The “War” on Christianity

I regularly hear references to the “war” on Christianity, so I thought it was time for 'ol Gary to put in his two-cents worth. Last week there was a case in Alabama where a school district decided to take the Easter bunny out of Easter. They were doing things like calling it a “Spring Egg Hunt” instead of an “Easter Egg Hunt”. No, really –and it came from a school board that was apparently intimidated. These incidents often result because of threats of law suits from groups like “Freedom From Religion”. This same group, and other similar organizations and individuals, have stirred up trouble in the past by bringing civil actions to force the removal of Nativity Scenes from public parks, crosses from war memorials, the words “under God” from the National Anthem, and “In God We Trust” from our currency.

When you consider these incidents, combined with Christian Churches being burned, Christian priests and ministers being imprisoned and Christians being tortured and killed in places around the world, it is easy to see why we sometimes feel bullied and that there really is a war on Christianity.

Well, it’s true. Christians are being bullied –and bullied more and more every day. There reason is simple and not very hard to understand. It is happening because we allow it to happen. We put up with it.

How do you stop a bully? By standing up to him.

When I was a kid I learned very early that if I allowed myself to be bullied, I would be. And the more a bully got away with it the more they’d do it. But, if I took them on, if I stood up to them, it would stop. Sure, the bigger kids might beat me in a fight, but in the end, when they realized that every time they picked on me they were going to get hit back, they’d find someone else to pick on and leave me alone.

If you say or do something offensive to the Jewish Community or faith, watch out. The Jewish Defense League is going to come after you in the media and/or in the courts. Insult Islam and there are riots, fatwa’s are issued, death threats are made and then they still use the media and the courts to make you back down. But, when a group of atheists tell us to take the Ten Commandments out of our City Hall, we hardly say  a word about it. They claim justified under the Constitutions’ “separation of church and state”. They are wrong. The Constitution guarantees the right to worship as you chose. It guarantees a right OF religion, not FROM religion. In a democracy if the majority votes to spend their tax money on an image of Moses holding the ten commandments in the building that houses the Supreme Court, they have a right to put it there. Period.

Now, in all fairness, there are places where people do fight back. But small cities and counties (and individuals) just don’t have the money many of these groups have (thanks to backing by donors like George Soros) to fight law suits in court, so they are forced to give in. That’s because there is no unified Christian Organization dedicated to defending Christianity from such attacks.  It is also because we allow it to go on. We forget that 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christians –and this is still a democracy. If 8 out of 10 people want to have a nativity scene in their public park at Christmas, so be it. Stop letting the tiny minority of disgruntled (and I think mean spirited) atheists and others bully us.

Yes, it may mean a few expensive court battles, but so what? It often winds up in Appellate Courts and occasionally in the State or U.S. Supreme Courts – but in the end, we win. And when the bullies see that Christians are not going to be bullied anymore, that we’ll fight back in the media and in the courts –they’ll find someone else to pick on.

Until our Christian leaders put down their religious differences and unite in a common defense of Christianity, we are going to continue to be picked on and bullied. And it’s our own fault.

 

 Live Long and Prosper...