Priorities

I am on the mailing list for the Center for Law and Justice. This is a group of Christian Constitutional lawyers "dedicated to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms." One of their latest hot points is the legal battle over the pledge of allegiance. Here is the full text of their latest fundraising appeal for this battle:

Michael Newdow, who sued to take "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance - and lost - is at it again.

He's representing a different family this time with a brand new lawsuit in federal district court ... and threatening to file suits in all 13 judicial circuits.

That's why the American Center for Law and Justice is asking you to step forward and fight for the right to express your faith and patriotism as a member of our Committee to Protect the Pledge. Would you please sign our online Committee form to show your support of the Pledge to members of Congress and judges across the nation?

Your signature will allow us to represent you ... and give you a voice in this vital battle.

Newdow says the children were "coerced" into saying the words "under God", words which represent "reliance upon a falsehood", which Newdow and his fellow plaintiffs "believe any God to be."

Ridiculous!

The ACLJ is already working to protect your freedoms ... protect America's public expressions of patriotism and faith in God ... protect the Pledge of Allegiance ... and protect America's schoolchildren.

The first Pledge case was dismissed by the Supreme Court on a technicality, NOT on the merits of the argument. So the principles in question must be argued.

This new Pledge case has been filed in district court; it will certainly go back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - and if the Ninth Circuit rules as it did before, in favor of Dr. Newdow's clients and removes the phrase 'under God' ...

We will find ourselves back before the Supreme Court of the United States.

So we are preparing.

We have formed a Committee to Protect the Pledge - we invite you to join today - and we will represent your values, all the way up to the Supreme Court if necessary.

We are also representing various members of the United States Congress in this case.

We are filing major briefs in the new case and are committed to responding similarly no matter where this misguided anti-faith crusade is carried.

If the simple phrase "under God" were to be declared unconstitutional - it would set our nation on a dangerous and unprecedented "slippery slope" ...

Atheists and secularists would use the Pledge case as a precedent to attack other expressions of your faith, like the national motto "In God We Trust" on our coins and currency.

That is why we must fight this, and we must win.

(Emphasis mine.) You know, when Jesus was walking the Earth, he never showed much interest in social issues. The only social issue Jesus seemed to care about is poverty, charging his followers on many occasions to provide for the poor. To not care for the poor is to neglect Jesus, as he said through the parable in Matt 25:41-46:

41"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the (eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

42for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

44"Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

45"Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

46"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Jesus obviously took caring for the poor quite seriously. Certainly, this was pretty high on Jesus' list of priorities for the Christian life. Again, this is the only social issue Jesus directly addressed and for which He assigned responsibility to His followers. In Jesus' priorities, politics and changing the laws to be fairer to Christians did not make the list.

We live at a time where millions are suffering from the devastation of the tsunami in south Asia, where millions of children all over the third world are living in unimaginable poverty and starving to death, where AIDS has created millions of young orphans. Yet where does this Christian organization want you to put your $50? To feeding a starving family? No of course not. They apparently believe your $50 is much better used defending two words in a text read by schoolchildren. Christians in this country need to get back to Jesus' priorities, and away from man's. This is a fight we must win? This fundraising appeal is an absolute disgrace to the Christian faith, and Jay Sekulow should be ashamed of himself.

Update: AP reports

Disease fueled by freezing weather has killed more than 120 Afghan children, and desperate parents are feeding their children opium in a bid to alleviate their suffering, the health minister said Saturday.

A total of 128 children have died of ailments including pneumonia, measles and whooping cough, Mohammed Amin Fatemi told The Associated Press. He said he had no figures for cold-related deaths among adults.

"Many parents are giving opium to the children in the belief it will stop the coughing," Fatemi said. "Maybe for two or three hours it will sedate them, but it is poison for their bodies and can turn them into addicts."

Hundreds of Afghans have reportedly died since heavy snow and freezing temperatures set in across much of Afghanistan in late December, highlighting how vulnerable people remain after more than two decades of impoverishing conflict.

Some have died in accidents and avalanches, while former refugees even in the capital have apparently frozen to death in makeshift camps, exposing a lack of basic necessities despite three years of international aid.

And the fight we "must win" is "protecting" the pledge? Disgraceful! Pathetic!