.
I know, I am from Illinois.”

A black New York City pastor ripped into his congregation for seeing through hateful black eyes for condemning George Zimmerman and defending Trayvon Martin who he called “a pot-smoking munchies, paranoid 17-year-old boy.”

In a sermon recorded (the first video) the same day a jury of six women declared George Zimmerman not guilty in the death of Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, chief pastor at the ATLAH World Missionary Church in New York City, James David Manning, railed at his congregation for defending Trayvon Martin because he is black.

The second video is from President Obama’s unscheduled appearance at the daily White House press briefing Friday Jul 19 2013.

IRS targets tea-party, prayer, respect for life for harassment. A Limerick.

The left gets exempt from a tax.
The right gets intrusive attacks.
Meet the new IRS.
They decide who to bless.
Let’s pray that the hacks get the axe.
.
Sarah Palin tweeted: “IRS Asks Iowa Pro-Life Group What They Pray About” …This is just surreal.
.
.
.

An excerpt from the IRS questionnaire

Please explain how all of your activities, including the prayer meetings held outside of Planned Parenthood, are considered educational as defined under 501(c)(3). Organizations exempt under 501(c)(3) may present opinions with scientific or medical facts. Please explain in detail the activities at these prayer meetings. Also, please provide the percentage of time your organizations spends on prayer groups as compared with the other activities of the organization.
From: http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2013/05/irs-asks-iowa-pro-life-group-what-they-pray-about/

Fundamentalist Christianity vs. Fundamentalist Islam; What difference does it make now?

Fundamentalist Christianity vs. Fundamentalist Islam; What difference does it make now?
A few years ago when Rosie was on “the view” she made the following statement: “Fundamentalist Christianity and Fundamentalist Islam: There is NO difference!”
Now I am a fundamentalist Christian. I was not always one, nor did I know what it meant. Reading through the Bible (I always loved old Christian music and playing a record of a cantata of J.S. Bach over and over one night I realized he knew something I do not know, I must find out what that is) I started to read the Gospel of Matthew. Nothing moved me until chapter 27: 62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.”That was when it hit me. I believed in God, but like the Pharisees I made sure Jesus was not risen, certainly not bodily. I liked the concept, but refused to accept the reality. What convinced me was the honesty in the language “that deceiver”, referring to the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees could only have said that if they in some way believed but refused to accept the claim he was to rise again. In a flash I saw my problem: If Jesus is not risen I miss out on Christianity.
The other thing that made me believe the Bible to be true was the Dead Sea Scrolls. As a child I had been told the book of Isaiah had been written after Christ. There was no other way to explain the many prophesies other than to say it had been modified after the birth of Christ. Then they found a complete scroll of Isaiah written at least 140 B.C. This convinced me the whole bible is true.
These are the five pillars of Christian Fundamentalism:
• The inerrancy of the Bible in the original languages
• The literal nature of the Biblical accounts, especially regarding Christ’s miracles
• The Virgin Birth of Christ
• The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross
• The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ
That is it. That defines a Christian fundamentalist.
Islamic fundamentalism may be best defined by what they do not believe in:
• Freedom from religious police
• Equality issues between men and women
• Separation of religion and state
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of religion.
Are there any agreements between Christian and Islamic fundamentalism?
They believe the Bible is corrupted but the Quran is true to the last letter.
They believe the accounts of the Old Testament (the Book) when they do not conflict with the Quran.
They do believe in the virgin birth of Christ. (We can agree about something).
They do NOT believe Christ died on the Cross (it only seemed so unto the Jews), no substitutionary atonement exists. That is why the cross is so offensive to Muslims.
They believe Christ was directly translated to God, but since he never died he could not have been resurrected.
They believe Christ will return again and tell all Muhammad is greater.
They believe Jesus was a Muslim (as was Moses and Abraham).

“We haven’t begun to fight:” Sarah Palin after quitting Fox News.

In an interview with Breitbart news Jan.26, 2013 in answer to the question:

“The MSM have declared both you and the Tea Party dead and buried. Reaction?”

Sarah Palin said this:

“I was raised to never retreat and to pick battles wisely, and all in due season. When it comes to defending our republic, we haven’t begun to fight! But we delight in those who underestimate us. “

(The song is in Long Meter. Can be sung to for example “I heard the bells on Christmas day”. .. or as Long Meter Double in “Sweet hour of prayer”.)

“We have not yet begun to fight”

Our Palin is a true white knight.

In darkness she will shine the light

And fight for freedom with all might

Our country is at crossroads now

The road we take will show us how

It’s life and good – when right you choose

Or death and evil – left we lose.

Deuteronomy 30:15 (KJV) See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/26/Palin-We-Havent-Yet-Begun-to-Fight-Exclusive-Interview-with-Breitbart-News

Free at last! Sarah Palin quits Fox News. A Limerick.

A source close to Palin confirmed to Breitbart News that Palin declined FOX News’ offer to renew her contract, and the two parties seem to be parting amicably.

Bill Shine, an executive vice president at FOX News, said in a statement, “We have thoroughly enjoyed our association with Governor Palin. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”

Sarah Palin is free from the Fox News charade.
Free to speak about life, and of all God has made.
For the Cross is the crux
when all else is in flux
It’s a spirit filled fight, she is sent to persuade.

Obama seeks revenge. But why? A Limerick.

A vote for Obama: Revenge

His mind is on what to avenge.

He’s Destroyer in Chief.

We will soon get relief.

His thoughts like the Druids of Stonehenge. *

This headline gives an idea of his new priorities for the defense of this nation.

Air Force Academy adapts to pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans

Officials say an $80,000 Stonehenge-like worship center underscores a commitment to embrace all religions.

November 26, 2011|By Jenny Deam, Los Angeles Times

Netanyahu’s coded message to Sarah Palin at AIPAC.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in his speech Mar 4 2012 to AIPAC said this:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This week, we will read how one woman changed Jewish history.

In Synagogues throughout the world, the Jewish people will celebrate the festival of Purim. We will read how some 2,500 years ago, a Persian anti-Semite tried to annihilate the Jewish people.

And we will read how that plot was foiled by one courageous woman – Esther.

In every generation, there are those who wish to destroy the Jewish people.

The next day Netanyahu handed US President Barack Obama a gift that spoke volumes about Israel’s tensions with Iran – an ancient Hebrew tome about a Persian plot to annihilate Jews, otherwise known as the Scroll of Esther.

The Scroll, or the Megila, tells a tale of palace intrigue featuring a Jewish beauty, Queen Esther, who charms a Persian king into foiling an evil adviser’s genocidal plans for her people some 2,500 years ago.

“Then too, they wanted to wipe us out,” Netanyahu told Obama, according to an Israeli official.

History was made last week. Did you miss it? There was but a one paragraph mention in most of the news clips.

For what it is worth here is my take on it.

Sarah Palin visited India in 2011 (She came, She spoke, She conquered, Hindustan Times).

On the way back she and her husband Todd visited Israel. She wore a large David’s star as a necklace. One of the stops was to celebrate Purim with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara. At the feast of Purim it is customary to read the entire scroll of Esther. That Purim was no exception. They mentioned they talked about many things, but mentioned Esther in particular.

When Netanyahu spoke Sunday night he was not only talking to all Jews, but it was a coded signal to Sarah Palin. When Sarah Palin abruptly resigned as Governor less than 3 years into her term, she went fishing. The press was there and asked her many questions. She claimed the reasons for her resignation were so obvious that anybody should get it. Liberal interviewers are not just anybody, so they kept asking. In one of her answers she said the phrase from Esther, slightly concealed “If I die, I die”. This was too deep for the interviewers, for they do not even know there is a book in the Bible called Esther, and if they do they would never admit it, for the Bible is not something about which they are supposed to acknowledge any positive knowledge.

Anyhow the exact quote is: Esther 4:13-16 (ESV)

¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

I believe Netanyahu reminded Sarah Palin about her quote from Esther and the consequences if she doesn’t answer the challenge.

I also believed Sarah wore the same necklace in Hannity’s interview of her the same week to respond in solidarity with the Jewish People.

Excerpts from the interview can be found in a desperate Obama fundraiser video where Sarah’s remarks are taken out of context to deliberately generate a false narrative of Sarah. But there it is: The David’s star necklace. In Obama’s narrative only a racist can support the Jews.