A Common Sense Approach to Religious FreedomWritten by Terry Mitchell
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Another tenet of our common sense approach would be to make sure that all religious speech, no matter how offensive or "hateful" some people might find it, is always safeguarded. We do not want to follow Canada's lead of coding political correctness into law and banning some forms of religious speech. For example, in some parts of Canada, a person can be fined or jailed for proclaiming that homosexual activity is sinful. Too many people don't want to hear sin called sin anymore, but we must make sure that people always have right to condemn anything that their religion says is wrong. This even includes right of a Muslim, for example, to denounce our culture. As long as someone doesn't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, explicitly threaten anyone, or call for someone else to do harm, their speech should be protected. Another element of our common sense approach to religious freedom would be to prohibit any laws (1) that are based solely on religious beliefs and (2) that punish those who do not follow them. For example, laws ordering that stores be closed on Sunday should be banned. Now, just because some law correlates with someone's religious belief doesn't mean it should be invalidated. Many valid laws, even those against murder, correspond to religious commandments. What I'm talking about are laws that exist expressly for furthering a religion. The state has no right to enforce anyone's religious beliefs, even those of majority religion. Besides, what's use of forcing someone to obey religious laws? Does it make them any more righteous? Does it make community or nation any more righteous? I don't think so. The final component to our common sense approach would be to ensure that we protect speech or entertainment that might be offensive to any particular religion or even religion in general. Once again, no one has a right to not be offended. Many fundamentalist Christians are so outraged by anti-Christian speech or entertainment that they would like to see it banned, censored, or at least driven from airwaves. However, if we're going to have unlimited freedom to promote our religion, then others should have unlimited freedom to demean it. If we don't allow free exercise of anti-religious speech, we are not much better than an Islamic theocracy and we are not practitioners of true religious freedom. Besides, if one's religion can't hold up in face of criticism, it is evidently quite weak anyway.
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, and trivia buff from Hopewell, VA. He also serves as a political columnist for American Daily and operates his own website - http://www.commenterry.com - on which he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and well-being, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.
| | Searching for Silence in a Noisy WorldWritten by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
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So, how can we make silence a habit in our lives? Admittedly, it is a challenge. Debra Farrington in Hearing with Heart: A Gentle Guide to Discerning God?s Will for your Life (Jossey-Bass, 2003) suggests beginning with just five minutes a day. Perhaps either before or after a time of formal prayer, we can carve out a place for silence. If background noise of your home is prohibitive, perhaps a walk outside or retreating to bathroom will provide needed relief from noise. In that time, Harrington recommends not only attempting to distance ourselves from sounds of world, but also from noise inside our minds. Try not to focus on problems of day or to-do list of chores that need to be done. Try to just be in presence of God. In time, we should be as comfortable in silence with God as we are with our intimate friends, and we should begin to hear God?s voice a little louder in our lives. Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of "The Spiritual Woman Newsletter" (http://www.spiritualwoman.net) and author of "Letters to Mary from a Young Mother" (iUniverse, 2004)
Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of "The Spiritual Woman Newsletter" (http://www.spiritualwoman.net) and author of "Letters to Mary from a Young Mother" (iUniverse, 2004)
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