The Christian Alert

Freedom of Religion and Speech are under horrific assault in America. The politically correct liberal left is on an all out assault against our most cherished freedoms. Last week Facebook, the social media giant officially befriended the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (GLAAD) to "end hate speech and anti-gay bullying" on the Internet. The new partnership, which made a splash in the mainstream news, is significant because it puts Facebook on the media's growing path toward censorship. Apparently, anything they construed to be anti-homosexual will be stripped from the site. Where does that leave Americans who morally oppose the lifestyle and want to help people find freedom from it? According to CNN, the world's biggest social networking hub will be trolling its pages for violators. "And this isn't just routine... policing, either." GLAAD will see to that. In a press release about the alliance, the organization is urging liberals to take an active role in shutting down speech.      Over the past few weeks we have seen strong statements about the freedom of religion coming from the President, his administration, and members of Congress. Many in the mainstream press have also made bold statements about the importance of our religious freedom.      It now seems that religious freedom in America is safe and well guarded . . . as long as you are a Muslim. Those on the Left who have remained silent, or worse, been on the wrong side, about protecting our religious freedoms for so long seem to have had a dramatic conversion event over the protests against the mosque at Ground Zero. This is a remarkable turnaround, especially for this White House. Over the past year or so, we have noticed that members of the administration had begun to talk about freedom of worship.      This was not a simple slip of the tongue, it was a carefully crafted plan that many conservative leaders saw as one of the greatest threats to religious freedom in our lifetime. "Freedom of worship" means you are a free to worship any way you want, as long as you do so in private. It means you do not have the freedom to express your faith in public nor do you have the right to share your faith with others, even your own children. This new phrase has been used in multiple speeches by the president himself as well as in speeches by key members of his cabinet, setting off alarm bells among conservative Christians. Then a few weeks ago, the president suddenly had an epiphany and decided we have freedom of religion in this country. When did this realization suddenly occur to him? What was the event that spawned this insight? It was at the White House Iftar dinner that he stated: "But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."      It would have been nice to see the same unshakable commitment to religious freedom earlier this year when a group of four Christian men were arrested for sharing their faith on a public sidewalk outside an Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan. Over the past several months we have seen people lose their jobs, be expelled from graduate studies programs and even be arrested, for peaceful but public displays of their Christian faith. Thomas Jefferson told us "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Freedom isn't free. Our freedom was bought with the blood of our forefathers. Our nation has remained free because of the sacrifice of previous generations, many of whom sacrificed the lives of their sons and daughters on the altar of freedom. The freedoms that we still hold are ours, not only because of our military, but also because of the efforts of those who continue to fight to protect them in our culture. Our freedoms are under attack and it is time to make a stand to defend them.