Some thoughts on the Fourth of July

Some have determined to oppose our new president, Barack Obama, in everything from the way he walks to how he speaks to what he names his dog. Yet in a day in which political leaders publicly trash their own marriages, rendering their conservative positions hypocritical, President Obama is a good example of a loving husband and father, for instance.

Some focus so much on financial matters that they make them the over-riding priority. Others dwell on what the president has said in the past and wring their hands over what they imagine he will do in the future, rather than dealing with the present. And some simply refuse to obey the simplest Biblical command, to pray for those in authority (as though America's situation allows them that license, more than in the time it was written: when the political leader was the insane and Christian-persecuting Nero.)

But there are substantive concerns for Christians these days, during this Obama
administration.

Three days after his inauguration, President Obama rescinded the Mexico City policy. The policy was first put in place by President Ronald Reagan. It prohibits U.S. taxpayer money from being used to fund abortions and abortion referral/counseling overseas, for international aid groups. (President Clinton cancelled it after his election; President George Bush - 43 - put it back in place.) This was despite campaign promises to reduce the number of abortions, to say nothing of its occurrence during a time of serious economic pressure in the United States (do we have extra money to fund abortions in other nations?). Obama rescinded the Mexico City policy one day after the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade.

President Obama has taken steps to reverse another Bush policy: the conscience rule. The rule allows for physicians and nurses to refuse to provide abortion services, based on their own consciences. Though the president recently spoke at Notre Dame about 'finding common ground' on the abortion issue, and on the need for a 'sensible conscience rule', his administration is working toward removing this vital option for medical personnel.

Although the "Fourth of July" celebrates the Declaration of Independence, which states that we are 'endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' 50 million babies have been aborted in this country since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. That's the equivalent of a 9/11 catastrophe happening every day for 50 years.

Late-term abortion provider George Tiller, whose murder was a terrible crime and has been denounced by all pro-life groups, performed 60,000 abortions, particularly late and so-called partial birth abortions. At his funeral, he was heralded as a hero.

There are serious concerns that with the balance of the Congress as it is, that the Freedom of Choice Act could become a reality - thereby overturning any and all pro-life incremental regulations that now exist.

In terms of the sanctity of marriage, the current administration's views stand in sharp contrast to the laws of God. While God's Word is plain that God's love extends equally to all, and that all are equally sinners, it is also plain that God has a plan for heterosexual marriage, and that certain behavior outside of marriage (homosexual and non-marital heterosexual) is sinful.

However, this past month the White House proclaimed June 2009 as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month."

Same sex marriage is legal in several states of the United States, with efforts underway to continue, state by state. Civil unions are legal in our own state of New Jersey, and there is currently a battle on both sides regarding actual same-sex marriage. Gender neutral marriage has been recommended by some in Trenton, and the current governor says he would sign it. The New Jersey Family Research Council is working hard to gain support for a constitutional amendment in this state, which would protect traditional marriage.

Bioethics has taken America to new, horrifying levels, allowing for the forming and termination of life.

The cult of celebrity has placed in positions of honor those who abuse their 'significant other' in domestic violence, those who live together without marriage, those who take drugs - both performance-enhancing, prescription, and illegal, those who rail against authority, and those who denounce our country. And often all this is in songs sung by the youth of our nation.

On the financial front, more and more debt is being accumulated so that Senator John McCain has called it "generational theft." Times Square's National Debt Clock is running out of spaces, and recently had to replace the dollar sign with another digit. Each American - from newborn baby to centenarians - owes approximately $36,000 on an ever-increasing national debt.

The current administration is proposing increased taxation to remedy climate concerns and the health insurance situation. Throughout the country, citizens are staging "Tea Party" re-enactments, to protest runaway taxation, while the mainstream media mocks their efforts.

And in the meantime, the maniacal regime of North Korea has positioned missiles in the direction of Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States, with very little being done by this country to strong-arm them into backing down.

Iran is in turmoil, there has been a clamor for more freedom, and the Obama administration delayed in expressing support - yet spoke out immediately to condemn the ouster of a Chavez-like ruler in Honduras. America's two strongest allies - Israel and Great Britain - have been snubbed time and time again, while the administration seeks out Arabic countries for friendship.

Illegal immigration has turned border cities upside down, and has caused conflict throughout the nation. At the same time, those here illegally are in grave danger - particularly women and children - from those who control them and harm them, and they themselves fear getting help from authorities.

Church attendance is in decline, and Biblical literacy (despite a plethora of Bibles, Christian bookstores, radio and television programming, and an endless number of internet sites) is at an all-time low, as materialism becomes the current god of many who claim to be Bible-believing Christians. For the first time in nearly two decades, no White House representative attended National Day of Prayer events. Yet criticizing Christians have absented themselves from local church prayer meetings, so that many are no longer held.

And all the while, the country is more concerned with the details of the massive memorial service for the King of Pop than it is about human trafficking and abandoned or abused children, or that no-longer-mentioned (even by the administration) matter of global terrorism and jihad against the United States.

Soldiers still defend our freedom, and still die, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and other places around the world.

And instead of determining to redeem the time because the days are evil, too many Christians use all this as an excuse to throw up their hands in despair and do nothing. While the case can be made that the imminent return of Christ is nearer than ever before, 'what manner of persons ought ye to be' should compel us - in the light of that - to worship more, study more, witness more, give more, completely upend our lives more, and take advantage of every single minute - rather than the collective shaking of the head, the longing for a romanticized past, and the group version of 'tsk, tsk.'

We can do much better.