Religious Liberty Being Threatened

In our last election America voted for "Change." But it's certainly not the kind of change that can be embraced by most Christians that I know, especially pastors. Our precious religious liberties are being threatened at the federal level by bills that are quickly making their way to President Obama's desk.

One such bill is HR 1913 (the Local Law Enforcement Crimes Prevention Act, or LLECPA), quietly introduced in the House of Representatives on April 2nd by Rep John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). The bill as already passed in the House and now goes to the Senate where it will likely pass.

Rep Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) made the observation that this legislation could be used to intimidate and prosecute pastors who may preach biblical sermons concerning the homosexual agenda and lifestyle.

The legislation broadly defines the word "intimidation." Under this legislation, a pastor's sermon could be considered "hate speech" if it is heard by an individual who then acts aggressively against persons based on any "sexual orientation." As a result, the pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime."

Barrett Duke of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission issued a warning recently: "While we should never condone acts of violence against anyone, for whatever reason, including whether or not that person is a homosexual, this bill proposes to prosecute someone based on their belief (emphasis mine) about homosexuality and therefore makes religious belief a germane issue in this debate."

David Shelley, of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, recently wrote that "the real goal of this legislation is to target speech and expression, not to help local law enforecment officers deal with crime. The second goal is to criminalize any criticism of bizarre sexual behaviors as 'hate speech' or a 'hate crime' to be prosecuted by federal officials."

My friends, this is very troubling to me as a pastor. I believe our United States Constitution should be upheld at every level, by every politician ... and that means allowing everyone -- including faithful preachers of the Word of God -- to exercise free speech.

There was a time when the church was a place where you could hear the truth being preached from the Bible, and the pastor was respected for proclaiming "Thus saith the Lord." But, I wonder, how long is that going to hold true?

Far too many Christians today are in a spiritually lethargic state ... they're unaware of the growing movement across this country to destroy our Christian heritage and religious freedoms. In Matthew Chapter 5 Jesus called on the church to be "salt and light," and I believe this applies to the public arena, too.

By God's grace, I intend to be a pastor who will proclaim the whole counsel of God, not out of "hate speech" but rather out of "love speech!"

Our religious liberty should be protected from government interference. That's my ... "Pastor's Perspective" on this issue.