The choices emerging for those who want to live by Judeo-Christian principles are real and scary: Live under Islamic extremism or Secular extremism offered by Liberalism and Communism. ISIS says to Christians: Convert to Islam, pay taxes or die. The radical liberals of the increasingly wild West offer similar choices: Convert to Liberalism, be denied tax exemption status or die.
The Radical Liberals are too “civilised” to kill you physically but they will kill your business, ministry or family connections with ruthless bureaucracies. Sadly, people die physically if you deprive them of their means of livelihood — there’s a reason why that term “means of livelihood” is used to describe one’s job or source of income. People can also die if their families are broken up by government agencies or they are denied the chance to achieve their dreams.
The kind of stories of persecution you hear in America are mind-boggling and outrageous. People in Nigeria and other African countries enjoy more religious liberties than the people of America and many other Western countries. I say that we had more freedom under military dictatorships in Nigeria than the people in America and other Western countries do under Liberal governments. Examples abound.
In the United Kingdom and the United States, Catholic Charities have been forced to shut down their adoption services because they refuse to place children in the homes of same-sex couples. Hardly a whimper from the worldwide church.
In Canada and other Western countries pastors cannot preach against homosexuality without incurring the wrath of the government which classifies such speech as “hate speech.” Preaching against polygamy and incest still seems to be acceptable. Very soon, people who promote those lifestyles would also gain the same rights the homosexuals enjoy.
Two stories emerging within the last few weeks underscore the loss of religious liberties in America and may partly explain why Islamic terrorism is on the rise. The first story involves a school girl. She said: “ Bless you” or “God bless you” to a classmate who sneezed. Her teacher took offense at that and sent her out of the class. Expression of religious sentiments, symbols or practices in the public arena is increasing met with hostility in this nation that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
This story reminded me of what I experienced when I was found reading my Bible before the start of school when I was substitute teaching. One teacher who said he was a Christian said to me, “I see that you were reading Bible.” The school never called me back. I guess the teacher was trying to let me know that others who had seen me reading my Bible had reported me and I would not be called on again by the school.
The other religious liberty story revolves around the Giffords who were fined $13,000 by the New York state human rights agency because they refused to allow a lesbian couple the use of their farm for their wedding. Can you imagine such a thing happening in Nigeria? That’s why I say Nigeria in many ways offers more freedoms to her citizens than America offers hers. But if Nigerians are not vigilant the liberal-leaning elite who represent Nigeria at the United Nations will make Nigeria become a signatory to many “ human rights” laws that conflict with Nigeria’s Christian, Islamic and indigenous culture.
If the American government can compel a business to violate its moral principles what stops them from compelling churches to wed same-sex couples under the ruse of “marriage equality.” They don’t seem to want to extend that equality to incestuous and polygamous couples. And what about extending same right to every other kind of couple configuration?
The Giffords story is not isolated. A photographer in New Mexico was fined for refusing to cover the wedding of a same-sex couple. A baker suffered a similar fate for refusing to bake for a same-sex couple.
As far as I know, not even the most brutal of dictatorships in Africa ever compelled religious organisations to provide contraceptives or abortion services to women. But in America, the “home of the free” religious organisations are being compelled to do just that.
Extreme Leftists often blame America’s foreign policy for terrorism but they don’t consider how America’s liberal-driven domestic policies contribute to the rise of terrorism. At the very least, radical liberalism or extreme secularism in the West has contributed to the emergence of a moral vacuum in their societies. Nature abhors a vacuum so Islam tries to fill that vacuum. The question to ask the British and the American governments who are now wondering how to rein in the appeal of Islamic extremism to their youth is this: What did you expect would happen when you started to trample on your Christian heritage?
I got to go. I can barely sit up.