Dear Marriage Supporter,
As many of us gather in houses of worship across the nation this weekend, I hope you'll join me in taking a moment to remember our nation in prayer.
Here is a suggested Christian prayer from Fortnight4Freedom.org:
Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty
O God our Creator,
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has prepared and collected numerous resources for individuals and churches across the nation at www.Fortnight4Freedom.org. And it's not just for Catholic churches! If your church is not already a part of this groundbreaking new initiative, I urge you to share Baltimore Archbishop William Lori's letter of invitation with your pastor this weekend. (Click here to download.)
As Archbishop Lori suggests, I hope you will set aside some time during these two weeks to pray for religious liberty both here and abroad, and will take advantage of this moment to explain the importance of religious freedom to your own children and grandchildren.
And then join with churches from every faith tradition on July 4th as we celebrate our heritage with the ringing of bells from coast to coast!
This message has been authorized and paid for by the National Organization for Marriage, 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006, Brian Brown, President. This message has not been authorized or approved by any candidate.
12 Comments
Thank you.
“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” - President John Adams
“Morality is having the character to do what you should do rather than doing what you have the freedom to do. And that's the only way freedom works. A people cannot be given freedom without morality or they will self destruct.” - *****
“Freedom and free enterprise are fruits on the tree of morality.” - *****
Wow America was built to let anyone have the freedom to worship who they want, but to say America is founded on Christian ideals is way off most of the founding fathers were free mastions and they believed highly in seperating church and government. Most of the early settlements were anarchist in nature and had no real established government so I wish this idiotic parade for religious rights would end the only reason why you have then is because the founding fathers new it was wrong to force them out all together making is so citizens were not free choose what they wanted to belive and man it backfired.
@Ian
America was founded on Christian values.
"seperating church and government"
What they didn't want was something like the Church of England, no official religion. The Founders emphasized heavily on the importance of God and that our rights are granted by Him and Him alone.
Because without God, on what basis do you affirm what is morally reprehensible and morally acceptable?
@Zack It takes NO religion of any kind to understand the HUMAN concept of treat others as you would hope to be treated. The 1st Amendment does not include the words God or Christianity so that "faith" does not have superiority over any other "faith".
"It takes NO religion of any kind to understand the HUMAN concept of treat others as you would hope to be treated."
The humane concept of treating others as you would like to be treated is straight from the New Testament and promoted and spread by Christians, not by athiests.
Matthew 7:12 (New King James Version)
Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
"The 1st Amendment does not include the words God or Christianity so that "faith" does not have superiority over any other "faith"."
The Declaration of Independence mentions God. It is clear that religion was a far more important concept to the founding fathers than you would like to believe.
". It is clear that religion was a far more important concept to the founding fathers than you would like to believe."
What is clear is that these truths we hold to be self evident are inconvenient truths for the marriage corruption movement.
@Zack, @Son of Adam
Does God command us to treat others the way we wish to be treated because it is a good thing to command, or is it only a good thing because God commanded it?
If God commanded it because it is good, then it would still be good had God not commanded it. In this case we would have morality without the need for God's commandments.
If treating others how one would wish to be treated is only good because God commanded it, then it is not objectively a good thing. This would mean that what is moral, what is good, is arbitrary, based on the whim of an intelligent being (God). This would also mean that anything could be good or bad, so long as God said so. If God said "murdering babies with cerebral palsy is righteous", then it would be righteous. Of course, you will argue that God would never command such a thing -- but why? Because God is good? What does good mean if good is defined by what is commanded by God? You see, "good" becomes arbitrary if it cannot be defined without using God.
This line of thought is known as the Euthyphro Dilemma.
"The humane concept of treating others as you would like to be treated is straight from the New Testament and promoted and spread by Christians, not by athiests."
Statements like that reveal the major flaw in Christianists' understanding of the source of biblical concepts. It also shows their lack of faith in human nature. The idea of treating others as you wish to be treated is fundamental to human nature. It's a product of evolution - without it, the human race wouldn't have survived. The Bible acknowledges this concept. It didn't invent it!
"Wherefore this land (the Americas) is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound, cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteousit shall be blessed forever." (2 Ne.: 1:7, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, p. 54)
@ Greg
It requires preposterous leaps of logic, and an obstinate willingness to ignore and deny and deny your Creator.
If the Darwinian theory is the best you atheists can come up with as something to "grasp onto," then it's no wonder you're so readily misled in your faithlessness. One wonders if some of it is not truly disbelief, but actual diabolical influence.
Shine on religious liberty. Thank you Catholic Bishops. Bold step for freedom.