SUB-TITLE: " Denial of Equal Rights to Religious Minorities and Nonbelievers in the United States."
EDITORIAL NOTE: This part was part of an article that first appeared in the Yale Law Journal of March 1930, which clearly shows the diversity of law and conflict of judicial opinion on the subject of religion legislation, and the rights of minority sects before the law. It was reprinted in Liberty magazine third quarter ,1930, as a service to readers that and is reprinted now in 2018 as a reminder of the legal challenges that still persist.
Note (JB): Please allow me to insert this Bible passage:: John 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Is this not the why the people of ISIS, kill,none believers? Is this not the reasoning that Rome applied during the her reign of terror during the 1260 years she ruled supreme? YES! Yet today all the world's "Religions" are rushing to her, to kiss the Papal ring in fealty and loyalty, under the name of Ecumenical Union, Even to obeying her Sunday law, for which they admit there is no Scriptural warrant for it!
This SECOND COMMANDMENT IS MISSING from all the Catechism books, [but is in their bible, showing few, if any, read it!]:
Deuteronomy 5:8-9 "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,"
This Commandment is broken by 96% of Christendom:
Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
GET IT??? THE SABBATH [REST UNTO] THE LORD. IT'S HIS HOLY DAY, HOW CAN ANY MAN, OR MEN, CHANGE GOD'S LAW? READ DANIEL 7 AND NOTE
vs. 25! THINKS TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS? THE 2ND AND THE 4TH, COMMANDMENTS, THEN SPLITTING THE 10TH INTO 2 PARTS! WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE FOOLING? NOW TO THE STORY....
EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW, for all mankind, is the ideal which seers and philosophers have looked forward for ages, is far from being attained even i n the United States,
despite of such slogans as the "Rights of Man," "Freedom of Religion, and of Conscience," "A Free State," "All Men Are Created Equal." The First and the Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, and the like. The Revolutionary War,, so we are taught in school, separated church and state, but that meant merely, that the colonists were no longer subservient to the Church of England. For the purpose of putting an end to the arrogant "toleration" of religious minorities, by providing equal rights and religious freedom for all, it succeeded merely in giving all Christian sects equal rights before the law. Rights have consistently been denied other religious minorities. This is not merely a legal proposition; for in fact an invidious difference is being paid by the state to the miscalled "National Religion" of the majority, beyond a mere recognition thereof, a difference that entails and hardships in certain states to nonconformists and unbelievers alike, all under the color of law. Typical of this in equality was the disallowing and discrediting of testimony of unbelieving in the re3cent Gastonia trials in North Carolina.
The purpose of the present discussion is to show how religious beliefs of the dominant Christians in the United States are allowed effectively to control our moot questions or exotic dead-letter blue laws, but through laws that are actually in force, or if not enforced, still dangerous to civil rights of citizens because enforceable at will.
CHRISTIANITY PART OD OUR LAW.
Actual deference is accorded federally and in the states, generally, to Christianity, as; (1) a religious belief, in manner of offensives to opposing creedlists and nonbelievers: (2) a church established for such believers, i n some states; (3) a church supported by militantly evangelical laws, in a few states....
When Chancellor Ke3nt of New York said, "The people of this state, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrine of Christianity as a rule of their faith and practice." he meant "in due form of law." as it had been generally understood under Lord Coke's dictum that "Christianity is part and parcel of the Common Law, and not merely in recognition of the palpable fact that the majority wer3e Christians whose practises must be respected. For this dictum that those exotic beliefs were "Imposters", {mentioning the Muslims, then having more votaries in [believers] in, the world than Christianity}, and that such infidels had no rights before a court in a Christian land, which Americans were bound to respect. Worse than all, this opinion is a keynote, often cited to this day by appellate courts, i n deciding religious controversies. There is thus imposing on the religious minorities a subservience insulting to their patriotism.
Following a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court [JB Sorry only Christ is the Supreme Judge] in Church of the Holy Trinity V. United States, i n 1992, Mr. Justice Brewer, in the Haverford Lectures in 1904, showed, with ample citations and authorities, that this is in fact a "Christian nation of Mr Justice Story in the Gerard College case as to Christianity: "". He approved it: "Its divine origin and truth are admitted." and for that reason "Christianity must be neither impugned nor repudiated."
Lord Coke's dictum, now disposed of as mere rhetoric and not law has been recognized in many decisions of courts, nicely discriminated in some few states, repudiated in others, but in several states pressed to its logical conclusion. Thus in Maryland to this very day,.according to its highest court of appeal:
"The Sabbath is emphatically the day of rest here is the Lord's day or the Christian Sunday.... Ours is a Christian community, and the day set apart as the day of rest is the day consecrated by the resurrection of our Savior..... And if the Christian religion is benefited and fostered by this day of rest, as it undoubtedly is, there is all the more reason for enforcement of the laws that help preserve it..
Note(JB): Sorry there's not one word about changing the Seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week, i n fact>>> Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
This is what Jesus asked us to do in remembrance and NOT His resurrection to be used as a reason to change the holy Sabbath days! Many a man and women, have changed the Bible's words to suit themselves! This is the how we now have 100's of denominations: the root meaning of this word is DENOMINATOR WE get this only by divisions,as the left-over number. Satan is the ever divider!
I n some states constitutional provisions and statues and bench-made law call for the observance of Christian Doctrine and dogma by its citizens. In so doing they deny citizens their inalienable rights and "Exclude, in whole or part, certain persons not belonging touch adopted religion from participating in public honors, trusts, emoluments, privileges, and immunities. Religious proscriptions are found in the following:
- Test of Office, being an oath on the faith of a Christian.:
- Marriage in the face of the church, as a condition precedent to validity.
- Blasphemy of the Savior and Holy Trinity..
At times the religious proscriptions amounting to persecution by our courts have been reported i n the Press, notably of Seventh-day Adventists, and Seventh day Baptists in 1893-1894 in Maryland, and again in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kansas
And to cap the climax, Christianity is being militantly forced as a creed in several states which require under penalty, observance of the "Lord's Day", not as a day of rest, but religiously, and the r4eading and the t4eaching of the New Testament in public schools.. The following sectarian practises, moreover, are uniformly used by both federal and state authorities:
- "Year of the Lord", as used in official documents and attestments.
- Legislatures all ope n with prayers to the God of Christianity.
- Sunday Laws call for the no work thereon by government officers and employees.
- The days within which a veto must be expressed under the Federal Constitution and those of nearly all states are limited by the phrase, "Sunday excepted."
Considering the fact that the history of America's colonies shows that they were established to further Christianity, it is not remarkable that th4e newly constituted states began to establish Christianity during and immediately after the revolutionary War. In all the state constitutions there is mention of God, but in none of them is there a mention of Jesus Christ, or the Holy Trinity, and the duty to worship God. Yet it may be argued with Mr. Justice Brewer that, because of religious references in certain of these constitutions, especially to Christian beliefs and dogmas, and likewise in decisions of appellate courts, that reference is thereby made to God of the Christians.
By the Constitution of South Carolina of 1778, "The Christian Protestant religion was constituted and declared to be the established religion of the state." Under the constitution of Maryland of 1776, the legislature may in its own discretion lay a general and equal tax for the support of the Christian religion, The constitution of Massachusetts of 1780 was mandatory, requiring municipalities to make provision for the support of Protestant teachers of religion. In Vermont's constitution of 1793 and 1831 every denomination of Christians :"ought to observe the Lord's Day and keep up so me kind of religious worship.." By New Jersey's constitution of 1776, no Protestant inhabitant shall be denied the enjoyment of his civil rights. Both Connecticut (1818) and New Hampshire (1912) not only state that every denomination of Christians shall be equally under the protection of the law, but New Hampshire allows municipalities to to levy a tax to support Protestant Christian Schools, and Connecticut prescribes rules for Christian church membership. The Mississippi constitution prescribes that the Holy Bible must not be excluded from the public schools.
NOTE(JB): These so-called "Blue-Laws", are on the books., and generally not enforced today, and that's good thing, agree? Yet there shall come a time, (Revelation 13 and 18:4.) when this shall all became reality! Why? Prophecy has been 100% spot-on for about 95% of the total, what makes anyone think the last 5% will not happen? Please think men lie right, God can't! LIE!
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
More liberally the constitutions of Nebraska and Ohio prescribe that laws shall be passed to protect every kind of religious worship. These religious discrimination's are in a different category from the generalizations of Virginia's constitution of 1902, where it stated that the moral duty of all is to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity, following Thomas Jefferson, who disbelieved in th3e New Testament's miracles, but published the morals of Christ.
Despite the general impression to the contrary, the First Amendment to the federal Constitution did NOT for all time fix religious freedom to America: it merely denied to Congress the right to establish religious worship, reserving this power to the States.And religious liberty. in several states has progressed no further than this definition; "ALL PERSONS PROFESSING THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ARE EQUALLY ENTITLED TO THE PROTECTION OF THEIR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.".
Indeed equality of all Christians, before the law, was the4 highest ideal of the colonists, and it has continued so, even in those words,
Most of these laws are not know to even most legal minds,, and the mischief lies in the Capital made out of the statement by Coke, and as re enforced by Chancellor Kent for America, establishing precedents her which it will be hard to uproot, and a body of substantial law, difficult to se5t aside, wand worst of all, a public opinion not be changed at all, if the present zeal of bigots is to measure it.
Thanking Y O U, for your time, Questions? Comments John at bazenj@gmail.com
"Liberty Magazine", being a publication of The Seventh-day Adventist church, is in truth a Non-denomination magazine, considering all faiths to be due their liberty in religious freedoms, that do not harm others.
WANT/NEED MORE? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist church,any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 A.M.and learn the truth from God and not from men!
Other sites: aftv.org: blbn.org: amazingdiscoveries.org : itiswritten.com. servantsite@wordpress.com
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