Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Melissa Reid
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000192B
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00:06 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:07 Before the break with NARLA director Melissa Reid, 00:11 we were talking about its history, some of the plans 00:16 and what I would like to get into is how can 00:18 we involve the viewers because I am sure out there, 00:22 there's a serious number of people that in fact 00:25 there in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Ellen White, 00:28 the pioneer Ellen White, said something about the youth, 00:31 fitly trained, an army of youth fitly trained. 00:33 Oh yes, yes. 00:35 You can change the world with the few thousand of people 00:38 and we've probably got millions 00:40 one way or another out there. Yeah. 00:42 Well, we had a really fun time just a few months ago 00:45 may be just even a month ago, I mentioned that working as, 00:49 you know, doing a local NARLA chapter. 00:52 Well, there are also regional NARLA chapters. 00:54 There is one in southern United States. 00:56 There is also one out in California, in the pacific 01:00 or that, you know, the Western United States. 01:02 And at our offices they are at in Silver Spring, 01:07 Maryland at the world headquarters 01:08 Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:09 We had a group of energetic young kids come 01:12 that were working that were sponsored by this-- 01:16 Freedom classroom? Yes. 01:18 It was called freedom classroom. So this regional organization 01:22 of NARLA or chapter of NARLA 01:24 sponsored these individuals these young kids. 01:26 I think it was may be 12 or 13 high schoolers 01:29 who have expressed interest in issues of several liberties, 01:33 religious freedom, and it was really 01:36 and we talked about this before, training, you know, 01:39 this next generation of religion liberty leaders. 01:42 That was a very hopeful sign. 01:43 I was encouraged by that. Yeah. 01:45 It's not just in religious liberty and I don't even think 01:47 just in the Seventh-day Adventist church, 01:49 too often things of a faith nature 01:52 not just devotional things, but church programs 01:55 other than sort of party or skiing 01:59 and youth programs. Right. 02:01 You see older people doing these things 02:03 and not so often the young people really on fire 02:06 to make a difference on faith, so this was very encouraging. 02:11 I thought it was encouraging as well. 02:13 And I am sorry to interrupt, but it reminded me 02:14 its part of their criteria was that they would done 02:17 well at school and had done an essay or some paper 02:21 on a religious liberty topic. Right. 02:23 And again we weren't expecting them to be experts yet. 02:26 We just wanted to see an interest and then encourage 02:29 their interests from there and out. 02:31 And I really felt like, you know, 02:33 well this is the inaugural program and it was really great. 02:35 They visited not only our offices, 02:38 but they were able to visit with legislators 02:41 in downtown Washington D.C. They were also able to go 02:43 to see a historical perspective as far as 02:47 religious freedom within the United States. 02:48 And so they visited Thomas Jefferson's home 02:51 and I think also James Madison. 02:53 So it just was really encouraging. 02:54 So, you know, you asked the question 02:57 how can our viewers become involved in NARLA 03:00 and religious freedom issues on a local level. 03:03 I think that's a great idea to get your youth involved. 03:07 You know, it can be something as expensive 03:11 and may be expensive as during, you know, 03:15 freedom classroom style program. But it also can be as simple 03:19 and this is probably a great place to start as, you know, 03:22 a lot of churches have a local or afternoon 03:26 A.Y. program at their church. Well, you know, 03:28 start incorporating religious freedom issues there. 03:31 Bringing in some lawyers or government people 03:34 that could talk on this. Right, Exactly. 03:36 Get their minds engaged in these public policy issues. 03:40 You know, lot of them I know that I became, 03:43 you know, as a young person, as a teenager 03:45 became very interested in political-- 03:47 not even political issues, but social issues. 03:51 And I think, you know, you see that happen 03:53 you want to encourage, you want to first of all 03:56 explain to them as a Seventh-day Adventist Christians, 04:00 you know, your churches long term history 04:02 with religious liberty and then encourage development in that. 04:06 And I know when young people goes 04:08 see some of the legislatives they bend over backwards 04:12 and they're just captivated to talk to these young people. 04:15 Any legislature likes to talk to constituents. 04:18 But still when these young people there 04:19 this is they are like the prize. Yes, yes. 04:22 And in the past I have noticed that. 04:25 So if your church or your civic group 04:29 can organize a group of young people for religious liberty 04:32 and then you take them along to see the mayor inside, 04:34 you gonna have an open door. Oh, absolutely. 04:36 I am certain of that. Absolutely. 04:39 Its might be little hard, you know, leg work 04:41 to actually organize it. But it's not going to be 04:43 a difficult door to open. Right, right. 04:45 And then it seems natural, you know, if you're doing that, 04:48 you know, on a high school or middle school level 04:51 there to local church. Then when the kids 04:54 go on to college, well then they may actually initiate 04:57 and we'd love to see this, you know, NARLA chapters 05:01 there on campus, there at Adventist Universities. 05:03 You know, you see the young republicans 05:05 or the young democrats or whoever. 05:07 Well, wouldn't it be great to have, you know, 05:08 a group of religious freedom advocates 05:10 organizing there on campus? And it's very important I think 05:13 because you mentioned that they went to some of these group, 05:16 doesn't know so that came the other day. 05:18 They went to some of the historic spots. 05:22 They went to Madison's home out in Virginia there. 05:27 And they were being told the history 05:28 which is very important on religious liberty. 05:31 And Madison in particular and Jefferson 05:34 on the first amendment, these were pivotal pioneers. 05:38 But they need to get the right facts 05:40 because goodness knows some religionists 05:43 for a variety of self-serving reasons are skewing history. 05:47 And how are these young people going to get the facts 05:50 unless they're taken under the wing 05:52 of an organization like NARLA. Yeah. 05:54 It's interesting that you said I just, 05:55 as we were traveling to come in and be on the show. 06:00 I was listening to a new story about an individual 06:03 who refers to the separation of church 06:06 and state as a myth, David Barton. 06:09 One of his books is being withdrawn. 06:11 That's exactly right. He's written a book. 06:12 He's sort of, well, what do you say? 06:14 He's rewritten history on Thomas Jefferson, 06:16 who we know, you know, and if you as liberty magazine 06:20 readers know because we often feature 06:22 his quotes in our magazine, you know, a long time advocate 06:26 of separation of church and state. 06:27 And so this gentleman-- so you are right, 06:30 going to source and hearing from the source-- 06:33 And it comes from different angles. 06:34 Like I couple of days ago bought a beautifully-- 06:38 isn't a discount store. So I got a good deal on it, 06:41 but a beautifully packaged Bible, leather cover 06:45 and everything and it's called the Patriots Bible. 06:48 And it had also quotes from Gorge Washington 06:50 and the others and then as well as large print 06:53 I got it because of the preaching. 06:55 But it is just beautifully presented. 06:56 But as I look through it I saw that this might have been 06:59 as well been a David Barton type thing. 07:02 It was of--nothing was factually wrong, 07:05 but it was all tilted to give you the idea 07:07 that we basically, as we were in church, you know, 07:11 and this is a religious community. Yes. 07:14 I mean we want to advance religion, 07:16 but religion misrepresented actually leads 07:19 to false religion. And so we need to clarify. 07:23 And I think this is a huge advantage of NARLA, 07:25 which is not just for young people 07:27 but NARLA's special role I think can be 07:29 to nurture young people to be informed and to be active. 07:33 Absolutely, absolutely. 07:35 You talked about membership before 07:36 and we start our membership fees very low. 07:39 They are really nominal and in fact we also have 07:42 a student membership fee, which is you know, again-- 07:45 And the membership includes liberty magazine. 07:47 That's exactly right. By design from the cover. 07:49 But, of course, because again it's one component 07:52 of a religious liberty ministry want to make sure, you know, 07:55 as you said we really want to provide resources for people 07:58 and liberty magazine is that really, 08:00 the preeminent resource as far as 08:03 religious liberty issues go. So I really, yeah, 08:06 I do encourage viewers to visit our website. 08:09 religiousliberty.info and really take a look, 08:12 see how you can become involved, 08:14 see what others are doing. We try to focus 08:17 just a few back in January when we had a religious 08:20 liberty Sabbath at my local church. 08:22 We had a state congressman who represented-- 08:26 I live in Colombia, Maryland, represented that area, 08:29 just invited her and one of our members had 08:31 a relationship with her. She came and spoke and, 08:36 you know, she was able to see that our faith group, 08:39 you know, Seventh-day Adventists 08:41 are passionate about religious freedom. 08:42 We were able to share that with her 08:44 and so she knows that her constituents 08:46 there in the community are religious freedom advocates, 08:49 or you know, this is an issue that's important to them. 08:52 And so we posted that on the NARLA website. 08:54 It's just to give people an idea of, you know, 08:56 I am interested, I am excited 08:58 about this ministry how can I become involved. 08:59 This education works two ways. The legislative was learning 09:03 about what people do. Exactly, absolutely. 09:05 Not just for the people that attended the meeting. 09:09 Absolutely, no I feel like and--you know, 09:11 we've talked before about the annual religious 09:13 liberty dinner that we do on Capital Hill. 09:14 Sure. It functions that way. 09:16 It functions that way as well. I mean, you know, 09:18 we want to influence individuals. 09:20 Well didn't--didn't we hear from legislative 09:23 as on the other day that Hillary Clinton 09:25 even referred to speaking at the dinner. 09:27 Yes. Oh, that was incredible so for--. 09:30 And I do remember and I don't think 09:32 it's improper to say this, but when she was-- 09:35 after she spoke I think it was about the same time 09:37 she did a little video promo for liberty magazine. Yes. 09:41 And while she was waiting for the cameras to start, 09:45 she had quite a dialog with one of our representatives 09:48 about the Seventh-day Sabbath. 09:50 She says, you know, the fourth commandment. 09:52 I thought that was Sunday. You know, I wouldn't say 09:56 that she was convinced of anything, 09:57 but there is a perfect natural opportunity 09:59 to communicate our theological and religious liberty viewpoint 10:04 to someone in a friendly atmosphere. 10:05 Right, right and the thing is, you know, as a private citizen 10:08 and even you know, if we are working 10:11 in a professional environment sometimes it's-- 10:13 it can be intimidating to have those conversations. 10:15 But again if you are prepared and you've had that, you know, 10:22 you're familiar with the topic, you're passionate 10:24 about the topic. Then and this is where 10:26 I feel NARLA's role coming in again. 10:28 You know, we have those training sessions to-- 10:30 you know, if you are going be doing a lobbying day, 10:33 you know, whether it's on the state level 10:35 or on the local level, we train individuals 10:38 so that they can feel very comfortable and you know-- 10:41 And everybody that's being part of that has enjoyed it. 10:44 It sounds intimidating, but in practice it's a fun time 10:48 to meet all by some social level and just inform somebody 10:52 who is sitting there, yes tell us about what you believe in. 10:56 Yes, yes. And many times and again, 10:58 you know, we are doing this cross pollination here, 11:01 but many times we've gone to those lobbying visits 11:03 and seen liberty magazine on the coffee table. 11:05 Yes. It's always very nice isn't it? 11:07 It's great. No, it's the introduction of, 11:10 you know, of our message into--you know, 11:13 starting that conversation. So anyway I really 11:16 encourage you. If you are interested 11:18 in religious liberty issues to become, you know, 11:20 to check out the NARLA website, which is religiousliberty.info 11:24 see how you can become involved and even just, you know, 11:28 become aware of what's going on in your local community, 11:30 checkout that in Google map and see if there is a dot 11:33 next to your town. 11:36 As I record this, the television screens 11:39 across the world are filled with images of violence 11:43 and rebellion and civil war in Syria. 11:46 I was very moved on one occasion to see 11:49 a scene of a young woman probably in her early 20s 11:53 lying critically ill. In fact she died 11:57 a little later of her injuries and she looked at the camera 12:00 and she says, "we will keep the struggle going, 12:03 we will not give up. " It takes a lot 12:06 when your life is actually ebbing away to continue 12:10 the commitment to a cause like that. 12:13 I know that as Christians standing for religious liberty 12:16 we too are called to do whatever it takes. 12:19 I read a book once about Christian witness 12:22 where the protagonist said that as a young man 12:24 he heard the minister saying Christ is worth your all, 12:29 if He is worth anything at all. 12:31 When we deal with religious liberty, 12:32 when we're talking about NARLA membership, 12:35 when we're talking about becoming an activist, 12:37 that same dynamic must apply. 12:40 If it's important it demands out everything. 12:44 It demands absolute total commitment. 12:50 For Liberty Insider this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17