Q. Do you want freedom to worship or religious freedom?

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, October 20, 2017 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Today, I have a question: Do you want freedom to worship or freedom of religion?  If you said “freedom to worship,” you might be surprised that politically correct advocates would agree with you, because worship suggests a place where people gather in reverence to a chosen deity.

Since I brought up “politically correct,” I’ll quote Webster’s New World College Dictionary definition of it: “Politically correct means conforming or adhering to what is regarded as orthodox liberal opinion on matters of sexuality, race, etc.”  So, political correctness is used to eliminate conservative thought and action.

However, the term “politically correct” cannot be fully understood unless we realize that political, actually, refers to government, the state, or politics, which leads us to this conclusion: The pressure to be politically correct in all dealings with God, family and country, actually, is pushing everyone to confine religious expression to the inside of churches.  But when we’re not in church, we are expected to walk and talk in lockstep with liberal/radical attitudes about God and everything else.While no one wants to lose the freedom to worship, religious freedom, which includes freedom to worship, is a much broader concept that must be cherished and protected.  The God-given right to religious freedom, as confirmed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, protects the free exercise of religion, as well as the establishment of religion. “Free exercise” implies words and actions and does not limit where, when, or how religious words and actions may be expressed.

In the U.S. Constitution, only a comma separates clauses for the free exercise of religion and the freedom of speech.  Therefore, both freedoms are targeted for extinction by the politically correct crowd.  If you doubt that, ask a Christian student whose valedictory speech was censored at a public school graduation.

Consider this: If ever the exercise of religion is squeezed, successfully, into the confines of a place of worship, the mention of the God of the Bible will become politically incorrect … uh-oh, we’re almost there, already!

Now, remember these facts:  (a) Politically correct means government-approved, and (b) when that prevails in this country, we will have lost our freedom of speech, which is happening, already.  (c) When freedom to worship replaces religious freedom, we will have lost our religious freedom.  (d) If you’re uneasy about bowing your head to bless your food in public, you’re feeling the pinch of politically correct pressure, already.  For Georgia Insight, I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.