First Amendment Rights

I guess Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is in hot water again. You remember him as the object of a recall election in 2012. That was when union bosses from around the country sent masses of temp workers into the state to act as protesters against his alleged “union busting” policies. Whether union busting or necessary for job growth, as Walker contends, I don’t know. I do know that he campaigned with this policy proposal being presented publicly and the people of the state elected him. Just why his opponents then had a recall election, I don’t quite understand. Sore losers, presumably. But back to the current controversy. Walker professes to be a Christian. As a Christian, he posted a scripture reference from the New Testament on his personal Twitter and Facebook accounts. The verse is the familiar Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” But please do not misunderstand. He did not quote the verse. He merely cited it. His Twitter and Facebook accounts read simply, “Philippians 4:13”. For this citation of Philippians 4:13, an aggressive atheist group called The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to Walker asking him to delete the message from both accounts. Rather than considering his accounts personal, the argument made by the atheists is that “it is improper” for a politician to promote personal religious views using the “machinery of the state.” Dan Barker is the co-President of The Freedom From Religion Foundation (the other co-President is Barker’s wife, Annie Laurie Gaylor). Barker and Gaylor have become adept at mailing letters threatening legal action whenever any public mention is made of God - and making certain the press is told about these letters. The website for his organization is curious for sure: tabs at the top of the page are a pretty color of blue, with a garish gold tab sticking out like a sore thumb. The garish tab that is impossible to miss is inscribed with the word DONATE. One could reasonably conclude that the website is designed not so much to inform but to fleece. Sort of like having the press report on letters sent: the more press, the more donations. What little bit of information is on the website is mostly sterile, easily refuted and belligerent diatribes that parade as “Free Thought.” There is also an atheist radio broadcast, listened by someone, somewhere I suppose, that is promoted on the site. Barker and Gaylor’s comment on their website, regarding Scott Walker posting “Philippians 4:13” on Twitter and Facebook, was “seems more like a threat, or the utterance of a theocratic dictator, than of a duly elected civil servant.” Posting “Philippians 4:13” is a threat? By a “theocratic dictator”? See, I told you the web site was, um, let’s just say bereft of intelligent discourse. Their comments seem more like an attempt to bully a duly elected civil servant into silence. “Don’t tell us about the core of your being and the values that mean the most to you and influence public policy. We don’t want to know. Keep silent about your faith!” I prefer knowing what the core values are of my elected officials. I may or may not share them, but I find it helps to know. Okay, here is my take on it. The last time I looked, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, Opinion, and Speech. I know this is tough for The Freedom From Religion Foundation to accept – but there it is. I do not read in the First Amendment where an exception is made for an elected official. Particularly one who happens to cite a verse from the Bible on Twitter and Facebook. This is not like sending out the troops to convert people to his religion. So, I say Hurrah for Scott Walker! Way to keep freedom of speech alive, Scott. Way to protect the right of all Americans to practice the freedom of Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, Opinion, and Speech, or what we commonly call… First Amendment rights.

Not a Loser

Every morning after sipping on a cup of coffee, I call the local weather station. It has a computerized answering device that gives the day, the date and the current temperature. It then gives a recorded advertisement before proceeding to the forecast. Recently the advertisement has been that the caller can ride a bus very conveniently to the new “racino.” Nothing is said about the possibility of losing all you money and having to walk back home! The Bible does have principles that speak to gambling – and none condone it. Now, I am aware that, as I have been told, getting in your car and driving on the highway is a gamble. But, of course, that kind of rationale encompasses all of life. This article is not discussing a drawing to help a charity or a $1 bill stuck in a jar at work with coworkers to buy a group raffle or lottery ticket. The former could be considered a charitable cause and the latter is a desire to maintain cohesion and team unity in a work environment. What I have in mind is institutionalized, commercial gambling - the expenditure of a sum of money in hope of returning an instant larger return, and done at a gaming facility. You know, the internet cafes, the race tracks, racinos and casinos. The inherent dangers include: loss of money necessary to sustain life (known as gambling the milk money), an adrenalin rush that excites so much that the gambler wants it repeated (addiction), and with the above two always at work, the loss of family, career and even, in some cases, life. This is not an exaggeration. There is a reason that “Gamblers Anonymous” exists, after all. But what principles from God’s Word address this issue? What can we assume God thinks of the institutionalized, commercial ventures that we call “gambling”? The toil assigned to Adam by God in Eden (Genesis 3) makes it safe to assume that working and saving for the acquiring of wealth is God’s plan. This is the opposite of the “get rich quick” approach of the gambling establishments. Here is a Biblical principle not to be overlooked: “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). I realize this verse says nothing directly about gambling, but it says a mouthful regarding the importance of work and implies that gambling is not the way we are to earn our keep. Working and saving is God’s appointed way of getting ahead financially, not gambling. Then too, the Bible warns that people who inherit wealth suddenly are those who frequently have not learned how to manage money. Consequently, they can (and often do) lose it quickly. Proverbs 13:11 states, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle.” I have read that ninety per cent of lottery winners are penniless within five years. How can this be? It is because they never learned the rules of money, i.e. how to manage it. The Bible, incidentally, transmits those rules to the reader. Then too, God’s Word has told us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Let me use myself as an example. For me to win at gambling means that a lot of other people have to lose. Hoping or even praying for their failure is not loving them. Stop to think about it for a minute: other gamblers want to see you lose. You have to lose so that they can win. How does it make you feel to know that others are hoping you lose your money? It is a pretty lousy feeling. Then why do it to others? Statistics show that those who gamble are disproportionately from the ranks of the poor or struggling. Addiction and criminal activity are associated with gambling; suicide rates for gamblers are the highest of any addictive group. Is your contributing to all these personal and social problems an act of loving your neighbor? Is your wanting to see them become losers a way of loving them? No, of course not. The old saying is “the House never loses.” The gaming establishment excites with false promises of instant wealth. But it loses just enough to keep people coming back. At the end of every day, the customers always lose and the House always wins. I don’t intend to take a bus to the racino. I don’t want to lose my money and I don’t want to walk home. I will not be a loser.