Now, if only true deep abiding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in God, in the Holy Spirit, and in the Word of God would be restored. Political victories and cultural victories are not to be mistaken for true faith or a victory in the ongoing and ever-escalating spiritual war. There is a vast difference in these though they have been blended and put in the same package by almost every professing Christian in America in these times. Tragic, that. Too bad discernment is at such a low point.

The following is a good thing. But it has been through complacent, laxity, selfish endeavor, following of false teachers and unsound doctrines, false teachings, the love of the world and melding of paganism and worldliness within the Church, and through having American politics and all things political of greater priority in our lives that we have landed in the mess we find ourselves.

It is of our own making. Not that of Democrats, liberals, socialists, communists or a political party or an election. It is all due to the silence, the complacency, the absence, the coasting in neutral, the living for this world, this nation rather than for Christ uppermost, for God uppermost as devoted disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Period.

Yes, it’s nice to have faith markers in the public square and such — but it is of greater value, progress, endurance, and true change to have the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ securely deeply marked within a truly changed heart and mind.

Ken Pullen, A CROOKED PATH, Thursday, May 18th, 2023

Restoring Faith Markers to Public Square

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

By Matthew White

Reprinted from The Stand

During and following the “mostly peaceful protests” of 2020, seeing statues and monuments removed across the fruited plain became a common occurrence.

By July 2020, according to Jonah Gottschalk from The Federalist, “At least 183 monuments, memorials, statues, and major historical markers [were] defaced or pulled down since protests began in May.”

Why the hostility toward symbols that serve as a reminder of the country’s heritage?

According to Nile Gardiner and Joseph Loconte of the Heritage Foundation, “The radical Left has hijacked debate over America’s monuments to wage a cultural war. Their goal: to deny the moral legitimacy of our democratic republic.”

Nothing new

Though the attempts to remove or destroy historical works were thrust into the public eye more recently, the movement is nothing new.

Countless are the stories of attempts to remove crosses, Nativity scenes, Ten Commandment monuments, and anything else with any reference to God.

Not only have the physical symbols been under attack, but also individuals who hold to the morals and ethics espoused in those symbols have been attacked for exercising their freedom to express their sincerely held religious beliefs.

However, First Liberty Institute (FLI) believes there is hope. The First Amendment advocacy group has launched an initiative to protect and restore religious displays and monuments and return them to the public square.

Fighting back

FLI is one of the nation’s largest legal organizations dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans. Last November, FLI introduced Restoring Faith in America, a movement it hopes will save and preserve the nation’s heritage.

As a result of two recent landmark victories, FLI believes the tide is turning, and where religious liberty has lost ground, it can be reclaimed and even advanced.

Writing about the initiative, Jorge Gomez, FLI senior manager of content strategy, cited the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and American Legion v. American Humanist Association cases as decisions that will afford the opportunity to right the ship.

The Kennedy case involved high school football coach Joe Kennedy of Bremerton, Washington, who was fired for his post-game 50-yard line prayers. In the latter case, the American Humanist Association attempted to remove a nearly 100-year-old WWI Veterans Memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland, because it is shaped like a cross.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality for the defendants in both cases – Kennedy in July 2022, and American Legion in June 2019.

Gomez wrote, “The victories in American Legion and Kennedy brought an end to the days of offended observers forcing government to scrub all public references to the divine.”

Going on the offensive

Rather than merely waiting and defending, FLI suggests it is time to be proactive. FLI believes the Supreme Court made it clear in their decisions that public religious displays should be seen as “presumptively constitutional.”

“For decades, public religious expression was censored, and people of faith were stripped of their constitutional rights,” Gomez wrote. “Religious Americans were accustomed to playing defense and reacting to violations of our First Freedom. But with the incredible new momentum for religious freedom, we cannot stand idly by as enemies of freedom plan their next attack.”