Make America Great Again?

Supporters of President Trump generally agree with his slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Some of the President’s detractors argue that America was never great to begin with.

Those who believe America was once (and/or still is) a great nation can point to our legacy of freedom, our history of technological invention, our overall standard of living, the fact that we have probably sent out more missionaries than any country in history, and how America saved the world from tyranny during World War II. Those who say America was never great can point to the way Native American’s were treated, to slavery, discrimination, widespread political and moral corruption, and even to abortion! The debate is unwinnable.

A better way to frame the debate would be to ask, “Has America ever been the kind of place where millions of people have risked everything to come here because they perceived America to be so much better than their country?” The answer is beyond dispute: Yes! Absolutely.

Whether you agree with the President or not, we should be grateful to God that we live in one of the most prosperous and free nations in the world—A country that people flee to and not from. And we should be especially careful not to take our freedom for granted. There are many today who are fighting to significantly limit these freedoms in the name of “political correctness” and “fairness.”

Gay rights vs. religious liberty

“It’s going to be a train wreck,” says Marc Stern, general council for the American Jewish Congress. "Banned in Boston; The coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty” by Maggie Gallagher (Weekly Standard, May 15, 2006) is an article that every Christian, Jew and Muslim in America who is still faithful to their traditional values needs to read in full. Excerpts appear below:

“Catholic Charities of Boston made the announcement on March 10: It was getting out of the adoption business. “We have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve. . . . The issue is adoption to same-sex couples.”

“It was shocking news. Catholic Charities of Boston, one of the nation's oldest adoption agencies, had long specialized in finding good homes for hard to place kids.”

“Marylou Sudders, president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said simply, "This is a tragedy for kids.”

“So who is right? Is the fate of Catholic Charities of Boston an aberration or a sign of things to come?”

“I put the question to Anthony Picarello, president and general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.”

“Just how serious are the coming conflicts over religious liberty stemming from gay marriage?”
“The impact will be severe and pervasive," Picarello says flatly. "This is going to affect every aspect of church-state relations.’ Recent years, he predicts, will be looked back on as a time of relative peace between church and state, one where people had the luxury of litigating cases about things like the Ten Commandments in courthouses.”

“Generally speaking the scholars most opposed to gay marriage were somewhat less likely than others to foresee large conflicts ahead--perhaps because they tended to find it ‘inconceivable…”
“By contrast, the scholars who favor gay marriage found it relatively easy to foresee looming legal pressures on faith-based organizations opposed to gay marriage…”

“Chai Feldblum…is a Georgetown law professor who is highly sought after on civil rights issues, especially gay civil rights.”

“…the bottom line for Feldblum is: "Sexual liberty should win in most cases. There can be a conflict between religious liberty and sexual liberty, but in almost all cases the sexual liberty should win…”

“Marc Stern has known Chai Feldblum since she was eight years old…Chai is among the most reasonable [gay rights advocates],’ he says. ‘If she's having trouble coming up with cases in which religious liberty should win, we're in trouble.”

“As general counsel for the American Jewish Congress, Marc Stern knows religious liberty law from the inside out….Consider education. Same-sex marriage will affect religious educational institutions, he argues, in at least four ways: admissions, employment, housing, and regulation of clubs. One of Stern's big worries right now is a case in California where a private Christian high school expelled two girls who (the school says) announced they were in a lesbian relationship. Stern is not optimistic. And if the high school loses, he tells me, ‘then religious schools are out of business.’ Or at least the government will force religious schools to tolerate both conduct and proclamations by students they believe to be sinful.”

“Future conflict with the law in regard to licensing is certain with regard to psychological clinics, social workers, marital counselors, and the like," Stern wrote last December--well before the Boston Catholic Charities story broke.”

“Will speech against gay marriage be allowed to continue unfettered? ‘Under the American regime of freedom of speech, the answer ought to be easy," according to Stern. But it is not entirely certain, he writes, "because sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace principles will likely migrate to suppress any expression of anti-same-sex-marriage views.”
“Jonathan Turley, the George Washington professor who is a First Amendment specialist, also sees a serious risk ahead.”

“Precisely because support for marriage is public policy, once marriage includes gay couples, groups who oppose gay marriage are likely to be judged in violation of public policy, triggering a host of negative consequences, including the loss of tax-exempt status.”

“Marc Stern is looking more and more like a reluctant prophet: ‘It's going to be a train wreck,’ he told me in the offices of the American Jewish Congress high above Manhattan. ‘A very dangerous train wreck.”

Excerpts from "Banned in Boston; The coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty” by Maggie Gallagher (Weekly Standard, May 15, 2006)