Don Crawford

Don Crawford

President of Crawford Broadcasting and the voice of the STAND Podcast

Freedom of Religion

IT IS THE FIRST FREEDOM!

The first freedom of the First Amendment to the greatest document ever created by mankind, the American Constitution!

So many think that RELIGION in the First Amendment is all about the FREEDOM of religion. Actually, there are two parts, very significant parts to this most important, constitutionally prioritized freedom of religion. The first is the matter of:

ESTABLISHMENT.

Congress, these precious First Amendment words say so clearly, “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” In short, Congress cannot engage in legislation, cannot create any law or part thereof which in any way establishes, orders or legally requires a religion OR ANY PART THEREOF! Nothing Congress, House and Senate, NOTHING! Hands off you 535 elected Representatives of WE THE PEOPLE, STAY OUT OF RELIGION ALTOGETHER!

But inevitably, the Congress does in fact get involved and makes laws, direct or indirect, in whole or in part. For example, the Catholic Church and much of the Christian church generally is against the use of contraceptives and in fact birth control. But Congress, in the form of the nefarious OBAMACARE required full coverage of contraceptives by all as any form of insurance, health or medical was formulated. THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR, determined to protect Catholic rights, rituals and principles fought the Congress, and then President Barack Hussein Obama, the author of Obamacare, accusing them of meddling with religious doctrine and principle, and establishing the demand that contraceptives and birth control be covered by insurance. In that limited but important way, Congress made a law which established the religious principle and as such, clearly violated the Constitution, so said the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Supreme Court agreed! But there is more to come as the two sides battle, the aggressive, angry, anti–religionists on the one hand and those who unabashedly stand for what they honestly believe is a sincere and vitally important religious principle. This aggressive, Democrat – progressive controlled Congress, House and Senate will begin, in the next four years to trample upon religious rights and freedoms and establish as much secularity as possible. Don’t let them do it my fellow Americans, DON’T LET THEM DO IT!

In their maniacal attempt to do away with as much religion as possible, as a critical part of the new CANCEL CULTURE secular movement, you can be sure that this Congress, aided and abetted by their President will do as much as is constitutionally possible to:

PROHIBIT THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION

and that is the second part of the protections which the First Amendment and our beloved Constitution granted unequivocally and unconditionally to us WE THE PEOPLE in that First Amendment.

Obama, when he was President, attempted to do just that. Obama and his ilk fought to interpret the FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT so that what it really meant was that there would be the freedom of WORSHIP but not the broad freedom of exercise which the Founding Fathers envisioned. In short, worship and believe as you will between the four walls of a Church but not in public, not in the public square, not in the marketplace. That of course was a clear violation of the First Amendment and the right of free exercise and so, when litigated, the various courts and even the Supreme Court have found. We the believers, Christians in our case, have the right, the unbridled and unabridged right to testify to our faith anywhere at any time. We can stand on street corners and pass out tracks. We can ticket and boycott abortion clinics. We can gather together publicly for prayer and worship, and singing, and praise to our Lord, ANYWHERE, anywhere in the entire United States of America, ANYWHERE! That freedom of religion and its exercise must be unbridled, unabridged, unfettered, inviable. And only we the people can make sure that happens. This House and Senate and this President will begin to do all they can to rid the public square and eventually, our entire country of the free exercise of religion. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN MY FELLOW AMERICANS! DON’T LET IT HAPPEN.

Watch for other ways in which this Congress will attempt to restrict, abridge, and otherwise negatively impact (CANCEL RELIGIOUS CULTURE) through illegal, unconstitutional legislation.

There is a strong secular movement to do away with TAX EXEMPTION for religious entities, including and especially Churches. The financial health of any religious organization is built upon the fact that contributions can be made to such a ministry, tax exempt to it, and tax deductible by the giver. Watch, in the next Biden progressive four years, for legislation or legislative movement to accomplish that.

Congress and the states now have political experience with so called EMERGENCY RESTRICTIONS on the right to peaceably assemble, another significant part of the First Amendment freedoms. Congregation worship can be shut down or significantly reduced in size, with restrictions for social distancing and other internal church practices. A Governor, or a President, or undoubtedly a Congress can declare some state of emergency and the unlawful, unconstitutional ABRIDGEMENT of the free exercise of religion occurs. Precedent has been set by Covid. It is only the beginning. Watch for that to happen, but don’t let it my fellow Christians. Do not allow that unconstitutional abridgement to happen! Stand up like John MacArthur of Grace Community Church and resist, say no to government of any kind intruding on the free exercise of religion. If you don’t, IT will happen.

And, HATE SPEECH. There are already movements federal, state and local to declare much of the Gospel, much of the Bible, much of the precious WORD OF GOD as hate speech. To call a person a sinner, to identify those sins in biblical terms, to testify to any need for forgiveness and repentance, should be labeled as HATE SPEECH and those atheistic, angry and aggressive anti–religionists are determined to make that happen. That will be a major factor in the shut down of religion and limitation, the abridgement of the freedom of religion in terms of testifying with respect to the doctrine in which it believes. The scripture commandment YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN is hate speech. That is hateful, accusatory, even slanderous to individuals and the very same to other religions. To claim that any religion is the only way, the only truth, and the only life as Christianity does is again hateful, hate speech to all other religions. It is the explicit aim of anti–religionists to have all such speech categorized as hate speech so that litigation can ensue both CRIMINAL AND CIVIL. It can be possible, my fellow Americans, that to believe in and testify for Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World could result in criminal charges, fines and even incarceration. It could well lead to civil lawsuits, long and costly litigation and severe financial repercussions for anyone so practicing in the FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION. Watch for it because it will happen my fellow Christians and when it does you better stand up, stand tall, resist and stand firm upon your incredible freedoms of religion which are more than fragile under the Biden Administration. If THEY have their way, those freedoms once lost are lost forever.

And then there is the Johnson Act. That prohibits Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Iman’s or any other religious leaders from taking political positions and endorsing candidates from the pulpit and within the confines and environment of the place of worship itself. That Johnson Act both restricts and eliminates the rights of religious leaders to express through freedom of speech their political views regarding candidates and issues, a clear constitutional violation. The internal Revenue Service, the IRS is authorized to pursue those religious transgressors civilly, with respect to tax exemption and deductibility on the one hand, and even in extreme cases, criminally on the other. President Trump put a halt to that but you can be certain that Biden and company will, when the time and opportunity is right, reintroduce and reinforce the Johnson Act against religious leaders and religious entities. To speak out as a Pastor, for example, against abortion and politicians who are pro abortion in any church environment would result in civil or criminal liability. Nothing intimidates free speech more, especially the exercise of religious freedoms from the pulpit itself. Don’t let it happen, my fellow Americans, my fellow Christians, DON’T LET IT HAPPEN!

The fight for freedom of religion, the free exercise thereof and the prevention of the establishment thereof is on like never before. This fight for us, religionists and believers is:

NON–VIOLENT!

The weapons we use to resist and defend are different. They are spiritual. They are commitment and conviction. They are spirit–driven so that we who truly believe will never compromise or quit. We will fight this fight of faith with all of our spiritual might because it is our absolute, unabridged and unconditional right to do so under the First Amendment of our beloved Constitution and more importantly, because it is right to do so as commanded by the Lord of Glory, for us as Christians, Jesus Christ.

The American people elected Biden, a democratic Senate and a democratic House at election which many think were fraudulent and unfair. Nonetheless, they have the power and you can be certain they will exercise that power in an aggressive, progressive, socialistic way which will in so many ways, SO MANY WAYS focus on anti–religion and the FREE EXERCISE THEREOF. Don’t let it happen my fellow Americans, don’t let them, our constitutional political enemies, intent upon CANCELLING CULTURE AND RELIGION, from changing those critical American principles and freedoms and your rights along with that. We the Christians are now COUNTER CULTURE. We were the culture, the majority but now, no more. We fight the fight of faith with spiritual weapons or we lose those spiritual freedoms forevermore. Don’t let it happen my fellow Americans, don’t let it happen, for those freedoms once lost, those precious First Amendment freedoms of religion among others once lost are:

LOST FOREVER.

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