Freedom

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 24 February 2025

If First Amendment freedoms are eroding in the U.S., is it an understatement to ask, should we be calling for all hands-on deck to protect these precious freedoms?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #193 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Since COVID – not so much the pandemic, but American governmental and official reactions to it – I’ve written a few times that I’ve begun to see things that I never thought I’d see in my own country. You see, for me the U.S.A. was, and still is, despite its sometimes-checkered history, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the nation where one was innocent until proven guilty in a system of justice for all, the country that believed in liberty, freedom of religion, speech, and opportunity.

But what I began to see was over-reaching government officials assuming unconstitutional powers, public willingness to submit to restrictions in their freedoms out of fear of a disease, and maybe worst of all, a growing support for curtailing or suppressing or silencing freedom of speech, one of the core, fundamental, most essential freedoms that, along with freedom of religion, made America what it was in the first place.

In his book, Last Call for Liberty: How America’s Genius for Freedom has Become Its Greatest Threat, Christian social critic Dr. Os Guinness noted how these trends worked themselves out in public discourse: “Political debate,” he said, “has degenerated into degrading and barbaric incivility, and wild talk of spying, leaking, impeachment, governability…even assassination and secession are in the air.” Now also along with insults and incitements, seething rage, mortal struggle for soul of the republic, chaos and conflict.

Guinness’s book was about last chances, about a threat to our freedoms and future.

Guinness noted that “Freedom of religion and conscience affirms the dignity, worth, and agency of every human person by freeing us to align ‘who we understand ourselves to be’ with ‘what we believe ultimately is’ and then to think, live, speak, and act in line with those convictions.” This Freedom is absolute to the point of belief but qualified at the point of behavior because behavior touches others. “Someone is free to believe in paganism, for example, but not to sacrifice an animal or another human being.”

“What is at stake with freedom of religion and conscience is nothing less than human dignity, human self-determination, and human responsibility.”

In this short but profound book, Os Guinnes is wrestling with the state of American culture, literally wondering aloud if the United States of America can last much longer or whether it will implode and cave in on itself. This seems like extremist perspective, but Os Guinness is no fly-by-night nutty observer. He is British in heritage, is now in his 80s, lives near Washington, DC, and has authored and edited more than 30 books, all of them noteworthy.

Eroding freedom of speech is what I mean about seeing things in my own country I never thought I’d see: teachers and professors losing their positions for refusing to follow the gender confusion ideology hoisted upon them by public education, conservative voices who raised questions about vaccines or other medical procedures regarding the pandemic being ousted from social media platforms or banned on YouTube, a U.S. president’s Twitter account being shut down because the then-owners of the platform did not agree with his political views.

Pastors have been harassed, at times arrested, in formerly free countries like Canada, the U.K., Germany, and other European nations, for speaking out against government policies. Similar incidents have already begun to happen in the U.S.

U.K. police have rousted people in their homes for posting what was considered “hateful” content on social media. “Numerous arrests have been made of people who did nothing but post their feelings or opinions on social media.”

“Western civilization appears to be on the cusp of a new Dark Age — for any government that arrests and locks up its own citizens for saying, writing, or thinking the ‘wrong’ opinions or beliefs can no longer say it stands for freedom or human rights.” Free speech is now on the defensive throughout Europe and perhaps now in North America.

February 14, 2025, United States Vice President JD Vance gave a speech at the 61st Munich Security Conference. In his speech, Vance criticized the European Union leaders for what he described as backsliding on freedom of speech and democracy. “Vance accused European leaders of using "ugly, Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation" in order to hide "old, entrenched interests" against alternative viewpoints that "might express a different opinion, or, God forbid, vote a different way—or even worse, win an election."

“The Vice President also heavily denounced the UK government for its "renegade" free speech laws, citing the example of Adam Smith Connor, who was jailed for breaching a "safe access zone" around an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. He also denounced Sweden's conviction of a Christian activist for burning a Quran as prosecution of religious expression, police crackdowns on anti-feminist comments in Germany, and warning letters sent by the Scottish government to people in Scotland whose homes were in safe access zones that allegedly outlawed private prayer…He argued that European leaders should embrace rather than fear public opinion, even when it challenges established positions.”

Of all the things that have concerned me in the past five or more years, among those things I never thought I’d see in my own country, the steady erosion of support for freedom of speech ranks right at the top.

Frankly, I have found it hard to relate to people who declare their dislike or disagreement with some position or point of view, followed quickly by their declarations so-called “unacceptable” speech should be silenced via loss of social media accounts, loss of jobs, or worse, some statement the other person espousing the unacceptable view should be arrested or go to jail. These people evidence no understanding of the value and precious civil liberty we call freedom of speech.

Recently, during a CBS "Face The Nation” interview host Margaret Brennan contended that Vice President JD Vance's support for free speech in his Munich presentation was reminiscent of Germany’s Nazi approach to the Holocaust. She said, Mr. Vance “was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio immediately pushed back, saying, “No. I have to disagree with you. Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany, they were the sole and only party that governed that country."

"The point of (the Vice President’s) speech was basically that there is an erosion in free speech and intolerance or opposing points of view within Europe…That's not an erosion of your military capabilities, that's not an erosion of your economic standing, that's an erosion of the actual values that bind us together in this transatlantic union that everybody talks about."

We now know that Big Social Media’s earlier denial during the last presidential campaign and during the Biden Administration that it was in any way squelching conservative views is indeed false. And we now know government colluded with Big Social Media during the pandemic to silence anti-vax views. We know this because the leaders of Big Social Media, like Meta Facebooks’s Mark Zuckerberg, admitted as much and declared they want to right their ship on this matter.

The United States Constitution, the First Amendment states:

“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.”

The future of freedom is ours to protect.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 04 November 2024

Ever wonder why we have nation states in the world, and are they legitimate?

Why do nations even bother to maintain borders?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #177 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

In terms of the history of the world, what we know as nation-states have not really been around that long.

The U.S.A. was born in 1776, not 250 years old just yet, peanuts compared to the Ancient Egyptian empire’s more than 2,500 years.

But perhaps this is not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Empires justified their rule through conquest and dynasty, while nation-states claim legitimacy largely from the shared identity of their people.
Empires ruled over multiple ethnic and cultural groups, whereas nation-states tend to represent one primary national identity.
Empires focus on expansive control and diverse populations, whereas nation-states focus on political unity and shared cultural identity within defined borders.

“Some scholars consider the establishment of the English Commonwealth in 1649 as the earliest instance of nation-state creation. Since the late 18th century, the nation-state has gradually become the dominant vehicle of rule over geographic territories.” This is where the U.S.A. is Exhibit A.

The English recognized popular sovereignty, the right of people to own their own territory and wherein the government is subject to the consent of the governed; national sovereignty, the right of people to govern themselves; and state sovereignty, right of states to govern their territories without external interference.

The impetus to create nation states involved several demographic and political components:

Family, clan, tribe
Common language
Dominant religion or religious worldview
Prevailing customs, mores, and other cultural expressions
Shared traditions and history
Need for protection in the face of nearby enemies
Ethnic or racial or cultural similarity
Borders
Geography: natural geographic boundaries, like oceans or mountain ranges, or environmental quality of life inducements, like fresh water, tillable soil, ample growing seasons

Before the recognition of self-determinism, or consent of the governed, that emerged after the Middle Ages, governments existed as monarchies, theocratic states, and both colonial and ancient empires.

Scripture repeatedly references nations. The English word is translated from Hebrew or Greek, meaning people groups who might speak the same language, follow the same religion, or live in the same area, a somewhat broader definition than we typically think today.

For example, along with Israel, the Bible mentions Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites as nations.

“Most manuscripts count 70 nations in Gen. 10. The Greek translation lists 72 nations.”

22:18: God promises to bless all nations through Abraham's seed.
2 Chron. 20:6: States that the Lord rules over all the kingdoms of the nations.
22:27-28:States that all the nations will bow down before the Lord.
82:8:Says all the nations are the Lord's inheritance.
40:17:Says the Lord is over all nations and over all people.
28:19:God said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Acts 17:26:Tells us God “marked out our appointed times in history and the boundaries of our lands.”
13:1-7:Declares how God created governments, generally referencing a given territory or nation, for maintaining law and order, promoting the good.
3:16:Identifies Jesus Christ as the one through whom the nations are blessed.

While Scripture says God will work through nations to accomplish his purposes and to bless humanity, he is not limited to nations or governments and is subject to none. That said, the Lord never condemns the idea of nation states, and is not opposed to them as such.

Nationhood involves citizenship, a type of community and sense of belonging. This does not mean, especially in the contemporary context, that everyone is the same ethnicity or race or original nationality, but for a nation to remain strong, the people must be united around common ideals, what historically in the United States we’ve called the American Dream or Americana or even e Pluribus Unum.

For the U.S.A., this means freedom of religion, freedom of speech, equality before the law, freedom of opportunity. It is these common ideals and aspirations which are most under attack these days by members of the political left, some who promote globalism, some who simply live to hate and tear down.

Nations or the people groups that comprise them can, of course, act in highly threatening, negative, even violent ways, including government sponsored racism. Nazi Germany is probably the best of the worst examples. But the point here is that leaders and perhaps their people can make immoral choices that lead to their nation acting in violent racist ways. They are acting out their worldview. It is not the nation-state as such that is ipso facto racist; it’s their worldview.

For a nation-state to exist is must recognize and maintain territorial boundaries that are recognized by other nation-states. No borders, no nation-state. No nation-state, no common purpose or accomplishments, and likely no security.

So, the oft-stated idea being marketed today by so-called globalists, the idea that nations – especially it seems the U.S.A. – should be borderless, or if it does have borders, then the nation is somehow racist, is a false, ahistorical idea. No, the nation is simply acting in an historically demonstrable common-sense self-preservation in the interest of its self-determination.

This is one of the ironies of the illogic of the globalist left. They argue for identity politics, for every ethnic or whatever demographic group to be able to exercise their self-determination as to where and how they want to live, but when a nation-state does this, even their own country – for example the U.S.A. securing its southern border, not allowing waves of individuals to enter illegally – the globalists call this racist.

They are anti-capitalism, pro-climate alarmism, anti-borders, pro-abortion and population decline, anti-freedom of speech and pro-government control of communications.

The socialist, globalist, left, Marxist people like John Kerry, Bill Gates, Al Gore, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and the so-called “Squad” in the U.S. Congress, George Soros, the U.N/’s Kofi Anan, and others who’ve drunk the Kool-Aid like King Charles, Oprah Winfrey, and certainly so-called “progressives” are all-in on big, worldwide government, i.e., few or no nation-states.

Now you’d be forgiven if you thought, hey, this sounds like what the Bible calls the End Times, and it may be. Only God knows. Either way, these anti-nation-state trends run along the same track as anti-freedom.

There are numerous Christian intellectuals, scholars, and writers thinking aloud about these trends. Some, like columnist Cal Thomas are writing about what elections mean in this environment. Some, like brilliant Christian apologist Os Guinness are writing books about what these tectonic shifts in our culture mean.

His latest book, Our Civilizational Moment: The Waning of the West and the War of the Worlds, focuses directly on the questions: “Is the civilization in living touch with the ideas, ideals, and inspiration that created it in the first place and that it needs to continue to flourish? Or, with its roots severed, is it destined to decline and die?” Guinness broadens his discussion beyond America to think about the West, but the U.S.A. is right in the middle of this.

The U.S.A. is not listed in the Bible. We do not know if this means the U.S.A. will not exist when the End Times come, whether it will play a role God chose not to reveal, or whether it will be weaker or in some different circumstance wherein it will not play a role.

But this is not for us to determine, or even to worry about. Our calling and task remain the same: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with (our) God” (Micah 6:8), to “not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9).

At some future glorious day, the Scripture describes “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9-10).

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers" style="color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;">my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 09 June 2024

Does it feel like to you, an American citizen, that you are losing freedoms? Is the US setting aside freedoms we will not be able to restore?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #153 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

It seems to me that America, if not the West including Europe, is losing its freedoms at an exponential rate.

The free-fall of freedom has been in the works for most of my lifetime back into the 1960s but moved to warp speed just five years ago with the advent of COVID-19. This virus, no matter what its source, though even the mainstream media now admits it began in a lab in Wuhan, China, created an opportunity for government officials to seize power with one inane mandate after another, all in the name of public safety.

Now we know, and again even many mainstream media sources acknowledge, that masks accomplished very little, that vaccines were of limited utility, and keeping children home from months of schooling is a set-back they will endure for their generation. Most of these government mandates were unilaterally handed down from on high by executive powers: governors, state health officials, school boards, mayors, and more with limited or no actual constitutional authority to do so. Edicts were issued and the American public acquiesced.

They went farther. People were pushed to stay in their homes, churches were ordered – “ordered” I said – to not open, and when finally they did open, people were expected to sit in every-other-pew or not sing hymns or function only via online streaming. You’d be forgiven if you asked, whatever happened to the First Amendment?

But all this was only a spike in the curve of government overreach and the consequent loss of personal freedoms that has been our lot in the new millennia.

During COVID, we thought we saw the threshold of the violation of basic rights, but the pandemic was only a springboard. During the summer of 2020, the horribly named “Summer of love” that actually was a summer of Black Lives Matter riots and lawlessness in the wake of George Floyd’s death while in custody, then his subsequent deification by the Left and mainstream media.

Prosecutors stopped prosecuting, police became the enemy and were in many communities “defunded” followed since by significant drops in recruitment, coupled with significant increases in early retirements by law enforcement officers who have seen the writing on the wall – public officials no longer back them up, no longer hold the criminal accountable even as they seem to believe victims have no rights at all.

“Non-prosecuting rogue prosecutors” – an oxymoronic mouthful that really does describe reality – are destroying the American legal system, minority communities, and peace and tranquility in cities across the country—and with it our freedoms. We the citizens have elected these leftist ideologues to do their jobs enforcing the law, but they have independently decided to do what they think is best, which is nothing in the face of crime and violence.

Gun control advocates argue for removing all guns from society, even as criminals continue to acquire guns and use them against law-abiding citizens. Journalistic attacks on so-called “Assault rifles” have become a red herring masquerading as intelligent discussion about crime. Meanwhile, “an assault rifle is not really a thing. It’s a look.” It’s just a symbol of a lot of heated talk surrounding guns that does not address the real issues in the streets that result in more killings, like those, every weekend in Chicago.

Educrats in public education at all levels now think they know what’s best for children and youth. Certainly, parents are not to be trusted. No, schools promote a host of morally degraded woke practices: drag queen story hours for children under 7 years of age, affirmation of all manner of gender ideology, including keeping any changes of pronouns, names, or other transitioning hidden from parents, sex education that is anything but age-appropriate taught in Kindergarten, race division and distrust supposedly to advance something called “antiracism,” teachers promoting leftist political activism that is anti-Israel and often antisemitic or blame America philosophies that destroys students’ confidence, much less patriotism, for their own homeland.

Social media has been coopted by government. No crisis is too small for government to exploit and to expand its power. Print and online media have descended into depravity, no longer focusing upon the best and highest of cultural achievements but the most debauched, not simply reporting these developments but propagandizing them, not only propagandizing them but championing them to teenagers and children. A one-time “focus on beauty and health morphed into a constant running celebration of sexual excess and abortion, with frequent criticism of men tossed in for good measure.”

Pride Month is ubiquitously visible during the month of June. It is pushed by government agencies, even the US Armed Forces, local police forces, public schools, hospitals, retail businesses, entertainers or politicians making virtue-signaling comments, and otherwise forced upon almost every American citizen. Yet Pride Month has no legal standing.

What we’ve seen, though, is people losing their jobs for expressing different views, law enforcement being further defunded for noncompliance, people being “canceled,” meaning shunned or suppressed because they chose not to fly a pride flag or put a pride sticker on equipment or helmet. To ostensibly promote the freedom and acceptance of an immoral minority of the population, the majority is losing its freedom to disagree.

All this is only a part of the tectonic philosophic shifts underway in American culture, moving rapidly from an understanding of and respect for the traditional Judeo-Christian moral consensus that made education, law and order, economic progress, and civil tranquility possible in the first place, the same morality that birthed Western Civilization, energized discovery and free enterprise, held Americans accountable to their wrongdoing in slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination, liberated science and gave education purpose, reinforced the famed Protestant Work Ethic, these traditional, time-tested values and verities have not only been rejected, but they are also being suppressed.

In the name of doing what’s right in our own eyes, truth is rendered relative and stripped of its power. In the name of equality, something called equity, has displaced blind justice in favor of weighted, identity politics wherein there is no justice, only chaos. In the name of diversity, we often get mediocrity.

In the name of antiracism, high schools and universities going retrograde on integration to hold separate Black and White commencements. In the name of freedom, freedoms are being taken away. Perhaps George Orwell was even more prescient than we thought.

The moment you think it can’t get worse, it does. It’s like there is no bottom to this madness.

To test this conclusion, one only needs to pay attention to what’s happening in Canada. What was once a free country is now a socialist, government dominated, left-leaning society. Or you can look at what’s happening in European cities – Berlin, Brussels, Paris, London, and more – every week. Vast numbers of illegal aliens marching in the streets, destroying property, chanting about sharia law or antisemitism, demanding free goods and services on top of the ample amount they’ve already been awarded, tearing down the country’s flag and raising Hamas flags, engaging in crimes against persons, including rapes, and screaming obscenities or harassing passers-by. This in cities once known for their refinement and culture.

Now do we despair? No, for like the Apostle Paul in Athens on Areopagus, we note the culture around us: “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. And (God) made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.” (Acts 17:23-28).

God placed us in year 2024. He knows the challenges of our culture, the loss of freedoms, the zeitgeist of our age.

It is our privilege to know and to share that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17). It is our privilege and responsibility to communicate “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32). It is our privilege to proclaim, “so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn 8:36).

There are three ways to turn this around:

Ask God to send a spiritual awakening like he did in the 19^th
Vote out of office every radical, anti-God, anti-liberty politician and fire every bureaucrat who embraces the same.
That “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm” (Gal. 5:1).

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://twitter.com/RexMRogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 31 May 2021

I am blessed with freedom.

1–Political freedom because I was born in this country. I did nothing to earn it. Thousands sacrificed their lives so I could experience this freedom.

2–Spiritual freedom because I was born again. I did nothing to earn it. One Savior sacrificed his life so I could come to know him and experience temporal and eternal freedom.

Freedom is a profound gift, for which I am more grateful each year on earth. In this fallen world, freedom is not free but paid in blood. This is not morbid philosophy. It is truth...that can set you free.

Celebrating this Memorial Day is perhaps more important than any in recent memory.

Reason is we’re coming off months of centripetal forces, trends that push away from the center and tear us apart. We don’t just disagree. We’re questioning our national identity, history, and fundamental values.

We lived these centripetal forces: lockdowns, government overreach, racial and civil unrest, unemployment, Big Tech elitism, uncertainty regarding election integrity, nasty politicians, politicization of sports, medicine, and about everything else. The division has been brutal.

So pausing to celebrate e Pluribus Unum, to be grateful for our timeless ideals, to express patriotic appreciation for the great gift of opportunity all Americans have been given is a balm our nation needs.

What Lincoln said at Gettysburg applies today:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 27 May 2021

Memorial Day is coming, a time for remembering those who sacrificed for freedom.

Patriotism is one of the world’s most powerful emotions. It comes from the Greek word patrios, “of one’s father,” meaning love of one’s home or fatherland.

I was blessed to be born an American, am red, white, and blue patriotic, and deeply appreciate the founding ideals that defined America, i.e., life, liberty, freedom of religion, speech, mobility, enterprise.

But my love for my country does not mean I believe Americans are better than people from other countries, that we’ve always done everything right, or that our leaders past and present were always right. Critique is part of freedom of conscience and thought.

For me, celebrating Memorial Day is a form of gratitude. Freedom is a most precious gift, one easily lost.

Sadly, in the past eighteen months or so in our country, people have critiqued, or rather I should say attacked, not just policy but the country’s founding ideals, i.e., they have questioned the country’s very legitimacy, and even besmirched the names and legacies of those who sacrificed for the freedom we now enjoy and the potential available to all including those who dismiss it.

This full-on rancor directed toward America’s founding and ideals has been difficult to endure, and it presents some great dangers going forward if the pendulum does not swing back in a corrective fashion.

Calling for racial reform and progress are one thing. Calling for the institution of racist ideas and practices in the name of “anti-racism” is another. So, too, is arguing America’s founding was not about freedom but about slavery and white supremacy and that new “woke” ways of dealing with human beings (“critical race theory”) must be instituted in every aspect of American life before racial progress can be made. These arguments are not only inaccurate and ahistorical, they are pernicious.

Calling for “equity” rather than “equality” before the law is a bait and switch that demands sameness, taking from those who have earned and giving to those who have not, suppression of creativity, and a new definition of tolerance and inclusiveness to mean anything goes, especially if it is racialized.

Then, too, we’ve endured months of government overreach in the name of public health, restrictions on personal freedoms, even efforts to undermine the freedoms guaranteed to Americans in the First Amendment. Thankfully, some of this is beginning not only to abate but to be retracted.

So, in the face of all this it becomes both more difficult – sad and disillusioning – to celebrate Memorial Day patriotism, and it becomes all the more important to celebrate Memorial Day patriotism because the ideals, the fundamental freedoms and those who sacrificed for them, that this day commemorates are as important as ever.

Thank you, those who gave the last full measure. Long may freedom reign.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 15 May 2021

Religious freedom is experiencing a global crisis.

Restrictions on the freedom to choose a religion or to choose no religion at all are under serious threat or are already restricted. So, also, is the free exercise of religion in manifest worship or practice, not only in autocratic regimes like North Korea, China, or several Middle Eastern countries, but increasingly also in Western democracies.

Globally, “40 percent of world countries suffer high restrictions to religious freedom or freedom of belief. Since many of them are populous nations, however, this adds up to 5.9 billion of the world population.” And among Christians, “more than 300 people are murdered monthly throughout the world because of their religious faith.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Christianity is “the most persecuted religion in the world.” Some 215 million Christians are being persecuted due to their faith, according to Open Doors, about 1 in 12 Christians worldwide.

While Christians may be the most persecuted religion in the world, they are followed closely by Muslims, Jews, and other religious minorities.

In the U.S., “according to Pew Research, more than a third of all Americans born after 1980 identify with no religion. That is the highest percentage ever. In a recent Gallup Poll, only 47% of American adults said they were members of a church, mosque or synagogue. It was the first time since Gallup began asking Americans about religious membership in the 1930s that a majority of Americans said they were not members of a church, mosque or synagogue.” What this means for the future of religious freedom in the US is uncertain, but it does not appear to be a positive trend.

Religious freedom in the West, or what we call “free societies,” is becoming politicized. Now, religious freedom or religious liberty are even being denigrated as just code words, or worse, “dog whistles.” For example, in 2016 the chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, created by Congress to protect the civil rights of all Americans, issued the following statement: “[t]he phrases ‘religious liberty’ and ‘religious freedom’ [are…] code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, [and] Christian supremacy….” Such attitudes would have been unheard of just a few short years ago.

America’s Founders considered the fact of and practice of religion the best means of maintaining personal responsibility, social order, and self-government. Without the moral compass religion provides, they believed, there is no restraint. Men and women do what’s right in their own eyes, which is to say, chaos.

So, the need to protect the precious God-given unalienable right is not just something to worry about in authoritarian countries elsewhere in the world but right here at home.

Recently it was my privilege to host a webinar for SAT-7 called “Collaboration for HOPE: Religious Freedom, the Most Precious God-given Right.” Our guests were Shirin Taber, Director of Empower Women Media, Rita El-Mounayer and Phil Hilditch, both of SAT-7 International. It was an enjoyable learning experience and can be accessed here:

Religious freedom is the bedrock freedom. To lose religious freedom is to lose our foundation and potential as a free and open society. Without religious freedom, the liberty to think, decide, worship as one’s convictions direct, how can we say we are truly free?

Page 1 of 4

Preserving First Amendment Freedoms

Are Nation States Legitimate?

Losing Freedoms

Memorial Day 2021, Essential Balm Our Nation Needs

Memorial Day - Long May Freedom Reign

Religious Freedom, the Bedrock God-given Right In Global Crisis