For the gazillionth time: “Freedom OF Religion” is NOT the same thing as “Freedom FROM Religion”

The Separation of Church and State may be one of the most deliberately misrepresented and (sadly) misunderstood foundational aspects of our nation today.

All together now: there is a Sistine Chapel-sized difference between the terms “Freedom OF Religion” and “Freedom FROM Religion”. We’ve certainly talked about this subject here before, but further examples of secular intolerance keep popping up with a weed-like persistence. And since they won’t stop, neither will we.

The most recent example is courtesy of the Washington Times:

Atheists are outraged that a Bible sits right next to the mayor’s desk, inside a Pinellas Park City Council chamber, and they’re demanding its removal.

City officials, however, say that’s a no-go. The Bible’s been there for more than 30 years, and laws don’t prohibit its presence, The Blaze reported. The book was an Oct. 19, 1975, gift to council members from the Kiwanis club, and it’s been a traditional fixture ever since.

Freedom From Religion Foundation officials say they don’t care. They sent a letter to city officials, saying the Bible needs to go because it violates the principle of separation of church and state.

“It’s on display. And that certainly is improper,” said president Annie Laurie Gaylor…

Obamacare “Compromise,” Moral Fiction and Snake-oil Theology

There is a very well-argued piece over at the ADF website on the shell game the Obama Administration is playing with the contraception mandate in  Obamacare. 

We’ve linked Obamacare-related posts from ADF before (here, and here), but this is probably their best yet. In it, they make a number of excellent analogies which highlight just how duplicitous this most recent alleged “compromise” is.

In fact, this is no compromise at all, unless your idea of compromise is “we lose, they win”. 

Taken in conjunction with our post from the other day (“Hey, would YOU like to be my doctor? Thanks to Obamacare, you’ll probably qualify…“), it’s apparent that the Affordable Care Act, as predicted, just keeps getting worse. 

–JTR

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-By Matt Bowman, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel

 

The Obama administration proposed a new regulation last week in its assault on religious freedom through ObamaCare, but the regulation is the same old story: the government violates religious freedom while imposing its own strange moral theological views on religious groups to tell them they should not complain.