A beautiful conservative Christian sentiment for this Easter Sunday
by digby
From Conservative HQ:
Christians are called to follow an almost unfollowable example; a man who, in defiance of all authority, preached the Gospel of God’s power, love and forgiveness. And who, as the Son of God, set aside his earthly power and allowed himself to be crucified to redeem a world of sinners.
Holding such beliefs at any time, but especially in pagan Rome or secular America is bound to draw the scrutiny of those in power because central to the Christian world view is the belief that secular rulers have no power over us – Caesar’s image may be on the coin, but God’s image is upon us.
Indeed, being a Christian is almost a guarantee that Christ’s opponents will use coercion, violence and government power to persecute you if you follow him.
But for most Americans, living as we do in a still relatively free country, persecution of Christians is perceived as happening only somewhere over there on the other side of the world.
Distance serves as anesthetic said Fay Voshell writing for The American Thinker. Certainly it’s not happening here. Not in the United States of America! Christians in America who look with horror on the persecution of their co-religionists in the Middle East, Africa, Communist China and North Korea assume they are safe from persecution.
But they are not safe.
Voshell, citing Msgr. Charles Pope and Johnette Benkovic, identifies five stages of persecution and posits that in America we are well into the fourth stage of persecution, that involves criminalizing Christians and their churches, businesses, and educational institutions.
As Monsignor Pope put it:
An increasing amount of litigation is being directed against the Church and other Christians for daring to live out our faith[.] … It is clear that attempts to criminalize Christian behavior is a growth sector in this culture and it signals the beginning of the steady erosion of religious liberty. Many indeed feel quite righteous, quite politically correct in their work to separate the practice of the faith from the public square.
One of those who most openly advocates excision of Christianity from the entire culture is Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who stated at the Sixth Annual Women in the World Summit that “deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” for the sake of giving women access to “reproductive health care and safe childbirth. Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice – not just on paper.”
But where is the pushback on Mrs. Clinton’s publicly announced plan that, if elected, she will lead her administration in a war on Christianity and Christian practices?
The deafening silence from religious leaders is indicative of a problem we face throughout today’s body politic, and especially in the conservative movement, and that is a lack of moral courage in the face of pressure from those who seek to destroy our culture, the rule of law, and our liberty – those things that have kept secure the God-given rights exercised by those who seek to make America weaker and less exceptional.
Reproductive health care and safe childbirth are a declaration of war on Christianity. Good to know.
Happy Easter, everyone.
.