By James Wilson
The Supreme Court has decked Barack Obama in
recent days. They decided by a 5-4
majority that requiring Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Products to provide abortion
services – clearly violating their faith – defies the 1993 Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA) and the First Amendment.
They likewise declared states and localities may not bar free speech
from public walkways in front of abortion clinics – or anywhere. Leftist talk show hosts mock the decision
they say permits citizens to nullify federal law. Truth is the decision forbids government to
nullify State and Federal Constitutions.
Others claim an American launching a business must play by the rules and
not by his conscience. Truth is the
First Amendment prohibits rules that trump religious conscience. These decisions are a big home run for
freedom of faith, albeit decided in a very narrow context; the Hobby Lobby
decision applies to “closely held” or – in English – family owned corporations.
This
is not a bad thing. Courts traditionally
limit their decisions to matters and interests actually brought before
them. Future decisions in subsequent
cases should follow the line of thinking in the Citizens United case – decided
in 2010 – so eventually no company will be forced to violate the faith of
founders and owners to satisfy a law attacking the Bill of Rights.
The
Court uanimously rolled back the Obama appointments to the Federal Labor
Relations Board absent senate approval, another score for freedom. The separation of powers doctrine forbids one
branch of government to ride roughshod over another; that riding is how
dictatorships, monarchies, and caliphates are established. But the president, in a dizzying display of arrogance,
simply announces his next bypass of Congress and dares the rest of us to stop
him. His war against the nation that
gave him all he has continues.
The
man who would be king announces if Congress will not enact the immigration
reform he wants it he will continue to bypass them. In other words, although the Supreme Court
has told him he is not the supreme law of the land, he declares he will
continue to act as though he is. He
refers to a range of actions/inactions from declaring amnesty for illegals here
long enough to suit him to assassination of American citizens abroad declining to
rescue American citizens being abused in foreign lands. (Marines Armando Torres and Andrew Tahmoressi
are held prisoner in Mexico and one of the murdered Israeli teens was an
American citizen.) He dared Congress to
sue him while speaking in the Rose Garden.
The
subtext of this presidential bullying is the notion that if no one else will do
the right thing he will. His attitude
pre-supposes he is right and he alone is authorized to decide the
right. He depends on the reality that
challenges to his arrogance take years to percolate through the courts. In a nation of laws none of this will wash;
in a culture of entitlement that worships at the altar of feel-good it
does. Both left and right have
periodically worshipped at that altar; today it is all from the left. What do we do?
Dinesh
D’Souza says in his new film, America, we do not have a Washington, Lincoln, or
Reagan at this time; but we do have us.
I would add to that, “We Americans have always had us and we have always
had the Lord Jesus Christ, His Abba, and His Spirit – when we acknowledge
them. They made Washington, Lincoln and
Reagan the heroes they became; they will make us the men and women we are
called to become.”
Jesus
Christ Himself says if His people acknowledge Him He will acknowledge – uphold
– them. This implies a continuing
commitment to play by the legitimate rules – to not become the travesty we
oppose. If this looks like an exercise
in futility, I remember an exercise in personal futility some time ago. I was called by God to protest the
consecration of an apostate bishop. I
knew I would be alone and ridiculed. The
rules gave me right and responsibility to read a statement; the rule keepers
denied me that right. I left the
building wondering why God insisted I make such a wasted gesture. I wondered until my statement – unspoken
during the service – went virile and rounded the globe on the internet. People still approach me respectfully,
saying, “So you’re the guy who…”
We
are called by our God to stay in this game for the long haul. It is a marathon and not a sprint. And our God says He will never leave us. Do we believe Him? Is there anyone or anything else worth believing?
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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