Growing government intrusion into the affairs of the Church is posing a serious threat to church autonomy and our most basic religious freedoms. Pastors are being censored, the proclamation of God’s Truth is being blocked, and churches are being discriminated against and threatened with punishment.
This was not the intention of our Founding Fathers, who established our country on religious freedom and who enshrined this precious God-given right in the U.S. Constitution. And throughout our nation’s history, churches have been recognized as the moral leaders of our society and Christians have enjoyed the freedom to express their religious beliefs.
“The Church’s assignment is to be the moral and cultural conscience of the nation.”Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr.
Church of Hope in Beltsville, Maryland
But all of that is changing very quickly. At the urging of anti-Christian groups seeking to secularize America, courts and government are increasingly treating our churches more as nuisances than as pillars of the community. And some are treated not just as nuisances, but as criminals for exercising their Christian faith!
That’s exactly how Bishop Rick Painter of Christ the King Liturgical Charismatic Church was treated before Alliance Defending Freedom was given the opportunity to defend him. For years, he rang the bells of his church as an expression of praise to God – until the City of Phoenix wrongly determined the bells violated a local noise ordinance. As a result, a judge sentenced Bishop Painter to jail! After Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit, a federal court ruled the city’s noise ordinance could not be applied to churches. Eventually, the court reversed Bishop Painter’s criminal conviction.
By perpetuating the myth of the so-called “separation of church and state,” radical anti-Christian groups have been able to persuade public officials to silence religious expression. In a growing number of cases, government officials are seeking to revoke church tax exemptions…seize their land…stop their community outreach ministries…deny them equal access to public buildings…and restrain their pastors from preaching biblical Truth as it relates to “political” issues and candidates. In essence, by using fear, intimidation, and disinformation, the government is determining what your pastor and church can do and say.
Sent from my iPhone
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