Religious Freedom
My faith in Jesus Christ is the reason I stand for religious freedom. While I believe Jesus Christ is the only true way that we have access to God and can received eternal life, it is only through faith that we can receive Christ. A society that tries to force a person to be an unwilling Christian is a bigger hindrance to faith in Jesus Christ than a society that tries to prevent a person from willingly becoming a Christian.
History supports that we should not use government tax dollars to support any religious affiliations. More often it is more important that your tax dollars do not go to your own religion than that they do not go to someone else's religion. Wherever tax dollars go, government control goes with it. For Christianity it is essential that God through His Word revealed in the Bible and through His Spirit controls our churches and human institutions can not and will not have such control.
Prayer in Public Schools
A big challenge today for how we will apply religious freedom is prayer in public schools. As a boy growing up, my family and church basically opposed the form of prayer that we had in school, not that it offended us, but that the students read the prayers out of a book rather than praying with their own words. I read a prayer one time during school. During junior high after reading the prayer, I finished it by adding, "in Jesus' name. Amen." With the microphone still turned on, the principal immediately responded, "You weren't supposed to say that. You weren't supposed to say, 'in Jesus name.' You were only supposed to say what was written." I answered, "I always pray in Jesus' name." Needless to say, I was never asked to pray again.
It is good to have prayer in public schools, but not the kind of prayers that are already written down and carefully worded to fit in with almost any religion. To allow religious freedom, we must permit the student to pray according to that student's faith. With the freedom to express our faith also comes the obligation to allow open expression of belief without discrimination whether from those of other religions or from those with the lack of religion. Because of the diversity of the students in public schools, maybe silent prayer rather than public prayer is the most appropriate. Public prayer should be with those who share a common faith. It should not be a tool for propagating ones beliefs.
Public School Activities Related to Religion
It is difficult to have any religious related activities in public schools and insure that the government is not supporting religion. Many public schools have taken the easy way out to exclude anything that hints of religion in public schools. However, the statement of a black preacher best describes the success of this solution. He said, "We try to go to the schools to help the kids before they get into trouble, and you tell us we can't. They get into trouble. You put them in jail. Then, you tell us we can come in and help them."
How to receive a new life in Christ.
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