Church and State Issues

Did you ever feel like (after reading the story of the San Francisco City Board decree against the Catholic Church) saying, "Where is their head?" Yet, there are many Americans who are taking the separation of church and state to a level never before seen and never intended. With all politics and religion, we all have an opinion. Here's mine:

You will one day be challenged for your religious views and stands in the work place. As a leveling agent, you will probably be challenged on most everything you say or do by someone in the work place. It is a world in which everyone has an opinion and everyone is right (if it is me) and wrong (if it is anyone else). We just don't see a lot of middle ground, efforts to understand or tolerance; especially if it is religious in nature.

One important fact: Romans 13:8-10 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

According to our Christian faith, we can disdain, talk about our dislike, and even stay away from those that commit adultery, kill, steal, bear false witness, covet but we shall not stop loving our neighbors. The efforts of the SFCB to force members of the Catholic church to disobey church leadership, their beliefs and their religion is scary for government's interference with religious freedom.

Do not sit by and allow our religious freedoms to be compromised by a government agency or others. If you see one of your employee's religious freedoms being persecuted or demeaned, are you up for the fight to protect them? The Catholic church is a pretty big dog to kick and I expect it has mustered it's legal forces. But what about a lone employee or a member of a small church or a denomination not so well known? We all, Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Native American and all others worshiping God, should stand together in opposing any persecution of a religious group. If God's children do not stand together, we will see the continuing deterioration of religious freedoms. We will see laws twisted, constitutional rights rewritten, and perverted interpretations . It isn't your grandma's naive world. It isn't the world of social reform fought for by African Americans. It isn't the right to vote. It is a new frontier: a right to worship in the manner we choose. Be very careful of any law that seeks to make us all one religion, one set of doctrine, and one set of government regulations.

Tolerance of religious freedom is our right. It is why we live in the United States. Tolerance built from loving our neighbor, as scripture provides.