Posted on 06/30/2017 10:11:50 AM PDT by pgkdan
It’s hard to believe American teenagers could be arrested for delivering a prayer, but that’s the kind of nation we live in — a nation that was fundamentally transformed by the previous presidential administration.
In 2011, the class president at Hampton High School in Tennessee wanted to deliver a pray at graduation. The principal issued an edict that any child who attempted to pray would be stopped, escorted from the building by police and arrested.
That incident was one of dozens included in a stunning new Family Research Council report documenting a significant upsurge in government hostility to religion.
Since 2014 there has been a 76 percent increase in religious freedom violations, according to “Hostility to Religion: The Growing Threat to Religious Liberty in America.”
“The recent spike in government driven religious hostility is sad, but not surprising, especially considering the Obama administration’s antagonism toward biblical Christianity,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said.
Perkins said the 66-page report underscores the legitimacy of the actions taken by President Trump to end polices in federal agencies that “fan the flames of this religious intolerance.”
“This report is designed to quantify the threat to our First Freedom and to challenge Americans to use their God-given freedoms to protect these freedoms we enjoy as Americans,” Perkins said.
Even though there is an increase in hostility, there is some good news.
Perkins noted “the growing courage of Christians, especially young Christians, to defend both their faith and their freedoms.”
Among the cases listed in the report:
1. An 11-year-old student in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was penalized for mentioning Jesus in a Christmas poetry assignment.
2. Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freedom were charged with criminal contempt because they prayed over a meal. The pair was later found not guilty of violating an injunction banning the promotion of religious events at school.
3. A Christian acapella group at James Madison University was told they could not perform “Mary Did You Know” because it was religious. They were directed to only sing secular songs.
4. An Ohio library banned a Christian group from meeting to discuss natural marriage unless the group also included supporters of same-sex marriage.
5. Allstate Insurance Company fired a staffer for allegedly using a company laptop to write a column against homosexuality. The company alleged said the column violated its diversity standards.
6. San Diego firefighters were threatened with disciplinary action if they refused to participate in a gay pride parade. The firefighters were subjected to verbal abuse and sexual gestures during the parade.
7. A woman who rented out rooms in her home was sued after she refused to rent to a same-sex couple.
8. An Oklahoma bank was forced to remove religious Christmas decorations under orders from the Federal Reserve.
Travis Weber, FRC’s director of the Center for Religious Liberty, said he hopes the report will be a wakeup call for people of faith.
“In a society like ours, we must be the guardians of our own freedom,” he said. “Anyone who desires freedom in the future must take note of what these trends tell us about our freedom right now — relative to where we have come from — in order to protect freedom from going forward.”
Arrested on what charge? The principal can tell the cops all he wants that it was against the rules. There is no criminal offense on the books for praying at an event.
At best, someone could pursue a civil remedy. The law isn’t with them there.
But if a student mentioned God in their speech, and a school creature grabbed them, that would be criminal battery.
Absolutely correct. This kid has a wrongful arrest suit nailed.
As did racial division, animus toward leo, mainstreaming of sexual anomalies, targeting of conservative groups by govn agencies, unconstitutional ex orders, and a host of other overreach in an effort to destroy the USA...
hopefully a non profit lawyers group will pick up his case
If the left holds our religious rights in contempt then they should remember that we have another right that we can use to remedy that problem.
But if student was Muslim...
Absolutely a bogus headline. There is no hostility whatsoever from the government to Muslims or any other non Christians. However, being an open Christian in America is as damning as it has ever been after Obama. Corporate America, academia, the military, athletic teams all persecute and beat down open Christianity. There are very willing lawyers out there to carry out their dirty work to penalize Christians at every turn. This has to stop. Where are you President Trump?
There. Fixed it.
Cops and Republican lawmakers getting ambushed, Soros puppet lefties storming Town Halls, blocking major highways, and assaulting patriots, activist lefty judges blocking Trump's agenda, so-called 'Journalists' becoming angry mouthpieces for the DemonRat party by spreading their 'Russia' nonsense, talk of impeachment, blah blah blah..
This is the REAL legacy of Odunga.. Violent hatred for our flag and the rule of law in America, let alone the DOUBLING OF OUR NATIONAL DEBT IN JUST 8 SHORT YEARS WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT BUT MORE ILLEGALS PISSING IN OUR STREETS.
That was the plan.
Obama was another Demoncrat who claimed to be Christian yet went out of his way to support slaughtering babies. LIAR!
Surged? To put it mildly. Christian and Jewish hostility skyrocketed to near-Nazi levels.
“Christian and Jewish hostility skyrocketed to near-Nazi levels.”
I assume you mean: Anti-Christian and anti-Jewish hostility skyrocketed to near-Nazi levels.
What hostility didn’t surge under jOkeass?
0bama loves Islam
Yes. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. Hostility *against* Christians and Jews.
All hostility surged under Obolo.
They probably got him for Disorderly Conduct. That’s so broad it can’t he used when nothing else works.
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