Liberty and Justice for All!

by Eva Andrade, Hawaii Family Forum, July 3, 2015

Pandora's box has been opened...

No more than 48 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court redefined marriage for all 50 states, calls to revoke the tax-exempt status for churches began. 

In 1954 the Pledge of Allegiance was revised and the words "under God" were added. Today, when we recite the pledge we say these familiar words:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Our Founding Fathers rightly understood that every single one of us has the right to liberty and justice.  For those of us with faith as our foundation, we are guaranteed by the First Amendment that there by no governmental "establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." (Emphasis mine)

Apparently, not everyone agrees.

Mark Oppenheimer, in a recent Time Magazine piece stated "The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and non-profits." 

So why aren't we hearing about all the good work the faith-based community has done?  Government has always understood that churches provide a strong benefit to our community.  We feed the hungry, care for the sick, and give hope to the outcast and marginalized. And now, simply because many churches, and individuals, believe that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, they face losing their tax-deductible status (or their jobs).

That means we need to lock arms with churches and synagogues, charities and adoption agencies, counseling services and religiously affiliated schools across Hawai'i that adhere to a natural view of marriage.

We are only beginning to see the sweeping impact of the Supreme Court's decision mandating same-sex marriage on the nation. Many of you know that Hawaii Family Forum has been defending marriage between one man and one woman since 1998.  I assure you, we are not about to put the gauntlet down.  But we need your help to do it.

You can protect religious freedom with your online gift today.

When you give, you will help Hawaii Family Forum:

• advance the strongest-possible religious freedom bills and help educate the community on these issues.
• strengthen and equip our alliance with other pro-family, pro-life groups with coordinated strategy and communications. Our partnership with these groups is absolutely essential to our success as a movement in Hawai'i.
• organize and energize pro-family people in Hawai'i whose voices will be needed to pass religious freedom laws.

Please consider a gift today to defend your religious freedom.  

In the meantime, we appreciate all your prayers and support.  Happy Fourth of July!

---30---

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”— Harry Truman

“First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”—Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Ashcroft V. Free Speech Coalition (00-795) 198 F.3d 1083, affirmed.