Welcome back to
the Liberty Insider.
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Before the break, I was sharing
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what was an
editorial in Liberty,
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on a loss of innocence,
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particularly, as
relates to religion
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in the United States.
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And indeed, in our world.
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I've got to say that,
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in this ongoing pandemic
shock to the world system,
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it's a shock,
socially, economically,
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and indeed religiously.
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In this ongoing pandemic shock,
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I've been startled at how easily
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formal religious
activities just ceased.
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And as I once,
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I think road people
slunk away to their homes,
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into their beds,
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into their video
games and religion stopped.
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I mean, it's not that simple.
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And, of course, all
generalizations fall down
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in the particular.
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There are many wonderful stories
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of faith outreach
and of individuals
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whose faith has
been strengthened
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and that they still
communicate adequately
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with Zoom and other things.
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I don't doubt that.
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But in a general sense,
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religion did
abay unquestioningly
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initially at least,
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general calls to
cease to stay home
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and not worship and so on.
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I'm not sure anybody
going into this thought
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that it would be so many months
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from a global
pandemic emergency.
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And even as I record this,
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I'd be very surprised
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if it's not closer to the
end of 2021 and the beginning
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when things return
to a sort of normalcy,
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although masks
might be here to stay,
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since the pandemic lineup
is sort of an assembly line.
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COVID-19 might be
followed by COVID-21, and so on.
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But it has troubled me
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that the churches
went away so easy.
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And as I followed the
news, like everybody else,
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my attention was gathered
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to or drawn to a
story of a church
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in the Los Angeles
area, faith community,
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pastored by John McArthur,
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its pastor I think
of like about 40 years.
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I mean, he's pretty
much spent his whole career
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pastoring this mega
church, membership of 8,000.
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And I did some
investigation of them.
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They'd come to prominence
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because they were
meeting in defiance
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of the
California Governor's edicts
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that forbade churches
to meet formally indoors
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or indeed for a
while, even outdoors.
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But I found to my surprise
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that McArthur early on had done
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what many Christians
thought they should do,
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he cited the
Apostle Paul's dictates
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that we should
obey the authorities
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and be subservient and so on.
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And he cited that publicly,
they ceased to worship,
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went home and wait,
tried to wait it out.
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But then he became aware.
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First of all that
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this was going
to go a long time.
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He became aware that
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that certain panic
steps were perhaps over blown,
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and he became aware that
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the churches
were being restricted
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where some other
activities were not.
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So as of the moment,
even as I record this,
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they are meeting again,
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and I traveled to Los
Angeles and attended the church,
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they were,
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by my count 3, 000
people in the second service
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as many in the
first there were hundreds,
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but in other
meetings and on the campus,
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they were perhaps 500-600
meeting under a large tent
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in an outdoor service.
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Unfortunately, none
of them wearing masks
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'cause I thought
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it's a reasonable
protection against contagion.
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And no particular effort
made to social distancing.
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So in that regard,
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I think they're being
foolish and presumptuous.
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But they are being protective
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of the Christians'
obligation and right
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under the Constitution
and under divine mandate
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to meet together and
to worship and honor God.
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And I found the
service to be very mainline,
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I found the attendees
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to be Middle
America personified.
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And I have to
admire what they're doing,
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even if legally
they're under hazard.
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They're losing their
parking lot privileges.
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They're under injunction
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from the
authority's threat of huge fines
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and perhaps even
imprisonment for the pastor.
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I've often said
before on this program,
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and through Liberty Magazine,
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that we live under a
bit of a misapprehension
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in the United States
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where the Constitution
protects religious practice.
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We cannot expect,
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should not expect
that in every instance,
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the way is open before us
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and there is no impediment
to our practice of religion.
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There is nearly always a
price to pay for conviction
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and for faith loyalty,
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and they may
have to pay the price
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but I admired them
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for acting on their convictions.
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And it is at least
a thought experiment
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as we continue in
this never ending,
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it seems like COVID
shut down in the world.
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Are people of faith
going to give in permanently
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to officials and a state mandate
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that might say
that you know what,
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what you count as
your civil liberties
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as your autonomy and indeed
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your very right to worship
God is going to be held back now
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because we think it's
such a great emergency.
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What about those
through the Dark Ages
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who worshiped on
pain of their life,
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from persecution?
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You know, what about those
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who went as
missionaries into areas
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where their life
was at immediate peril
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from any number of sources,
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disease, as well as
the mythical cannibals
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and not mythical, but you know,
the story cannibals and the,
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and those that exist even
now in places like Pakistan
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who will kill a Christian
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on a single
incitement from a village
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that they have profaned
certain of their holy rights.
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People of faith
have died and risked,
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and done whatever
necessary to worship the Lord.
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And I think in the
middle of this COVID,
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we need to think again,
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are we allowing the emergency
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to overwhelm our
religious prerogative?
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Are we allowing it to
overwhelm the call from heaven
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to gather
together to honor the Lord
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by worship and by
religious activities?
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I am not convinced
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that there was any
forethought into in California
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or any other state,
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forethought into
restricting religion.
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But I am equally convinced
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that there's been a developing
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dismissal of religion
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is important to the public good.
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And so under mandates
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that in typical
legislative language,
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they'll say, you
know, you have this right
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unless there is a
compelling, governmental reason.
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We should be aware of that,
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because it's always compelling
from a contrary point of view,
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that doesn't respect
the importance of your right
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as a Christian or
another faith believer.
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And we have entered the stage
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where separation of
church and state is one thing
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but the
separation of the individual
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and those in authority
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and they respect an
understanding of religion
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has reached a state
where we cannot presume that
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they will
automatically be respectful
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of the need to
worship in a group setting.
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And so, you know,
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I have to
endorse and thank groups
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like the Faith
Community Church in Los Angeles,
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who have at least
stood on their convictions,
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foolishly without masks,
but that's the subtext to it,
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stood on their convictions,
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and said that
we will worship God
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no matter what.
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That is the stuff
of the reformation,
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which their
pastor often refers to.
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The Protestant Reformation
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which once defined
an American populace,
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not just as Christian
but Protestant Christian,
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which gave them
a special awareness
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of the stakes in
standing for faith,
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against
persecution, against harassment,
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and always for the integrity
and the liberty of action
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that comes from
being a free man,
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free under the Creator God
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and in this country free
under the mandate of rule
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by the people, for the people.
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