{"id":69751,"date":"2019-01-28T16:05:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T23:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69751"},"modified":"2019-01-28T23:30:34","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T06:30:34","slug":"religious-liberty-under-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/religious-liberty-under-threat.html","title":{"rendered":"Religious liberty under threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Continental<\/a>
In the late eighteenth century, a group of upper class American white men got together and wrote something that they called the \u201cDeclaration of Independence.\u201d It caused a war. Many people died.
I\u2019m grateful for them beyond any capacity to express or to repay.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hales Swift continues to produce useful materials and make them accessible on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWho were the Pharisees and Sadducees? \u00a0A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me<\/em>\u00a0Lesson 5: \u201cPrepare Ye the Way of the Lord\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are three articles related by their focus on the matter of religious liberty and the increasing secularism of government power-elites:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Religious Separation Increases, Religious Bigotry Will Abound:\u00a0Reversing the cultural decline of Christianity would do more to preserve religious freedom than any conceivable Supreme Court case.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now she wants to be president:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKamala Harris\u2019s Outrageous Assault on the Knights of Columbus:\u00a0No longer is the debate over Christianity in the public square. It is over Christians in the public square.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please, with regard to this next one, note the names of the author of the article and of the British home secretary to whom the article refers, and try to guess their likely religious backgrounds. \u00a0They\u2019re coming to the defense, in part, of a Jewish school:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmanda Spielman\u2019s War on Religion in Great Britain:\u00a0In the name of \u2018British values,\u2019 French-style secularism is being imposed on religious schools in England.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Religious believers had better learn to cooperate despite their theological differences, because they have common enemies. \u00a0\u00a0As Benjamin Franklin is said to have quipped in the Continental Congress in 1776, just before signing the Declaration of Independence, \u201cWe\u00a0must, indeed, all\u00a0hang\u00a0together, or\u00a0most assuredly we shall\u00a0all\u00a0hang separately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet one more bit of evidence that, as the late Christopher Hitchens used to say, religion poisons everything<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe science of Sabbath: How people are rediscovering rest\u2014and claiming its benefits\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch Obtains Official Recognition in Mali\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The presiding officer was Elder Robert Gay, of the Presidency of the Seventy, whom I have known since long before his call to serve as a General Authority and for whom I have enormous respect:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch Leaders Break Ground for Temple in Bangkok\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over fifteen years ago, I had a rather unpleasant exchange with a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> who had since left it and, in her relatively old age, become a quite vocal atheist (although her husband evidently remained a believer until his death a few years back):<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Religion Irrational and Anti-Intellectual?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

These days, I probably wouldn\u2019t waste my time on such an exchange.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In any event, though, I found out the other day that \u201cSusieQ\u201d \u2014 I know her actual name but won\u2019t use it here \u2014 died a few days ago. \u00a0I wish her family well, and genuinely hope that her recent experience has been a pleasant surprise for her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those who might still be skeptical, there is evil in the world. \u00a0Here\u2019s another example:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFire at St. George stake center intentionally set, fire officials say:\u00a0The building, which was expected to be finished in about a month, is now a total loss.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Neil Rappleye, who is trying to be helpful for this year\u2019s Sunday School curriculum:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging Come Follow Me<\/em>: A Late Introduction (of Sorts)\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Hales Swift continues to produce useful materials and make them accessible on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0 \u201cWho were the Pharisees and Sadducees? \u00a0A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me\u00a0Lesson 5: \u201cPrepare Ye the Way of the Lord\u201d\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Here are three articles related by their focus on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2100,2097,2833,2830],"class_list":["post-69751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-religious-freedom","tag-religious-liberty","tag-secularism","tag-secularization"],"yoast_head":"\nReligious liberty under threat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Hales Swift continues to produce useful materials and make them accessible on the website of the 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