How The First Amendment Has Been Turned On Its Head: Christians Blocked From Prayer?

by John Hawkins | May 10, 2010 9:02 am

Many of the pilgrims who fled to America in the first place did so because of religious persecution. With that in mind, the Founding Fathers protected our religious liberties with the First Amendment. It reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yet, because of liberals who are hostile to Christianity, we’ve turned the plain meaning of the Constitution on its head. Instead of protecting religious liberties, the First Amendment has been used to oppress the freedom of religion. Here’s a great example of how that works from Georgia[1]:

Preston Blackwelder proudly showed off a painting of his grandmother that had hung next to the front door of his Port Wentworth home.

She was the woman who led him to God, Blackwelder said Friday.

And with that firm religious footing, Blackwelder said it would be preposterous to stop praying before meals at Port Wentworth’s Ed Young Senior Citizens Center near Savannah because of a federal guideline.

“She would say pray anyway,” Blackwelder said of his grandmother. “She’d say don’t listen.”

But Senior Citizens Inc. officials said Friday the meals they are contracted by the city to provide to Ed Young visitors are mostly covered with federal money, which ushers in the burden of separating church and state.

On Thursday, the usual open prayer before meals at the center was traded in for a moment of silence.

The dilemma is being hashed out by the Port Wentworth city attorney, said Mayor Glenn “Pig” Jones.

Tim Rutherford, Senior Citizens Inc. vice president, said some of his staff recently visited the center and noticed people praying shortly before lunch was served. Rutherford said his company provides meals like baked chicken, steak tips and rice and salads at a cost of about $6 a plate. Seniors taking the meals pay 55 cents and federal money foots the rest of the bill, Rutherford said.

“We can’t scoff at their rules,” he said of federal authorities. “It’s a part of the operational guidelines.”

In other words, the interpretation here is that if some old folks say a prayer before a meal mostly paid for by the:  federal:  government, then it amounts to Congress making a law that establishes a religion. This is nonsensical. Moreover, it completely ignores the fact that prohibiting these people from saying a prayer is clearly “prohibiting the free exercise” of their religious beliefs.

By turning a blind eye to these ludicrous assaults on our beliefs, Christians are helping to destroy our faith. If we’re so lukewarm about what we believe that we shrug our shoulders at outrages of this sort, then unbelievers are right to question whether we believe what we say.

Update #1: Game over. Good guys win[2].

Their prayers have been answered. The Georgia senior center that barred elderly citizens from saying a communal prayer before meals has changed its policy after inquiries from FoxNews.com and other news organizations.

Endnotes:
  1. a great example of how that works from Georgia: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23495797/detail.html
  2. Good guys win: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/10/prayers-answered/

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