Church Trials

Road Blocks and Speed Bumps

Why challenge the State when it tramples on long standing freedoms and nurtures a reversal of what marks this nation for greatness and prosperity? Why champion any good cause, whether it be exempting Amish photographs from licenses, having Bibles in school libraries, or RFID branding to track individuals? Why bother?

If one ever needed a cause to champion, the time is now and the field is ripe for harvest. Because so few actually stand up to tyranny, intolerance and governmental abuse, our society is quietly losing liberty - a small issue here, something more obscure there. There is little time left to argue about minor differences in our doctrines and personal preferences.

The loss of individual freedom is so apparent that even the casual observer acknowledges it as a nuisance. The irony of this loss is that it is made manifest by a few elected/appointed that don't represent the people, a whole comprised of overlapping social, secular and religious opinions protected by U. S. and individual state constitutions, but rather their own selfish or misguided ambition. 

Doublespeak

The term "freedom" in the mouth of a politician has become an excuse for reducing liberty to its lowest common denominator. In his shadow the spectre of totalitarianism declares:

Freedom shall be set for the individual regardless what liberties are sacrificed for the greater good. You must lose some freedom in exchange for safety, even if safety for us elite means harm for those common.

Meaning: Your rights are sacrificed for the comfort of the few that you unwittingly elected.

Whenever this mantra is challenged, both the harbingers of injustice and the complacent begin to squirm. Anti-freedom activists cry, "Conspiracy Theory! Warning! Fringe ahead!" and the self-assured consumer nods in belief. For the rest: analysts, thinkers, troubleshooters, watch dogs and everyone that loves a good fight for justice knows better than to throw reasonable arguments into the memory hole and just walk away.

It's not conspiracy theory if it's backed with facts

But for the most radical element, when various conspiracy theorists gain credibility - some in part, some entirely - one must start a personal campaign to ferret out media propaganda and sensationalism and adopt a challenge to the voices of the status quo. The sporadic bumper sticker reads, "Question Authority." This healthy process does not require violence or apocalyptic upheaval - unless the division between factions of reason and inordinate commitment to spoil becomes so great as to require a dimensional reset. Until that chasm is reached, a concerted effort to save liberty in an intelligent and active manner is essential.

Complaint - Red Herring for apathy.

Barely a day goes by that one of us has either complained about the health of our nation, or heard someone rail about injustice. Religious talking heads rally around 'gay' issues, 'prayer in school' and 'abortion' because it's easy to identify, polarize and sanction large groups. Not that these issues aren't important, but this is a moneymaker for some, and unfortunately, a smoke screen for activities behind the political curtain which requires serious attention and intervention.

Obfuscate Real Challenges to the Church.

The substitute for activism in some church organizations is to:

• use hermeneutics, to challenge your cause,
• digress to apologetics without action,
• host programs for self-improvement or addiction,
• send missionaries to unknown places,
• stress The Gifts,
• form a contemporary music committee,
• stress wealth, leadership and success,
• start a ministry for pets,
• Bingo Nights,
• take up a collection for Pastor's Appreciation Day.

Yes, we digress as much as vanity and commercialism has taken our focus, our souls. Many church activities are to justify a tax exempt status ... and look busy.

Superficial needs coat critical decisions to the point that the reality of church persecution is a vacation less afforded, especially when one can virtually "Be all you can be!" How many of us have exited educational institutions or the armed forces recalling recruiting posters depicting the pizazz lifestyle; power, glamor, and wealth? Briefly, reality is a disappointment to be shunned.

You want liberty?

Regardless of whether you have found nirvana in temporal happenings, you still have a need to check into reality; no virtual lifestyle. It's flesh and blood to the finish!

In a free society we each have an obligation to perform some function of societal maintenance. If we chose to push our individual freedoms past the limits of another person's boundaries we are not maintaining, but rather degrading overall freedom. If we take advantage of our own personal freedoms without observing those of others, we will lose all by attrition.

It's not survival of the fittest that waters a garden. It's not a selfish man that has so many friends. You have to understand liberty and what it means to others, regardless of whether you agree with every nuance of someone's belief. Live by the Golden Rule. If you want liberty, save your fellow man's.

Toxic

Taking on another's cause can seem radioactive. Try discussing a challenge to any religious freedom that the State has earmarked for elimination and the comfortable listener will whitewash it with smiles and apparent support, but after a few challenging sessions to help your cause they will envision someone that glows in the dark.

Is this desirable? Yes, if your mannerism is contrite, informative and direct to see who will join you, then perhaps you have brought conviction upon your listener. You may find another freedom fighter in your midst, and one ally is 100% gain in effectiveness.

Apparent Disconnect

A pitfall the civil rights advocate may encounter is another activist pursuing a common venture - who feels a need to be the whole show - and you unwittingly become audience to a monologue, worse yet, a soliloquy of self-importance. Perhaps your prospective ally has won a court battle, or has gained notoriety, and a coalition of efforts would be synergistic and beneficial, but more likely non-productive.

Take your coat and walk.

Friendly Fire

A disheartening phenomenon: a purported advocate mocking the disadvantage of the persecuted. An attorney jesting how much easier it would be for his Amish client to get a license if he were to just "Take a photo like I did", is ill advised, cruel. Flaunting privileges over the downtrodden is not the characteristics of the God fearing.

Another is to have apparently supportive representatives vote down your issue in exchange for expediency or better press, "If we had voted for that issue, we would have ruined our chance for re-election and been branded as radicals." It happens, just as some have gone to court and have had their attorney feign ignorance to keep BAR membership, "Your honor, I have no idea why my client won't allow unwarranted searches at his apartment building!"

Throw Down Those Speed Bumps

How do you know that YOUR activism isn't holding back a tidal wave of malice focused on even the smallest religious group? Everyone counts. No issue is too small. Surely, taking an ACTIVE part against tyranny is another speed bump along the road to secular totalitarianism. That one fight - a logical, polite and challenging voice heard on your congressman's phone, or a visit to a bureuacrat's office where the secretary can be a very influential aid to your cause - may be all that's required. Keeping the intolerant busy with many small issues is better than letting them devise more ways to control. When they set up a road block, throw down some speed bumps to slow them down.

The Mechanics of Activism

The path to getting from persecution to freedom isn't always laced with lawyers and litigants and deep pockets for fees. The State and it's stealth representatives, the attorneys, would like you to believe so. But getting the ear of the press and being an active presence to represent an issue can make things change a whole lot faster. There are times where grass-root associations can make a bigger stir than a quiet hearing beyond metal detectors. There have been accounts where issues have been brought to the public to the embarrassment of governors and legislators. People have been set free from prison. Laws have been changed. Corrupt organizations and bureaucracies have had their upheavals.

You are empowered to make a difference.