It's Not About Right to Religion, It's About the Right to Connect with God

National Public Radio recently ran a story about the conflict between the law of the land, The Affordable Care Act, and the religious beliefs and practices of the Catholic church, which doesn't believe in the use of birth control. The premise of the story is what happens, and what should happen, when one's religious views run contrary to the law of the land. While I am glad that NPR has chosen to highlight the consequences American Christians are facing for holding to their faith, the piece misses fundamental truths about God, man, and freedom.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress (and by extension, the state governments) from making a law respecting the establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof. This was the first right listed in the Bill of Rights, and for good reason. Those who colonized America often did so to escape religious persecution in Europe. Further, the founding fathers remembered the days under British rule, when personal liberties had become rare.

So, in the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers affirmed their belief in a Creator, and that the Creator had endowed all men with the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. At the core of these rights is the freedom to determine who you are, what you believe, and your sense of right and wrong. These freedoms were affirmed and protected, because the founding fathers knew that government could not connect people to their Creator, nor could it coerce the worship of Him. Each man must connect to God on his own.

Their intent, was for you to be able to freely seek out God, and discover His plan for your life. You were then free to pursue that plan as long as you wanted.

Fast forward nearly two and a half centuries, and we have a law passed that requires Catholic ministries to provide coverage for something their doctrine opposes... contraceptives. Meanwhile, we have courts in Colorado and New Mexico forcing business owners to partake in same-sex weddings, which are a violation of their faiths. In its decision against a wedding photographer who refused to photograph a same-sex wedding, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that part of being an American involves doing things that violate your own conscience.

I wonder if those justices have read the founding documents of our country. I wonder if they realize that the Constitution was written in such a way as to protect our right to follow our conscience. You see, many who support the New Mexico Supreme Court's decision to force a wedding photographer to participate in a same-sex wedding, which violates her Christian faith, don't see what the big deal is. After all, the court didn't hinder her going to church or participating in her religion. It merely required her to do something she disagreed with, in the interest of stamping out discrimination. However, in doing so, the requirement was set forth by the government that would force this photographer to do something that would shatter her relationship with God. It's a very serious matter.

You see, faith begins when you repent from your sin and trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. That is a change made inside your heart, and no government entity can take it away from you. That faith is then manifest in how you live... which involves participating in God's religion, the Christian church. Any attempt to regulate your involvement in the church, or any attempt to compel you to sin, is a violation of the founding father's affirmation that you have the right to freely connect with God. And that's what the secularist doesn't understand.

Religion is not a social club or a civic organization. It is an expression of  the innermost part of your being. That right, to be who you are, is given by God, and affirmed by the Constitution. So, if you choose to live a secular lifestyle, apart from God, or His influence, you are free to do so. If you choose to follow a lifestyle of homosexuality, you are free to do so. However, you are not free to require that others participate in that lifestyle with you, nor can you require that others accept that lifestyle. To do that, you'd have to regulate the human heart, and that is something that no government can do.

That being said, you will reap the consequences (good or bad) of the decisions you make in this life when you die and face the Lord in judgment. Choose wisely.