Welcome back to
the Liberty Insider.
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Before the
break, I read some words
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that have appeared
in Liberty magazine
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as an editorial.
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And I was trying to
personalize them more
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for this program,
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which, of course, is piggybacked
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on what we are
putting in Liberty magazine,
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which is, I think,
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arguably the largest
religious liberty publication,
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probably in the world,
certainly in the United States.
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These are interesting times
as I was trying to point out,
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and I'll start from the
front and work to the back.
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Most recently,
the US administration
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and the president in particular,
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with a lot of hoopla
announced a peace plan
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or the final peace
plan for the Mideast problem
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between the
Palestinians and Israel.
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And a number of us
that are more than teenagers
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have seen these come and go,
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a lot of hope at the time
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and things seem to
revert to the worst case.
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But there's
something a little different
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about this one.
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This didn't even
have much pretence,
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in fact no
pretence of prior discussion
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with the both parties,
certainly not the Palestinians.
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It confirms what
Israel has been doing
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for some time
having a de facto rule
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and promised annexation
of lands taken by conquest.
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And the Prime Minister Begin,
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the late Prime
Minister Begin of Israel
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used to say the lands of Sumeria
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that are theirs
by biblical mandate.
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You know, it's one
thing to have a heritage
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that you appeal to a holy book
for but in the modern world,
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where not everyone
believes a certain faith,
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there have to
be solid parameters
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to a claim upon a country.
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And if we went back
2000 years, in many cases,
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we certainly wouldn't be...
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Even here in this location,
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I'd probably be in
a teepee somewhere,
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because the modern history
is quite rough and ready,
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and then the justice
is all along the line.
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And in the modern world,
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trying to settle the Middle East
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does require some balancing act.
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But instead, the US presented
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what amounts to an ultimatum
to these warring parties.
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And where did this come from?
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The answer is
not hard to come by.
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This was under the influence
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of the so called
evangelical right,
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who have an
interpretation of prophecy
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that I might not quite share.
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It's an apocalyptic end
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where there's going to
be a literal Armageddon
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in the Middle East.
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And the powers including Iran
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are going to
come up against Israel
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and be totally destroyed.
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Once you understand
that religious expectation,
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by significant and
increasingly influential
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religious faction in the US,
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you see why the rush to,
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you know, to take it or leave it
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because there's an expectation
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that this
conflict is going to come,
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the other side of
that Christ' kingdom.
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So let's get there quick.
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Let's deal with
the archenemy of truth,
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you know, Gorgon
enemies of truth, Gog and Magog,
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let's deal with Iran,
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you know, let's,
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"Let the blood run
to the horses' bridles"
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as the Bible says.
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You know, prophecy is prophecy
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but we cannot work to
self-fulfilling prophecies
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or allow religionists
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that we may not
share our interpretation
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or even our
religion allow them free rein
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to make their
religious vision true.
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Unfortunately,
there has been a hijacking
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of American public policy
by a religious expectation
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and it's not good.
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Further, going back
a little bit further,
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the capital of Israel,
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or Israel's
capital was recognized
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by the US as Jerusalem.
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But that's not the way
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the UN has
treated it in the past.
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That's not the way
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the international
community have allowed it.
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That's sort of
where it's been heading
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but they know that that's
an incendiary determination.
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But again, the US moved
its embassy to Jerusalem
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and stated that they
recognize this as the capital.
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It's not that we don't
have the right to do so.
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But it's an irresponsible
act informed almost totally
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by a particular
religious vision in a country
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that while it
was at its founding,
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made up
overwhelmingly of Protestants,
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Christian Protestants,
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was never an
adjunct to church theology
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or church prophecy.
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And in fact, it's
been a certain protection
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against religious visionaries.
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And ironically, it
facilitated a vibrant,
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dynamic religious life
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for any number of
religious factions,
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because they know
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that the
government's not tilting
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one way or the other,
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or as the Baptist
write in to Jefferson
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were a little afraid that
if they weren't protected,
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you know, another religious
group would harass them.
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And that's when
Thomas Jefferson explained,
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"Oh, no, wait, this is secular.
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It's for freedom of
religion for all people,
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separation of church and state."
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From the very beginning,
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this
administration more than most,
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and there's no question without,
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not trying to pick
on this administration,
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it's always been a
temptation in American life
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to mix religious sensibility
with civil government,
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but it was a little
more marked than usual.
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With this one,
the Jeff Sessions,
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the first Attorney General,
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within hours of him
being named as Attorney General
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said, publicly and boldly,
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he did not believe
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in a separation
of church and state.
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Well, you know, like
I said in the editorial,
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they dance around it
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but the dynamic of a
separation of church and state
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is exactly
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what the First
Amendment is talking about.
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So I mean, where have we come
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if a top law and
order official is put in
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and first thing he says,
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he doesn't believe in
part of the Constitution.
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And that has been
repeated over and over,
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and the way I describe it,
what we're living through now,
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and certainly we're not
living through persecution,
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America remains,
United States remains,
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practically speaking,
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easily one of the most free
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and enabling
countries in the world
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for religious practice,
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but what we're seeing
right now is a clear shift
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from a
generalized religious freedom,
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where every...
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It's not the
groups, it's the individual,
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every individual is free
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to choose their faith commitment
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or none at all.
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Change it as they
want, speak about it,
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it's their own business.
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We're moving from
that to a dynamic,
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where certain faith groups
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are actually
under a certain frown,
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and certain groups are
under a special smile of favor
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and I would call it
religious entitlement.
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A certain religious viewpoint
is entitled and empowered
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and as the framers
of the Constitution
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pointed out,
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and more than one of
them that if we do that,
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it's not a long process
to where those not so favored
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will be persecuted.
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That's the
present threat we face.
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Something else that is
not often spoken about,
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it's gone,
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the
discussion's gone very quiet.
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But this
administration came into power.
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As I said in the editorial
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with a very high
principal purpose,
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I believe, to
support religious freedom.
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But since this administration
generally hasn't seen,
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fit to inquire deeply into it,
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they've accepted the
views of a religious coalition
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that they're enabling.
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And so, you know,
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it could work badly.
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But very early on,
they made the statement
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that they would
change the Johnson Amendment.
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I don't believe
it's been changed yet.
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The political
gain from such a stance
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has been had and maybe
nothing will come from it.
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But still, the
mere claim is dangerous.
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The Johnson Amendment was
put into action as a result,
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it's called
Johnson because it arose
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after Lyndon
Johnson in a reelection bid
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was offended that
certain political factions
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and religious
factions opposed him,
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and he...
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When nonprofits and religious
organizations opposed him,
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and so there was an
amendment added to a bill
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that said the
churches and nonprofits
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are not to involve themselves
in political activity,
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very reasonable
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under a separation
of church and state.
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Unfortunately, it
was put into place in a,
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you know, tit for
tat political situation,
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but now there's a claim made
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that this must be swept
away as soon as possible
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and allow the churches
to be politically active.
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That is the worst sin
that a state can ever allow.
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In the Medieval
Ages, the Medieval Church,
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Catholic Church, but it was
the singular Medieval Church.
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It was empowered
politically to the ends degree
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and persecution,
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and political
horrors eventuated from that.
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So to do away with
the Johnson Amendment,
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even though it was
flawed in its beginning,
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its root concept
is exactly right.
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There should be a
separation of church and state,
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but it's going to be swept away
to believe public statements.
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It was added to a bill
recently and then at midnight,
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surreptitiously removed,
and I don't know why, maybe,
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you know, a little
caution at the last minute.
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But again, the
intent has not been revoked.
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It seems to be an empowerment
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of politically
active religious factions.
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And all I could
say to those factions,
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which is the root issue.
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Don't seek solutions
through political action,
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seek spiritual solutions,
seek personal godliness,
00:10:45.41\00:10:49.11
seek evangelization
of the people again,
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and as many
religious right people
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that I used to
work with used to pray,
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"Lord, please heal our nation."
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