How many times now must we look at our national flag flying at half-mast, lamenting over a recent tragedy? It almost seems as if it flies in this position permanently. With atrocities being committed against Christian, helpless civilians, and other minorities occurring by the day, it has become commonplace to turn on the news and hear of some horrible incident. With the recent bombing of Pakistani Christians, mostly woman and children, in a park after Easter mass, the bashing of the nuns’ skulls in Yemen, the priest crucified in Yemen, or just another bombing or mass shooting, we are almost becoming numb to the constant atrocities.
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines “genocide” as killing and certain acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Isn’t this exactly what is occurring to Christians and other minorities in The Middle East? ISIS’ magazine, Dabiq, calls on the destruction of the “Crusader army”. Plus, their videos encourage the killing of priests and Christians. Their plan is to eradicate Catholicism from its birthplace in The Middle East and destroy our entire Western civilization.
I am pleased to be a member of The Knights of Columbus. As Obama had laid a deaf ear to all Christians in The Middle East, The Knights provided the State Department with a nearly 300-page report filled with compelling evidence that genocide is occurring against Christians as well as other religious minorities. These atrocities included assassinations of Church leaders, mass murders and deportations, torture, kidnapping for ransom, sexual enslavement and systematic rape of girls and women, forcible conversions to Islam, and destruction of Christian churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and artifacts.
After much work by The Knights’ CEO Carl Anderson and other members, Secretary of State, John Kerry, finally declared that ISIS (or as he foolishly says Daesh) is committing genocide against Christians, Yazidis and Shiite Muslims. However, this is only the first step. Unfortunately, this condemnation does nothing to solve the problem. He declared what most of us knew for over a year. Plus, his words ring hallow as there is no action behind them. At this point you must ask yourselves, is this the new norm? Will we just accept what is occurring and issue idle warnings to our enemies, paint a picture over our Facebook picture, hashtag the atrocities in disgust, and lower our flags to half-mast? Is appeasement and apathy the new norm? Well, it seems that is the society we live in now.
Fueled by political correctness, secularism, and an American President with un-American values, we are now reaching a critical point in humanity’s history. Will we revert back to 9th century barbarism or fight to restore our Liberty and our future generations’ safety. It is the question we must all ask ourselves right now. Those that do not answer it are letting the terrorists win. Those that are apathetic are letting the terrorists win. Don’t stand idly by. Talk to your Congressman. Support organizations like The Knights. Let your voice be heard before it’s too late!
The proverbial wall between state and religion had already been built and continues to become more vehemently fortified by the day. While misquoting from the Constitution, men and women alike defend this wall as if it were Check Point Charlie during the Cold War.
However, these same men and woman are no longer content with simply just defending this monstrosity of a wall. They are now climbing over it and encroaching on our religious freedoms while ignoring the actual words inscribed in our Constitution as set forth in the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
An excellent example of this unconstitutional religious encroachment is the state’s harassment of The Little Sisters of the Poor. The group comprises nuns who have taken a vow of poverty, obedience, and chastity that lovingly care for the elderly poor. The Lowers Circuit Courts with the backing of the Affordable Care Act, also known infamously as Obamacare, have mandated the nuns to disavow their faith and comply with the secular law of the land. As a result the nuns have taken to the courts to defend their First Amendment rights. Instead of meeting with the elderly poor, they are meeting with lawyers. Instead of spending time in poor house they are spending time in the court of law.
The problem stems from Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate which requires the nuns to offer all participants in their insurance plan contraception, abortion drugs and female sterilization procedures. Under the law as set forth by Obamacare, the sister’s insurance plan does not have to directly supply participants with these contraceptive methods, but must allow their insurer or an outside health plan to provide separate birth control coverage—thus making the nuns indirectly culpable in defying their religious faith.
As a result, The Little Sisters of the Poor have recently filed a second brief to the Supreme Court of the United States to petition them to hear their case on its First Amendment merits before the government can impose millions of dollars of fines if they don’t comply with it.
If the government would go far as to harass and financially bog down the Sisters of the Poor, what and who will be next. Will any religious organization or place of worship be able to survive? Will religion be relegated to the dark catacombs under building or in dark caves like where the first Christians use to congregate? Unfortunately, that is where the slippery slope is taking our country.
