{"id":371,"date":"2009-01-16T10:41:15","date_gmt":"2009-01-16T10:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/01\/religious-freedom-day-2009.html"},"modified":"2009-01-16T10:41:15","modified_gmt":"2009-01-16T10:41:15","slug":"religious-freedom-day-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/01\/religious-freedom-day-2009.html","title":{"rendered":"Religious Freedom Day 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Bush has declared today, January 16, 2009 as Religious Freedom Day<\/a>.  Other presidents have done the same. However, it is an ironic act on the part of a president who leaves office with a dismal record on protecting and strengthening religious freedom. Consider President Bush’s faith-based initiative, opposition to comprehensive hate crimes legislation and treatment of Muslims following the events of September 11.  Why, this president has been known for using religious language to advance political agendas, further blurring the line between religion and government. Having said all of that, though, make no mistake about it, religious freedom – our first freedom – is well worth celebrating. <\/p>\n

The date January 16th was chosen in commemoration of the signing of Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom<\/a>, an act that Jefferson considered the major accomplishment of his life. The enactment clause of this historic document states:<\/p>\n

“That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This document popularized and gave substance the concept of “separation of church and state.”  <\/p>\n

Unfortunately many members of the Religious Right continue attempts to hijack even an emphasis on religious freedom by distorting the promise of the constitution and suggesting that the meaning of religious freedom is freedom for our religion, not yours.  <\/p>\n

Among those who have joined the so called “Religious Freedom Day Coalition<\/a>” are the Becket Fund and the Institute on Religion and Democracy, two organizations that consistently have sought to erase institutional boundaries between religion and government in an effort to impose their beliefs on all Americans. <\/p>\n

My guess is that, for most Americans, January 16th will pass without a thought given to religious freedom, and that is unfortunate. Religious freedom, our first freedom, is essential to the integrity of religion and the vitality of democracy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Bush has declared today, January 16, 2009 as Religious Freedom Day.  Other presidents have done the same. However, it is an ironic act on the part of a president who leaves office with a dismal record on protecting and strengthening religious freedom. 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Dr. Welton Gaddy, leads the national nonpartisan grassroots and educational organizations, The Interfaith Alliance and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and serves as the Pastor for Preaching and Worship at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, Louisiana. Rev. Gaddy is the host of State of Belief, a weekly radio show by The Interfaith Alliance that is carried on AirAmerica. State of Belief is based on the proposition that religion has a positive and healing role to play in the life of the nation. Rev Gaddy is one of 20 international religious leaders on the Council of 100 Leaders, a group created by the World Economic Forum to improve dialogue and understanding between the Western and Islamic worlds. In addition to being the author of over 20 books, Welton provides regular commentary to the national media on issues relating to religion and politics. Some of his appearances include CNN Presents: The Fight Over Faith; PBS's NOW with Bill Moyers; PBS Frontline's The Jesus Factor; PBS's The Newshour with Jim Lehrer; NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw; CBS Evening News with Dan Rather; ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings; numerous National Public Radio stations including KQED's Forum in San Francisco and KCRW's The Politics of Culture in Los Angeles; CNBC's Capital Report; CNN's The World Today with Wolf Blitzer; CNN's Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff; PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly; CBS's Freedom to Pray; C-SPAN's Washington Journal; NBC's Dateline. He is the former host of Morally Speaking on NBC affiliate KTVE in Monroe, Louisiana. Founded in 1994, The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) has grown into a national grassroots organization of 150,000+ individuals of faith and goodwill drawn from more than 75 different religious traditions or beliefs with a cyber-network of 10,000 activists and 75 local activist groups. Dedicated to promoting mutual respect, cooperation and civility, TIA strives to promote religion as a positive and healing force in the life of the nation. While ministering to churches with a message of inclusion, Welton emerged as a leader among progressive and moderate Baptists. Among his many leadership roles, he is the immediate past President of the Alliance of Baptists and is a twenty-year member of the Commission of Christian Ethics of the Baptist World Alliance. His past leadership roles include serving as a member of the General Council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, President of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Chair of the Pastoral Leadership Commission of the Baptist World Alliance. Prior to the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, Welton served in many leadership roles in the SBC including membership on the convention's Executive Committee from 1980-1984 and Director of Christian Citizenship Development of the Christian Life Commission from 1973-1977. Welton received his undergraduate degree from Union University in Tennessee and his doctoral degree and divinity training from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/wgaddy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}