by Patrick Rees
One of the very first reasons people left Europe to come to the ‘New World’ was to escape the religious persecution that had been so rampant there. People, of many different faith backgrounds, wanted to be free to live the way of life their particular religious culture asked them to live. Life in the colonies offered that opportunity.
When the US declared independence from England, protecting the freedom of religion was one of the paramount concerns. Mentioned first in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution is the freedom of religion. ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…’. Once again, this was of such importance that it is mentioned first in Amendment 1 of the Constitution.
We now are in an unprecedented wave of attack against this most basic freedom granted by the Constitution. Nowhere in the Constitution is the concept of separation of Church and State. This is a wise concept which is implied by the words from the first amendment quoted above. Nowhere does it say that the public space should be free from any reference to anything religious. The words say simply that there will be no declared state religion.
Stating this, we the people of the USA are free to practice our faith as we see fit. We have this right to practice our religion up to the point it does not infringe on the rights of others to practice their rights. That is the responsibility of freedom. The freedom of religion, and the fact there will be no state declared religion, does not mean that all practice of the freedom of religion should be away from the public space. That would be a limit, a restriction of the freedom of religion.
The current wave to force the freedom of religion from the public space is clearly against the Constitution. This is in fact religious persecution. We must never allow this to happen. Worse, by cowing to the forces that want no religion in the public space, are we not declaring a state religion? Is not no religion a religion? Isn’t a faith or lack thereof, a religion of itself. The belief that there is no religion and the pressure to cleanse the public space of all religion is a religious crusade in itself. Are we not allowing this absence of religion, this push for atheism, to be our de facto state religion?
This de facto declaration of atheism, of no religion, as our state religion is directly against the US Constitution. Where is the outrage in the media that atheism is being pushed on us? The voices of those who oppose the rise of State Atheism in the US have been silenced by being ignored.
If we continue the path down the road of degrading our Constitution under the guise of separation of church and state, and other ‘political correctness’ agendas, we will lose the very foundation of all our freedoms. We may wake up one day to find ourselves in a state much like the former Soviet Union. Woe to us all if we let that happen by our silence.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles
Do you believe Christ has a purpose for each and every one of us? I was told once in religion class, not only were each of us unique we each had a special purpose in life. Well I took that to heart. When I would get mad at my mother I would say something to the effect, ‘God has a purpose for everyone and I have not found mine yet.’ I don’t know why I said that when I was mad (or frustrated). I think now what I could have meant was my special purpose is not this.
Do you believe there is anything of substance in your dreams? When I was very young, still living north of the Mason-Dixon Line (Illinois), I had dreams of voices arguing and I did not understand what was being said or who was arguing. The one thing I would remember is the words ‘He is not ready.’. I have no idea why I dreamed this and why I remembered those words. Do you dream in pictures? Once in a dream all I saw was a very large building. It had large doors and many windows. Only after many years later did I see that very building in a book. It was the front face of the Vatican. In another dream I have no idea why but I was looking for something, in a haystack. I reached into the haystack and pulled out two long, very slender gold keys. It seemed a strange thing to dream and why I remembered those keys I don’t know.
Later, when my class was preparing for Conformation we each were told to choose a symbol to be cut out of felt so we could glue it to our Conformation stoles. I had no idea what symbol I wanted to choose for myself. While I was searching through magazines to cut out something I found a picture of two crossed keys. I think remembering my dream this picture appealed to me. I had heard the bit about the ‘keys to the kingdom’ but had not learned the connection of keys to Peter yet. I had dreamed of keys. I had chosen keys for my Conformation symbol. It was then I learned the two heavy crossed keys were a symbol of Peter’s office as commissioned by Christ. The keys to the kingdom were entrusted to Peter and his successors, the Popes. I was confirmed with the symbol of the crossed keys on my chest. I thought nothing about again.
I looked back at old pictures and noticed in my First Communion photograph the crucifix at the altar was directly behind my head. Were all of these things coincidence? I have always thought so but also thought they were neat things. I was never destined to serve the church directly. I would never make it as a religious of any kind. I believe people suspected I would be a priest when I was younger but not me. The truth is I liked women too much. I would never make it as a priest.
So I put all of that behind me. I was raised to be an engineer. I was born into a family business which built things. My mother’s family had been plantation farmers for generations. I was not a farmer, no way. First time around I did not make it in engineering school. After the Navy, there was no way I would not get through engineering school. I gutted my way through four years of electrical engineering and I made it. I graduated. Later I took and passed the Professional Engineering exam. I am a licensed Electrical Engineer today. Does all of this mean I have found my unique purpose in life? No, this is not what I am. The engineer bit is a way to make a living.
All of that to say what is my purpose? I still don’t know. It has been a journey of a thousand miles. Ever hear it is not the destination but the journey? They also might go on to say you might as well stop to smell the roses. Well I am enjoying the journey now days. Do I care if I know what that elusive purpose is anymore? Sure, but I don’t worry about it anymore. I figure as long as I am living right and doing as the good Lord asks me, I should not mind anymore. So go ahead and smell those roses……