The Land of the Free?

On Sunday, July 3, I will be speaking about how we can work together to protect and preserve religious freedom, not just for ourselves but for our children and future generations of Christians. 

A recent story in The Daily Signal illustrates why this topic is urgent.  During a retirement ceremony at an Air Force Base in California on April 3, 33- year veteran Oscar Rodriguez Jr. was forcibly removed because he mentioned God in his speech.  Rodriguez, a retired senior master sergeant said, "It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life."  Rodriguez's speech says the following: 

• "It is this one nation under God that we call, with honor, the United States of America."
• "God bless our flag.  God bless our troops.  God bless America."

The hostility against religious expression is the result of two things.  First, there are some in our country that undervalue religion and would like to strip the Constitution of the Frist Freedom -- the protection of religious freedom.  They see religion as an obstacle to equality and progress and human rights. 

The second cause of hostility against religion is the Constitutional ignorance of most Americans.  Very few Americans know what the Constitution says and does not say about religious freedom.  Most people are more familiar with the phrase "separation of church and state," which is not found anywhere in the Constitution and which has been severely misrepresented, than they are of the actual words in the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

I hope you'll join me on July 3 as I teach on the current threat to religious liberty, the definition and nature of religious freedom, and a strategy to protect it so that we can continue to be the land of the free.