Worldwide Religious News
Persecution of Christians on rise – in U.S.
Michael Carl ("WND," September 18, 2012)
A report by two U.S.-based religious freedom groups says anti-Christian
persecution is on the rise in America.
The joint report by Texas-based Liberty Institute and Washington-based
Family Research Council says groups like the American Civil Liberties Union
aren
’t the only culprits. The report says government agencies around the U.S.
are trying to push Christian expression out the door.
“It is dramatic,” says Liberty Institute Founder Kelly Shackleford, of the
recent hike in reported incidents of persecution. “I have been doing these
types of cases for almost 25 years now. I have never seen the levels of
attacks like these and how quickly they are now proliferating.”
Shackleford says government, from schools to social programs, is the
ringleader.
“There are children being prohibited from writing Merry Christmas to the
soldiers, senior citizens being banned from praying over their meals in the
Senior Center, the VA banning the mention of God in military funerals,
numerous attempts to have veterans memorials torn down if they have any
religious symbols such as a cross, and I could go on and on,” Shackleford
said.
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WND reported in August 2011 on the Houston, Texas, veterans’ cemetery
director who issued an order banning God from military or veteran funerals at
the facility.
A pastor and family members of deceased veterans eventually filed a federal
lawsuit alleging that the Houston National VA Cemetery is discriminating
against their religious freedoms.
The suit alleges that cemetery administrator Arleen Ocasio required pastor
Scott Rainey to edit a Memorial Day prayer so that the prayer was “general,
and its fundamental purpose [was] nondenominational in nature.”
Christian civil rights organization ACLJ senior counsel David French says
the exact rate of increase is hard to determine, but many of the new cases
come from colleges.
“Our knowledge of incidents is only as good as the reporting,” French
says. “However, it’s clear that – particularly on college and university
campuses – we have seen a significant rise in attempts to silence Christian
organizations by the misapplication of nondiscrimination laws.”
French adds that many public facilities are also covering over
Christianity.
“One of the most strident examples: the misuse of the Establishment Clause
to attempt to ban any mention of God from historical markers, monuments or
even museum exhibits,” French says. “This represents an effort to
whitewash God from American history and change our national identity.”
WND reported in February that the city of New York was attempting to cancel
the leases of all church and religious groups renting city facilities.
“Our view is that public school buildings, which are funded by taxpayers’
dollars, should not be used as houses of worship,” said Marge Feinberg,
spokeswoman for New York City’s Department of Education. “Public school space
cannot and should not be used for worship services, especially because
school space is not equally available to all faiths.”
Shackleford says the attacks are becoming violent, too.
“The recent attacks on the faith-based Family Research Council and the
attack on the Sikhs are recent examples alone,” Shackleford says.
He also cites an example of a city trying to push out its Jewish
residents.
“In one case I was involved in, a city literally tried to zone out Orthodox
Jews from the city. An official city meeting perpetrated this,”
Shackleford says. “Some said, ‘Hitler should have finished the job.’”
Shackleford claims the acts of persecution point to a deeply rooted
spiritual issue.
“Religious hostility is the red light on the dashboard that tells us we
have a problem and that violence will come next if not fixed,” Shackleford
says.
French says although the Obama administration has contributed to the
problem, the problem didn’t begin in 2008.
“While the Obama administration launched its own unprecedented assault on
religious liberty through Obamacare,” French says, “the attack on Christian
expression is the result of cultural changes that have been taking place
for decades.”
Shackleford agrees.
“The Obama administration has been very hostile, from the HHS mandates to
the VA case to many, many more; but it has been getting worse and worse each
administration,” Shackleford says. “Government always tries to increase
its power, and freedom has been fading in the process. It has been a steady
and consistent.”
French says the current crisis has been brewing for decades.
“No, the trend began with advent of the sexual revolution and the
mainstreaming of the 1960s counterculture,” French claims. “As leftist radicals
have progressed through the academy, media, churches and government, the trend
has only accelerated.”
Shackleford adds that some key court cases may have accelerated the trend.
“The seeds for these attacks were dropped in a Supreme Court opinions in
the ’40s, and it really began to take off in the 1960s. The thing that is
shocking now, and different, is that the attacks have dramatically picked up
speed,” Shackleford says. “There can be as many as 100 new attacks in a
month. While Liberty Institute has the highest win rate of any group in the
country at over 99 percent, we just can’t currently cover all these with our
current resources.”
Among the violations listed in the joint report:
A federal judge threatened “incarceration” to a high school valedictorian
unless she removed references to Jesus from her graduation speech.
City officials prohibited senior citizens from praying over their meals,
listening to religious messages or singing gospel songs at a senior
activities center.
A public school official physically lifted an elementary school student
from his seat and reprimanded him in front of his classmates for praying over
his lunch.
Following U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ policies, a federal
government official sought to censor a pastor’s prayer, eliminating references
to
Jesus, during a Memorial Day ceremony honoring veterans at a national
cemetery.
Public school officials prohibited students from handing out gifts because
they contained religious messages.
A public school official prevented a student from handing out flyers
inviting her classmates to an event at her church.
A public university’s law school banned a Christian organization because it
required its officers to adhere to a statement of faith that the
university disagreed with.
The U.S. Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that the
federal government can tell churches and synagogues which pastors and rabbis
it can hire and fire.
The State of Texas sought to approve and regulate what religious seminaries
can teach.
Through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as
Obamacare, the federal government is forcing religious organizations to provide
insurance for birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in direct violation
of their religious beliefs.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs banned the mention of God from
veterans’ funerals, overriding the wishes of the deceased’s families.
A federal judge held that prayers before a state House of Representatives
could be to Allah but not to Jesus.
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