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Christian Bigotry: The Only Acceptable Cultural Prejudice

  • Tony Beam Dr. Tony Beam's Weblog
  • Published Oct 25, 2005

The slow but steady rise of the anti-Christian tide began in the early to mid 80's and is now reaching the flood stage.  Do you think I am overreacting?  Here is just one week's worth of anti-Christian headlines:

"Massachusetts Mannn Arrested for  Protest of Homosexual Kindergarten Curriculum"

"Air Force Rule May Ban Chrisitian Prayer"

"Wiccan Halts Jesus Prayers at Town Council"

"Distribution of Bibles, Open Prayer Stopped by School Administration"

"Air Force Sued Over Religious Intolerance."

"Praying School Board Compared to Terrorists"

"Police Arrested Christians Sharing Faith Outside of Courthouse"

And these are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  From California to the Carolinas andn from the Florida Keys to the Canadian border, Christian faith in America is under fire.  Organizations like the ACLU, People for the American Way, and a host of other leftist groups are in full attack mode against anything that remotely resembles a public Christian testimony. 

The ACLU recently sent a letter to the governors of 17 states treatening to bring lawsuits against each one of their states if they continue to use government funds to reach abstinence education in their public school systems.  Now bear in mind that none of these programs mention God or carry any kind of religious connotation.  The reason the ACLU is upset is that abstinnence, the only surefire way to curb teen pregnancy and stop the deadly spread of sexually transmitted diseases, is considered to be a "religious value." 

So now, not only are Christians banned from speaking the name of their Lord at a City Council Meeting and sharing their faith if they happen to be in the Air Force, the ACLU wants all thought banned that might be rooted in Christian morality. I guess this means the ACLU wants us to stop telling students to tell the truth and to stop encouraging them to treat each other with respect since "thou shalt not bear false witness" and "love your neighbor as yourself" are also biblically based concepts. The point they seem to miss is there can be no shared, true morality that does not line up with the teaching of God's Word. 

And make no mistake, it is just Christian thought and expression that must be banned.  The ACLU is sueing the small town of Tijeras, N.M. (population about 500) to force them to remove a tiny cross from their town seal. The cross is accompanied by a much larger Native American relgious symbol (the Native American zia) but the ACLU chose to ignore that symbol in favor of targeting the Christian symbol.  This senario is played out over and over across America revealing the true agenda of the ACLU has nothing to do with separation of church and state and everything to do with separation of Christians from public life. 

It is true Christians should not be suprised by this but we should be alarmed.  We should also refuse to be intimidated by the threat of lawsuits.  In 1983, the United States Supreme Court said in Marsh v. Chambers that "In light of the unambiguous and unbroken history of more than 200 years, there can be no doubt that the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society.  To invoke Divine guidance on a public body enntrusted with making the laws is not, in these circumstances, an establishment of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgemennt of beliefs widely held among the people of this country."  I realize that case law has built against Christian freedom since 1983 but the fact remains we have a contstitutional ruling by the Supreme Court that supports the Christians right to free expression of their faith in public.