Skip to main content

US A Nation Where We’re Free To Believe.


Each week several letters to the editor appear in our local newspaper, proclaiming that all the ills of society are due to our having “taken God out of our schools,” and unless we “get back to the Christian religion of the Founding Fathers” our nation is headed for disaster. But this past Sunday a letter from a Christian appeared which really seemed, at least to me, to be a summary of the religion that Jesus would have approved of. I reproduce it in full:


Many letters to LNP, and comments by candidates and others during this campaign season, have prompted me to consider the role of faith in our civic life. I am a practicing Christian, and I think it is important for Christians to consider this matter carefully, to avoid misrepresenting our faith.
The United States is not a “Christian nation.” Rather, it is a nation where I am free to be a Christian. Or a Muslim. Or a Jew, a Sikh, a Buddhist, or even a nonbeliever.
Our Founding Fathers did not come here to become Christians. They could have been Christians in Europe. They came here to practice their religion in the manner they chose, free from any interference by the government. It is this freedom to worship and believe as one wishes that made America so special and wonderful.
Christians should be less concerned about whether God is in our schools and more concerned about whether God is in our hearts. We should not worry about displaying the Ten Commandments in public places; we should worry about following them in our lives.
Prayer was never banned in schools, only forced prayer led by educators. Students are free to pray in school; teachers are not free to force them to do so. This is as it should be, although the Ayatollahs and Taliban would not agree.
As Christians, our faith should inform our political opinions, but never become a wall between us and others. I believe that our Lord, Jesus Christ, will reveal himself to every person in the time and manner of His choosing. In the meantime, he calls us to love all and judge none.
(Name withheld)


Amen.

******

My books, “There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Through It” are available in paperback or Kindle at Amazon.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There Are Only Seven Jokes - Introduction

      The statement “There are only seven jokes – all the rest are variations,” has been around for a long time, but no one ever seems to know what the original seven are. I think I have found the solution to the mystery.       The answer is to be found in an article published in the New York Times on May 2, 1909. Entitled “New Jokes? There Are No New Jokes, There Is Only One Joke,” it goes on to say that all jokes are a distortion, and lists seven categories of distortion. Supposedly every joke will fit into one of the categories. I believe that repetition changed the seven categories into the seven jokes.       Each of my next seven blogs will be devoted to exploring one of the categories. In addition, I shall attempt to give an example or two of jokes which I think fit the category.       You must realize that this article appeared over one hundred years ago, so most of the jokes a...
Post a Comment
Read more
The Future of Work This is for folks who don't mind stretching their imagination a bit. Let me review some of the things that are happening in today's world. A recent news article stated that in spite of the decreasing jobless rate, the number of retail jobs has been dropping rapidly. An article in Business Insider calls it a retail apocalypse. According to the article, in the retail industry, "Since October about 89,000 workers in general merchandise stores have lost their jobs, which is more than the number of people employed in the entire US coal industry." ( http://www.businessinsider.com/retail-job-losses-are-hurting-the-economy-2017-4 ). This loss is due to the rapid expansion of online merchandising. But this is only one example of the point I want to make. According to an article in Scientific American, two professors at Oxford University published a study estimating the probability that "702 occupations would soon be computerized out of exist...
1 comment
Read more

Men Never Outgrow Their Love of Toys

     I guess I am no different from most other men – I like gadgets. I know there are some wonderful toys that I am missing, but if I am sure I have no use for an iPhone, xBox, and the like, I don't buy them. And I decided that even though the ultimate toy, my car, is 10 model years old, it's in good shape, and I don't need a new one. However, we are driving from Pennsylvania to Texas next week, so I did spring for a GPS, and it's really fascinating.      I downloaded the owner's manual and after perusing it, sort of (owners' manuals are to use when you can't figure it out otherwise), I entered my home address into the instrument. I had to test that, so I drove a couple of miles, turned around, and hit the “Home” button.      I was a bit disappointed in the results: it got me home OK, but it didn't take the shortcuts I would have taken. It did keep saying “recalculating” a few times, and when I got within a block or two of t...
Post a Comment
Read more