Cultures around the world are changing, and new challenges are being introduced that test the faith of Christians almost daily.
Will they continue living a life in service of Jesus Christ, or will they compromise their faith in a futile attempt to live at peace with the world?
Now, as countries like England are beginning to prosecute Christians for acts such as silent prayer, eight members of the U.S. government are sounding the alarm.
Leading the group was Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) who wrote to Rashad Hussain, the US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The letter warned of Christians facing an “existential threat” to their freedoms in the UK, “even freedom of thought.”
Recently, as Fox News reported, “A pro-life activist was arrested for the second time Tuesday for the ‘offense’ of silently praying in her head near an abortion facility in a so-called censorship or ‘buffer zone’ in Birmingham, England.
“Isabel Vaughan-Spruce’s arrest comes only weeks after the court cleared her of criminal charges for breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which enforces a censorship zone around the abortion facility, according to an Alliance Defending Freedom UK press release.”
The path of arresting people for silently praying is a dark one that promotes the policing of a person’s thoughts. That is dangerous, plain and simple.
As reported by Christian Today, “The letter from Roy and the other representatives called their arrests a ‘gross’ and ‘aggressive’ assault on individual freedoms.
“The UK is now on an unsettling path that could potentially result in existential threats to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and even freedom of thought,” they said.
The letter also highlighted the dangers that would arise should this type of legislation be passed on a national level.
“Even more disturbing, Parliament is considering legislation that would implement these anti-religious freedom censorship zones around abortion facilities across all of England and Wales, and recently rejected amendments to this legislation that would have clarified that silent prayer and consensual conversations cannot be construed as crimes,” it said.
“Arresting individuals for silent prayer is a gross, aggressive and needlessly escalatory assault on one’s fundamental freedoms.”
Removing the ability to pray in a “buffer zone” using the argument that pregnant women are being harassed is a sick tactic that certainly will not stay limited to those zones.
It is the same argument that the LGBTQ activists have used in the past, that they just wanted to live their lives free from harassment. Sounds reasonable right?
Except now if you do not actively promote and affirm that lifestyle, a person puts their entire livelihood at risk for standing on biblical principles over the LGBTQ lifestyle.
The war against prayer that has been going on for decades, ever since the Warren courts removed prayer from schools, will only increase.
Whenever Satan makes headway in his effort to hinder the Great Commission, whenever an inch is given, he will try and take a mile.
The path to outlawing prayer in certain parts of the public space will surely devolve into removing prayer from all parts of the public space, all in the name of stopping someone from being offended or harassed.
But the calling of the Great Commission is stronger than ungodly laws that seek to remove God from public spaces.
Jesus let His followers know that the world would stand against them, because it stood against Him first. But since He is greater than he who is in the world, Christians can stand strong in the knowledge that Jesus is with them even in the face of persecution or arrest. {eoa}
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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