Attacking Religious Freedoms – Real and Imagined

First published in The Daily Sentinel, Friday September 12, 2008


Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. People paused for moments of silence to somberly remember those who lost their lives on that day. There is no doubt that what happened on September 11, 2001 was an attack on the United States and its commitment to freedom, liberty, and democratic process.

In particular, religious freedom was under attack. The men who hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as crashing into the Pennsylvania countryside, were religious extremists – determined to force their religious views onto the United States through fear and intimidation.

Other times, though, we defend ourselves against religious attacks and enemies that aren’t necessarily real. I received word of such an attack this week: an email that claimed our federal government – through the U.S. Mint – was attacking a core symbol or our religious heritage.

The email said, “The U.S. government to release new dollar coins. You guessed it ‘In God We Trust’ is gone!!! If ever there was a reason to boycott something, this is it!!! Do not accept the new dollar coins as change. Together we can force them out of circulation. Please send this to everyone on your mail list!!!”

I was skeptical. Anything that comes via email (especially with lots of forwarding) with that many exclamation points deserved some quick fact checking. One of the best resources for dealing with internet rumors is www.snopes.com. I went to that website and did a search on “dollar coin” and found out the following:

“In 2007, the U.S. Mint began a series similar to the 50 State Quarters program launched in 1999. The new series, the Presidential Dollar Coin program features dollar coins identical in size, color and composition to the earlier Sacagawea dollar, each one bearing the likeness of a former president on the front, and a representation of the Statue of Liberty on the back. The email erroneously asserts that the new dollar coins do not include the phrase ‘In God We Trust.’

“Actually, the coins incorporate a few new design features not found on other current U.S. coins. The year of minting, the mint mark, the motto from the Great Seal of the United States (‘E Pluribus Unum’) and the national motto of the United States (‘In God We Trust’) are instead included as edge-incused inscriptions. That is, all of these elements appear on the edges of the new dollar coins rather than on their fronts or backs.”

So, clearly, the U.S. Mint is NOT trying to take away our religious freedoms. Christians who cherish “In God We Trust” are probably the guiltiest of spreading this email rumor without first checking the facts. We want this nation to remember – even if only symbolically – that we are a people who claim to trust God. So the call to boycott spreads with the speed of light – but at the expense of the real truth.

Jesus spoke about truth extensively in the Gospel of John. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So if the Son sets your free, you will be free indeed. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 8:31-32, 36; 14:6)

Therefore, as Christians, we are obligated to seek the truth because all truth comes from the one who IS Truth. So before you hit that “forward” button on your email, stop and seek the truth. We don’t need to make up attacks against our faith, they are really out there.

The California Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that clearly attacks religious freedom. In the case, “Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group,” the majority ruled that sexual liberty trumps religious liberty. So although both the US Constitution and the California State Constitution guarantee the right to religious freedom, the Court ruled that a doctor can be compelled to provide a medical procedure – one completely elective and non-life-preserving – even if doing so becomes a violation of the doctor’s religious beliefs.

A little more than five years ago, Guadalupe Benitez (shown below with her partner and three children) sought to be artificially inseminated so that she and her lesbian partner could have a child. The doctor to whom Benitez initially approached for the procedure had moral qualms about impregnating a woman without a husband. Syndicated columnist Maggie Gallager wrote, “When a man at a bar has such qualms, he’s a ‘mensch’ [a decent, responsible person with admirable characteristics]. When a doctor at a fertility clinic has the same moral qualms, the California Supreme Court says she is now an outlaw, an evil discriminator.”

So in a state and nation that promises to protect religious freedoms – California has now truly restricted religious freedom. And the freedom is restricted even in the midst of such an abundance of medical choices that persons like Benitez could easily find another doctor without these religious beliefs -which is exactly what she did. But unsatisfied with getting the service she wanted, Benitez wanted to punish the doctor for attempting to exercise religious beliefs because they “violated her sexual identity.” Now all doctors who believe in the sanctity of one-man, one-woman for life as God’s original design for what constitutes the best family can no longer apply that religious belief in their actions.

James 2:17 says, “Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.” When government denies anyone the opportunity to act according to their faith, it’s guilty of trying to kill that faith. So which attack is more diabolical, the supposed disappearance of ‘In God We Trust’ on a coin, or the very real disappearance of freedom to act according to one’s faith? Which freedom is worth protecting – even worth dying for?