By Spencer Price Throughout history, great nations have faced great challenges. America, the greatest nation of all, has faced many of the greatest challenges of all ‘“ the American Revolution, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the War on Terror, and many others. In each instance, America attempted to avoid conflict through diplomacy, conciliation, and occasionally even appeasement. However, when those efforts failed, and push came to shove, America took a deep breath, drew a line in the sand, and said to her enemies, ‘Cross this line and you will pay.’ And pay they did. A few days ago, a new line in the sand was drawn in America ‘“ a line between America’s churches and the federal government. The dispute revolves around a provision of ObamaCare that requires all employers, including churches and other religion-based institutions, to pay for birth control. The Obama Administration’s effort to force such a mandate upon America’s churches and church-affiliated hospitals and charities is a clear violation of the First Amendment and can be described as shear unbridled hubris. And the millions of people in America’s religious communities have taken notice. Specifically, the provision requires all employers to pay for their employees to receive birth control pills, sterilization procedures, and drugs used to produce abortions. Catholics, the majority of which voted for Obama, are particularly up in arms since traditional Catholic doctrine is opposed to contraception. However, it isn’t only Catholics who are angry. Many from the Protestant and Jewish communities, in particular, have also voiced strong denunciation of the law. And opposition continues to increase as word of the new law spreads. Of course, those who opposed Obama from the outset are little surprised by such an egregious overreach of governmental authority. They saw him for what he was, at the very least a socialist (if not worse) bent on reengineering America into a socialist state under total government control ‘“ George Orwell’s 1984 all over again. Regrettably, the voice of concern regarding Obama’s socialist ideology was drowned out by those under the spell of his smooth-talking, teleprompter-delivered rhetoric. His message of ‘hope and change’ intoxicated American voters, especially liberals, by the millions. Unfortunately for America, the ‘morning-after’ hangover that always follows a night of binging has arrived. What amazes me most about the Administration’s efforts to undermine one of our most basic First Amendment rights, the so-called ‘separation of church and state,’ isn’t that the Constitution is being totally ignored but, rather, that the many millions of Americans that voted for Obama didn’t see it coming. Thankfully, it appears there are those in America who’ve finally decided to take a stand against such overt government intrusions. And it’s about time. Typical of Washington liberals (and liberals in general) is their hypocrisy concerning the idea of ‘separation of church and state.’ In their efforts to eliminate all religious symbols from public life, they cite ‘separation of church and state’ as sufficient justification. However, when a true issue of ‘separation of church and state’ arises, such as forcing people to forego their religious beliefs by forcing them to provide contraceptives and abortifacients, they ignore ‘separation of church and state’ altogether because they are determined to promote contraception and abortion. Thankfully, Americans of faith have had enough. They don’t want conflict, but they aren’t afraid of it. America’s faithful have drawn a line in the sand and they’ve challenged liberals and the Administration to step across it. Hopefully, liberals will choose not to step across because if they do, there’s going to be h’¦ to pay.
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