Bryan Fischer
Jefferson's "wall of separation" would stop Obama dead in his tracks
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Yesterday, the Archdiocese of New York, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the University of Notre Dame and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country announced that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.
They are exactly right to do so, and Thomas Jefferson would be the first in line to support their cause and flatly, publicly and stridently stand athwart the path of his Oval Office successor.
As the angel of the Lord stood with drawn sword in the path of Balaam's donkey, so that he could not go around either to the right or to the left, so Jefferson would stand in Obama's path with the Constitution raised high over his head shouting, "Stop! In the name of liberty, stop!"
President Obama and his MussoliniCare health care program have displayed tyrannical effrontery by contemptuously disregarding fundamental American principles in an effort to compel Catholic institutions to provide services that are an offense to conscience and spiritual conviction.
Jefferson, who once swore eternal hostility to every form of tyanny over the mind of man, would be aghast.
When he coined the phrase "wall of separation between Church and State," he did not mean a wall that insulates the public square from the influence of religious principle.
No, he meant the exact opposite: an impregnable and impenetrable wall which protects the church for all time from the intrusion of the State. By the "wall," of course, Jefferson was referring to the First Amendment.
As brain-dead liberals and activist judges have forgotten, the First Amendment specifically ties the hands of Congress and the federal government: "Congress shall make no law." Well, ObamaCare is a "law" passed by Congress that in the hands of the president that egregiously interferes with the free exercise of religion. Catholic institutions, thanks to this Stalin-esque monstrosity, are no longer free to put their own religious convictions into practice in their own environments.
This is precisely the kind of intrusion Jefferson opposed with every fiber of his being, wielding the Constituion itself as his weapon of choice.
Jefferson's famous "wall of separation" would have long ago put shackles on the Obama administration's attempts to stick not just the nose but the entire camel into the tent of religious liberty, and violate every constitutional scruple known to the Founding Fathers in the process.
It's time to toss the camel out of the tent altogether, nose, hump and all. And November 6 is the day to select a new camel driver before the one we have pulls the entire tent down to the ground.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
May 23, 2012
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Yesterday, the Archdiocese of New York, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the University of Notre Dame and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country announced that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.
They are exactly right to do so, and Thomas Jefferson would be the first in line to support their cause and flatly, publicly and stridently stand athwart the path of his Oval Office successor.
As the angel of the Lord stood with drawn sword in the path of Balaam's donkey, so that he could not go around either to the right or to the left, so Jefferson would stand in Obama's path with the Constitution raised high over his head shouting, "Stop! In the name of liberty, stop!"
President Obama and his MussoliniCare health care program have displayed tyrannical effrontery by contemptuously disregarding fundamental American principles in an effort to compel Catholic institutions to provide services that are an offense to conscience and spiritual conviction.
Jefferson, who once swore eternal hostility to every form of tyanny over the mind of man, would be aghast.
When he coined the phrase "wall of separation between Church and State," he did not mean a wall that insulates the public square from the influence of religious principle.
No, he meant the exact opposite: an impregnable and impenetrable wall which protects the church for all time from the intrusion of the State. By the "wall," of course, Jefferson was referring to the First Amendment.
As brain-dead liberals and activist judges have forgotten, the First Amendment specifically ties the hands of Congress and the federal government: "Congress shall make no law." Well, ObamaCare is a "law" passed by Congress that in the hands of the president that egregiously interferes with the free exercise of religion. Catholic institutions, thanks to this Stalin-esque monstrosity, are no longer free to put their own religious convictions into practice in their own environments.
This is precisely the kind of intrusion Jefferson opposed with every fiber of his being, wielding the Constituion itself as his weapon of choice.
Jefferson's famous "wall of separation" would have long ago put shackles on the Obama administration's attempts to stick not just the nose but the entire camel into the tent of religious liberty, and violate every constitutional scruple known to the Founding Fathers in the process.
It's time to toss the camel out of the tent altogether, nose, hump and all. And November 6 is the day to select a new camel driver before the one we have pulls the entire tent down to the ground.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
