First Amendment vs First (Greatest) Commandment

            Our society/culture could well be characterized as one of chaos, confusion, and double talk. Up is down, and wrong is right. One need look no further than the demands to impose sectarian prayer with mandatory Bible reading in schools and religion-specific rituals and icons in the public forum accompanied by the irrational and misinformed insistence that the right to have a semi-automatic rifle and multi-capacity ammunition holders is necessary for freedom.

            I quickly admit that these are complex issues, but I was saddened recently when I put a copy of the Constitution beside a copy of scripture based on and revered by the Judeo-Christian traditions. A contrasting parallel grabbed my attention.

            When Jesus of Nazareth was asked what is the greatest (First) commandment [Matthew 22: 37; Mark 12: 28-31; Luke 10: 25-28], he quoted his scripture (Deut.6:5) saying we are to love God completely. The Bible thumpers and denominational leaders of our society say the First Amendment means the imposition of their beliefs and morals on the rest of us. They have made an idol of their god and scripture and ignored the heart of the message. [Southern Baptists leadership’s attack on the Boy Scouts’ recent reversal of policy on gay leadership would be funny if it weren’t so pathetically sad.]

            Then Jesus followed without hesitation with his admonition for the Second commandment, again quoting his scripture (Leviticus 19: 18), saying to love our neighbor as ourselves. The NRA and violence-obsessed culture responds by saying that guns are required to reduce the killing in our schools and on our streets. In their paranoia the “tyranny” our founders identified has become our own government. Love and concern for neighbor is absent in their (lack of) thinking.

            This is the double speak I mentioned earlier. The freedom of religion (anti-establishment and free exercise) has become the power to impose beliefs and hand-picked morals on this country. The freedom to bear arms as intended has become the license to stock pile these weapons, bear concealed weapons in public, shoot at will if you think you are threatened, neighborhood vigilantes who answer to no one, perverted mentality that says we must kill to be safe. That is like saying we must continue to eat to prevent obesity.

            Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; they are not entitled to their own facts. Silence is complicity. I refuse to yield the moral ground to ignorant, misinformed, self-centered militants with no concern or compassion beyond themselves.