Will the real religious freedom please stand up?

Religious Freedom
The traditional meaning:
Freedom of belief, speech, practice, proselytizing, etc.

The new revisionist meaning:
Freedom to restrict services against, or to hate, denigrate, despise or oppress others.

That amounts to rewriting language history. It's revisionist. It's ugly … it's wrong.

Bigotry defined

Bigotry [BIG-uh-tree] NOUN
Intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.
Source: The Oxford Dictionary

Bigotry exemplified

Christian bigots are trying to redefine "freedom of religion" to suit their need to discriminate without penalty. Perhaps they need to be reminded that "Do unto others…" is not just a nice catchy phrase to tell our kids to get them to behave well.

True followers of Christ -- the majority of U.S. Christians -- need to speak up. Your silence is taken as agreement with those practicing bigotry. Pilgrims fled to America to escape state-such imposed religion. True Christians need to start standing up and shouting, "Not here! Not now! Not ever! That's not who we are!"

Islam increasing, Christianity decreasing

For those who think an official state religion is just fine, tell me -- what happens when the majority of Americans follow Islam?  Islam is growing; Christianity is shrinking. Think, people; think! In that future, would it be OK for Muslims to legally refuse to serve women who do not wear a hijab? Women not accompanied by their husband? People who are not Muslims? That is … your own descendants?

Our laws protect people and help ensure equal treatment of everyone. They are not to push your own personal agenda or that of your religious sect, no matter how fervently you may hold to your beliefs.

Personal religious freedom!

Believe what you like. Worship as you like. Gather as you like. Pray as you like. But do not -- ever -- try to force your beliefs on others. In the public realm, you have no right to impose your personal beliefs on others who do not agree with you. That's just another form of bullying. Religious bullying causes Christ to weep. It's time we put a stop such actions before they escalate into even more damaging behavior.

"Be careful what you ask for"

Beware -- Payback is a real bummer! When the tables are turned, the results for your descendants could be disastrous! Don't shoot yourself in the foot and then later complain that it hurts.

Millennials shun the church

And by the way … two-faced bigotry makes Millennials cringe and shun the church (not just "church"). They see us as irrelevant. Why would they ever want to "be like that" and join us when they see such bigotry as representing all Christians?

We need to show them that are good examples of followers of  Christ. Those who only claim to be followers but act otherwise can seem in the majority unless … and until … the majority speaks up!

Stand up and be counted!

"Do unto others…" is not just a nice catchy phrase to tell our kids. It's way past time to actually live it!

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• "The bigotry that dare not speak its name"

Black history is American History

The status of Black Americans has improved over the years, but prejudice against them in both word and deed is still around -- just more hidden. An article at the Black Voices web site states that Black History Month is still relevant, but then adds "for now".  There is disappointment yet hope in that statement.

The article mentions the comment of Rochelle Riley, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press, "Having a special time to celebrate the contributions of African Americans to American history is wonderful, but when it is used as a substitute for teaching black history to all students all year round, we are stunting the educational growth of students of all colors and backgrounds."

Black History is an integral part of American History. But until history books and teachers include Black Americans in schools, we need Black History Month to help remind more people about the wonderful contributions of Black americans.

• Black History Still Relevant -- for Now
• Black religious leaders
• Black leaders in sacred music

A new view of "You"

Our society constantly pushes us to desire more and buy more. We spend ourselves into debt while others in the scrape by on relative crumbs of money.

The Advent Conspiracy and Rethinking Christmas sites promote increased awareness of others' needs and decreased consumption behavior by us. Pastor Dave promoted those in a recent blog posting, "Advent Resources". The related Trade as One site promotes helping others by buying Fair Trade items. Below is one of their "Trade as One" videos.

Do you have what it takes to lower your stress and decrease the commercialism of Christmas while at the same time helping others?

The Advent Conspiracy

Here's a new way of "doing Christmas" that gets closer to the wise men and draws us away from the stress and debt of a modern American Christmas.

Do we truly follow Christ?

Sometimes it seems that United Methodists are not truly united. Not that we all need to be of one mind on all issues, but it often seems that we deliberately strive for unloving discord.

Most often the strife is about either social and environmental issues or else spreading the Gospel. It need not and should not be an "either-or" proposition. It needs to be a "both-and" one. We need to bring the light of Christ into a world of darkness. But we also need to realize that a strong faith and truly following Christ expresses itself through Godly actions. That certainly includes social and environmental actions.

People who truly follow Christ consider themselves caretakers of God's earth. They wouldn't dream of spoiling God's wonderful planet, harming his people, or ignoring the plight of his plants and animals. True followers of Christ would not ignore mistreatment of any of God's children. They would also prefer to use their own riches to help others rather than to add more "bling" to their possessions.

Those who truly follow Christ have an "attitude of gratitude" that shows in their everyday actions, their generous giving, their love for all God's creatures, and in their love of others who are not like them.

Homosexuality costs some Black pastors

Black pastors are often caught between between two bad options -- ignoring the marginalized in our society or losing conservative members, often the older, bigger donors. The March 27 NY Times article, datelined from Atlanta, elaborates. Will money or love win out?

"What does it mean to have a [worship] service that welcomes all but makes an effort to target those whom society has shunned as unclean and undesirable?" asks Becky Garrison in "Easter for the Outcasts" at the God's Politics blog.

Satellites help human rights watchers

When governments or groups harm God's children, satellite views of the area can help prove the felony was committed. One example is Zimbabwe's destruction of a settlement.

While the computers to process the images costs about ten grand, support for the human rights groups using satellite imagery in increasing.