Do We Need To Reevaluate The Term 'Religious Freedom"

Religious Freedom is a word tossed around a lot these days. The context of the phrase in simpler terms for many is:


    "An Individual or Group is free to worship as he or she sees fit"

The problem with the definition is that many people around the world are subjugated to inequalities based on religious freedoms. It is not just ISIS, it is most major world religions. It is an illusion for many that they are "Free" to worship and it is the will of their God to be subjugated. The opposite is happening as individuals without realizing it live in a society that free will is subjugated to religion.

The true definition of Religious Freedom is as follows:

     "The ability of an individual or group to impose their religious beliefs on another individual to worship in a certain manner or context."

Religion is conceptualized for an individual. They are given an illusion that "all things happen for a reason." The problem with this concept is that factually, individuals are misled into believing that somehow life is based on divine intervention from a higher power. It is a subtle manipulation. For example, the higher power is credited with positive interactions in a person's life while never credited with negative events in a person's life. This leads to complicated scenarios to question religion within an individuals thought process known as doubt. Supports are provided within most religious organizations to stamp our all doubt. Doubt is the enemy of free will, and must be squashed for a person to successfully achieve religion is many religious groups.

Today's definition of religious freedom can be torture for children around the world. We see the images of recruitment internationally, but ignore the negative effects in our own back yard. Subtle bullying and intimidation to lead children to a higher power exists in our communities and schools. There lacks protection for children from groups that want to convert a child to their ideas of religion. Parents who are not particularly religious will be subjected to religious groups imposing their will on children starting in Middle School.

Can religion be a positive event for a person? Absolutely. Religion can be a positive force in a person's life through free will. When it is a personal choice or reflection, the connotation has a different meaning. This is a better definition of "Religious Freedom." When your natural rights lead you to a path of learning, it is through freedoms that you achieve an informed decision about God.

Think about daily informed decisions people make without the help of other individuals or groups. It is those decisions that people feel complete, and well informed. We are a nation that free will is governed by our Constitution. Our Declaration of Independence was founded on the truth of free will. It is this form of religious freedom that existed back in the 1700s. People came to religion freely when our nation was founded. This was the basis of the 1st Amendment in regards to freedom of religion.

We as a nation need to reinvigorate protecting the religious freedoms of children and adults to naturally decide for themselves the right path to a higher consciousness, including the path to a higher power. A new dialog regarding the context of the phrase would serve the 21st century well, and possibly move us forward into a world of generous thinking versus war and conflicts. That is the true definition of religious freedom.

Would You Live In The United State Of Texas?

The British exit vote of the European Union will surely inspire the state of Texas to consider secession from the United States. Texas is unique, in that it was a nation-state prior to entering the union.

Critics will tie a succession movement to racism and Donald Trump. However, the reasons for succession go well beyond the mainstream media's interpretation of secessionist thinking. Texas is the 10th largest economy in the world if they left the union. They have the resources to be an independent nation. The movement would primarily be economic and benefit the citizens of the state.

Another reason for secession would be Texas has a conservative spirit of minimal government. The United States has increased the involvement of government in personal decision making. This is not a part of the spirit of conservative thinking. Secession would appeal to Texans as the see less government as an attractive reason to leave the union.

Texas is geographically in a good position to secede. Most states are landlocked. Texas has excellent ports for trade, and borders Mexico, one of our largest trading partners. Texas also has Oil, Wind and Solar to be self-sufficient as a nation. Texas would also be able to solve problems quicker with a smaller bureaucracy, which could be appealing to it's neighbors to relocate.

Whether Texas secedes or not, it is important to realize that as a state, secessionist thinking has many benefits for the people of Texas. It is not born from racist thoughts. It is born from self-interests of the citizens that live and work in Texas.  

Inclusive Learning Is So Important For Every Community

In the 1950's, the Supreme Court ruled that communities be more inclusive with the ground breaking decision known as Brown V. The Board Of Education. Similar decisions would follow, including people with disabilities and other groups that were discriminated against. The United States, it would seem was moving towards a more inclusive society.

While there have been great gains, it seems that high stakes testing has reduced progress. Quietly, classrooms in some communities have been again segregated. People with disabilities have been reduced to smaller less inclusive settings. It would seem that full inclusion is no longer the goal. The academic needs of the mainstreamed children far outweigh the needs of inclusive education. Social learning has taken a back seat to standardized testing.

While anecdotal, there is evidence to conclude that the same can be said for minorities. Some minorities are shipped off to alternative education sites or segregated learning centers. Behaviors are often the rationale for such moves. The school districts will argue that they lack the proper setting for such behaviors, and smaller settings have a goal for the student to return to their home district. Often, this is not the case. Many sent away will graduate at the learning centers that was intended to return them home.

Children leaving their cohort from their community, especially at such a young age can have negative consequences for the community as a whole. When diversity is absent from the classroom, students can make conclusions later on as adults that can be intolerant to other groups of people in their community. A community will lack empathy for certain social issues while being overly supportive of more mainstream causes. Advocacy efforts for those less fortunate will fail when a community is less educated about the citizens that no one sees or hears from as children. 

This was never the intent of Civil Rights legislation, and should be reexamined by educational leaders. It is time to advocate for the benefits of full inclusion whenever possible for disenfranchised populations.

The Next Civil Rights Movement - Disallow Franklin Graham In Public And Government Facilities

Franklin Graham is on tour. He wants to garner enough votes for candidates that have a platform to deny someone their civil rights. He makes it sound nice. Candidates to restore the family is such a catchy phrase. However make no bones about it, Franklin Graham wants to restore policies that discriminate against gays, and lesbians. It is time for our Government to limit people like Franklin Graham to privately owned facilities.

How far right is Franklin Graham? He has endorsed Vladamir Putin's policies to protect children from gays. His stand is immoral and incorrect. Most of the abuse and neglect in our nation is at the hands of heterosexuals, not homosexuals. His agenda is biased and hateful. Mainstream Christians have condemned his comments like the one he made about Putin.

When we allow Pastors like Graham to make a salary of 880.000 a year, and be given a non-profit status, we promote an agenda of hate. When a Pastor garners such a salary, and goes on tour, their role has changed. They want to impact the role religion plays on individual human rights. This is unconstitutional and unfortunately in the minds of Americans proper.

For years, the KKK, and conservative commentators have been protected under the Bill of Rights. It is the 21st century and we need to limit their impact on our society. The Bill of Rights is flexible. You can get arrested for yelling, "Fire!" in a crowded building, yet a Pastor can scream, "I want to help gays and lesbians prevent eternal damnation in hell."  One is just as dangerous as the other. We need to limit hateful speech and it's impact on our children and vulnerable adults.

Limiting Graham will start at the grassroots level. It will have to start with expanding against churches like the Westboro Baptist Church to all churches that limit the rights of individuals. When Graham or any Pastor with a message of hate comes to your town, it is time to become active and protest their agenda.

 We have reached that point in America, and the rest of the world. We have to confront those that promote an agenda of hate.

Let's Be Honest - The Bogey Man In The Sky That Discriminates Does Not Exist

It is time for Americans, and people around the world to challenge extremist thinking, especially when it comes to religion. Currently, there are too many people that believe there exists a higher power that picks and chooses his people, based on the words of men written centuries ago. The truth is, that the idea of an existence of a higher power for the past two thousand years has lead to countless numbers of deaths. It is also true that ethnic cleansings and brutality were inspired by extremist thoughts. History has seen countless wars based on the ancient texts. Centuries past, people blinded followed because that was the truth without dispute. Today however, thanks to science, we know that many ancient texts no longer contain truths. We stand at a point in history that we should no longer be guided by religious intolerance. It exists because we allow it to exist. We teach false truths to our children. Our public schools are not allowed to teach science without being challenged by evolutionists. Thus, we remain silent instead of teaching the truth.

We live in an age in which absolutism in religious thought should be challenged and extinguished. There is no need for tolerance of faiths that practice extremist thoughts that include the denial of human rights. The Bill of Rights or similar documents around the world never were intended to protect religious freedoms that exist in today's context. Governments around the world need to end the practice of tolerance towards ideas that promote the hatred of another individual or groups. Our leaders should not be misled by religious thoughts that are simply not true.

The problem with religion is the teachings found in most books. Most religious books teach inaccuracies to children and born again adults.  At this point in history, there is no reason, to believe that any group is targeted by God to be considered sinners or immoral based on outdated ideologies. For example, the idea that a man can not be with a man or a woman can not be with a woman is not factually the word of any higher power. The truth is that authors of ancient texts did not have the knowledge we have today, and wrote the stories based on cultural norms of centuries past.

How does religion impact generous thoughts? We spend more time online denying the rights of the transgendered to use bathrooms than we did acknowledging the people who died in Orlando. The priorities are skewed because people do not challenge the ancient thoughts of religious teachings. People do not realize that the religious books they are reading have been rewritten from their original authors. Over time, men have changed the context as humans have developed. The claim that a book is infallible, when it has been rewritten for modern audiences  is in itself is absurd.

There is a pattern to hate that involves believing that the bogey man exists. The pattern I am about to describe is just as dangerous as a loaded weapon. In the right hands, it can kill someone. Here are some examples that need to be challenged regarding conventional thinking: When someone believes the earth is 6600 or 10000 years old, they lack rational thought. We live in an age that it is indisputable to accept such a concept. When a person thinks the Old Testament or Koran is Infallible, they need to understand they are putting things into context that simply are not true. The new religious leaders claim the opposite. They claim that it is non-believers that take things out of context. Leviticus is Levitics is Leviticus. The truths proclaimed in that chapter are barbaric and obscene. It is a fact that women have been subjugated by such thoughts for thousands of years. Same sex couples have been harassed and killed over Leviticus. The same is true for the stories of Allah destroying the people of Lut. Countries have the death penalty for homosexual acts based on the teachings of ancient texts, and the world community needs to challenge such thinking moving forward.  

The global community needs to rise against the many injustices sponsored by religion similar to the fight we waged against fascism in the 20th century. We can start by acknowledging that the bogey man in the sky that discriminates is a figment of one's reality created by men centuries past. Once we conquer the man upstairs that sponsors hate, we will go along way in ending global extremism and terrorism.

It Is Time To Reinvigorate Silence Equals Death

When the AIDS virus was discovered in the late 80s, a group known as Act Up had a great educational campaign titled, "Silence = Death." The idea behind this movement was simple. When those not impacted as of yet by intolerance choose to be silent, people will die. The power behind this movement came from the gay and lesbian community. It challenged people, gay or straight to speak out against intolerance. This movement was incorporated into curriculum in our schools and very successful towards gains for the LGBT community.
If we can learn anything from the early advent of Act Up, it is that their campaign is more important now, than ever. Mass shootings, religious intolerance, and the overall globalization of hate has taken many forms. Many people are not speaking up against groups or individuals that impact the spread of hate. People are choosing to be silent, and this leads to death.
Whether it is political leanings, or pressures from our community, many still choose to be silent for all the wrong reasons. Social media is a great example of our silence. Friends and relatives post about hate so often, and we often give them a pass. It is never direct, yet subtle. For example, they post that a soldier wounded from war is a "real" hero in comparison to Caitlyn Jenner. They both can be seen as heroes, without the slam on the LGBT community. It happens all the time. Whether it is related to gun control, religious intolerance, or far right fringe postings, we seldom speak up and challenge the intolerance of others. We give it a pass far too often without realizing that this kind of thinking  leads to violence in our communities.
When we are silent, those on the far right promote extremists thoughts without realizing the impact it can have on those individuals that suffer from mental health issues. Too often, an individual with mental health issues has plenty of time on their hands. They watch mass amounts of television and surf the internet. Whether it is the far right screaming on TV or the posts on social media, it is a fact that they play in role in violence. Predisposition has been proven to be a catalyst to future violence when people immerse themselves into a negative thought pattern towards another group or individual.
The research should strengthen our resolve to realize that it is time for silence to take a back seat to activism. People need to challenge their friends and relatives and impact change on a local level. In the future, do not just examine events like Orlando on  a national level. Look at your own community. For example, did your community have a remembrance for the victims of Orlando or did your community stay silent. It speaks volumes when a community fails to react to such an event. It is led by community leaders that were silent due to political leanings. What a community chooses to respond to is directly correlated to the leanings of hate. The most important learning opportunities for our Children are teachable moments. Missing them dictates where our priorities are as a society regarding how to respond to hate.
Another problem is staying silent online. It is those that promote memes for patriotism that often fail to give remembrance to people who died in Orlando. They cry and rally over a soldier not getting a proper funeral, however stay silent when our citizens of Orlando die in a hateful attack. People who take umbrage to President Obama going to Japan to visit the survivors of Hiroshima on Memorial Day lack the respect and empathy for such actions. These kind of responses ttruly speaks volumes to our own lack of empathy as a society.

Too often political leanings are never challenged, however a person's attack on a President that is biased deserves a conversation. There is a reason why many people challenge President Obama every time he misses a funeral or remembrance. It is due to intolerance, whether overt of subtle. The truth is there is no difference when someone dies from the hands of gun overseas or here at home. The attacks on our president are rooted in hatred towards another individual or group, and  is very sophisticated. We need to find that same passion in to challenge another persons lack of empathy towards any human being that has suffered from violence.

What should one do? If you have a friend or relative with a viewpoint that can lead to hate, it is time to challenge them. Intolerant people like to challenge others with different ideas all the time to accept their viewpoint. Challenging people also use measures of getting their viewpoint to be generally accepted. However, it is those with far right thinking that are the most dangerous in our communities. For example, far right people are recruiting our children right from under our noses by inviting them into their homes and community gathering places to recruit a child to their point of view. This has to stop across our nation. People have to speak up against groups that sponsor hate. It is also inporatand that conservative churches and faith communities should not be given a pass moving forward. They also play a role in hate crimes, and no one wants to address their actions. Again, silence = death. 

It is important to watch, look and pay attention to the subtle posts online or actions in your community. We need to challenge any group that tries to spread intolerance in our schools. It should be a goal for every community to restore balance and keep those that sponsor hate to themselves. The more they gain ground, the more hate that is spread. It is time to speak out and stand up to intolerance. It is time to remember that Silence = Death.

Orlando - Hold On......Let's Not Take Extremism Out Of Context.

It is becoming clear that religious extremism is behind the nigh club massacre in Orlando. It is also looking like Muslim Extremism was behind this attack.


While Muslim Extremism is primarily a plague in the Middle East, religous extremism has been a plague on the United States. It may come to surprise people that most extremism is practiced by Christians, not Muslims in the United States. Home grown, and more political than people realize, it has been a cancer on our nation and has cleverly been masked as Patriotism since 9/11.

Since Christianity is a majority of our citizens, it is hard to track religious extremism. Tracking of hate crimes can be complicated by Christian acts of violence. For example, the Charleston shooting of 9 African Americans in a church is not considered a hate crime, even though the shooter clearly found motivation from the Bible to commit such acts.

While Muslims are feared in the United States by some, the FBI has tracked 1140 attacks by Christians against Jews in 2014 in the United States. Yet there was 1340 crimes against sexual orientation. I am not sure how the FBI can differentiate between the 2. Most origins of crimes against sexual orientation are motivated by religious upbringing. Either way, one can assume that religious intolerance is a common thread for hate crimes.

What most may not know is that 9/11 led to a series of events that increased fundamental outreach towards children in our public schools. President Bush included with the Patriot Act legislation that allowed schools to have an increase of religious presence. This opened the door to religious clubs and special events like prayers at the flag pole. The goal of the legislation was to loosen the control over public schools regarding the separation of church and state.

What some parents have experienced has been almost as painful as a mass shooting. Unbeknownst to them, Christian Churches have sent youth pastors into schools as teacher assistants and aides. These folks befriend children and often encourage them to attend events. At these events, indoctrination begins and their parents are considered to be "non supportive" participants of the road towards Christ.

Without parents knowing, there have been examples of these groups encouraging high school participants to skip college whereas doubt through higher learning can be a barrier to the road to religious enlightenment.

Most of these examples can be found in the south, and rural areas across the United States. Inner cities have kept restrictions to such events happening, however religious organizations have found a way to inner city children via multiple outlets.

The problem with evangelizing youth is that they will be indoctrinated into believe the Bible is Truth.

When a verse in Leviticus tells you that a man sleeping with a man or a woman sleeping with a woman should lead to death. The young mind will be conditioned to believe this is true. It can happen with adults, but the profile is that it has a stronger impact on children.

There are other examples of religious violence. In Whitesboro New York, a church member was beat to death by his congregation regarding his behavior.  Conservative churches can have strict doctrinal interpretations due to their fear of a church member doubting the teachings of the pastor or the group as a whole. Hundreds of thousands of youth groups bring kids into the fold through clever fun events, only to fall prey to such teachings. It is a very dangerous recruitment practice happening all over the United States.

The political consequences of returning the balance of separation of church and state can no longer be tolerated by the general electorate. Most religious people can differentiate between personal faith and fundamentalism. What political leaders need to do is enact legislation that greatly restricts the rights of conservative churches to enter public schools with their propaganda. Stricter hiring guidelines are needed for public service positions to filter out religious zealots. Schools need to return to being safe havens for children to learn without religious pressures regarding the path to enlightenment.

Guns are a problem, but one has to remember that during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, fundamentalists used home made devices to kill hundreds of people in churches. There were also over 3000 lynching's a year. Hate finds a way, and guns should not be the blame for our events such as Orlando. Hate finds a way, and it is time for us as a nation to deal with the extremists that promote hate.