Constitutional rights

Do you follow any groups on social media? I follow a group of pastors from various states who are within my denomination. One pastor wrote that he was concerned about the youth workers hanging up posters, at church, of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He asked for our opinions and expressed that he has mixed emotions.

I can understand such a response from a secular person for whom the phrase, "separation of church and state" is equal to a quote from the New Testament, but it is surprising for a pastor. Why would historical documents bother a member of the clergy? Are Christians not allowed to participate in democracy? How is this information inappropriate?

It is difficult for anyone to communicate without revealing their ideological positions. You do not have to read an entire newspaper or magazine before you can pick up on the political biases of the authors or editors. However, when did the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights become off limits for anyone? How could this information be construed as partisan?

Parents have been vocal about what is being taught in classrooms. Some have even gotten more involved in politics out of concern. Perhaps the lay leaders at this church were teaching youth about the Bill of Rights and Constitution to counter perceived attacks on morality, democracy or capitalism? A young pastor may find such teaching to be disturbing if he has been conditioned to associate patriotism or Christian Nationalism with racism.

In many of our academic institutions, students are not being taught to honor authority or respect people who hold differing opinions. They learn to redefine terms such as "fascism" and label anyone with whom they disagree. Instead of a free exchange of ideas, they demand conformity of thought.

The Word of God and the gospel of Jesus are the most important topics we can discuss during a Christian worship service. However, there is nothing wrong with celebrating patriotic holidays. As Christians, we must remember we have dual citizenship -- in our home country and in God's kingdom. The Apostle Paul exerted his rights as a Roman citizen in Acts chapter 22.

There was a recent article calling for "Pandemic Amnesty." Basically, some people are suggesting that we forget about how our civil liberties, such as the free exercise of religion, were violated by overzealous authorities. Hopefully, informed voters will replace these politicians with people who will honor the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.

We are about to vote in a midterm election. If we do not understand the First Amendment, we might think it is OK to cancel or ban people for having opinions we do not like. We have seen many cases where social media companies and corporations have punished anyone expressing opinions with which they disagree. With freedom comes responsibility, we do not want to use our freedom of speech to bully or intimidate other people. But it is our right to speak out when we disagree.

If we understand the Second Amendment, we realize that stripping innocent citizens of their right to bear arms does nothing to prevent criminals from committing crimes. Taking away the ability to defend our life and liberty only makes us more vulnerable to those who are more powerful. As we have seen, a hammer can be a deadly weapon. We need a spiritual revival in American to reduce violent crime.

There is much more we could discuss. Did you know the first 10 Amendments are known as the Bill of Rights? There are 27 constitutional Amendments. How many of them do you know?

A working knowledge of the Constitution and Bill of Rights helps us to understand that we do not need an insurrection to change our government. We need informed voters to register to vote, then vote their convictions. Pray that God will bless America.