Catholibertarian: Thank the Catholic Founding Fathers For the First Amendment

Kevin and I have been working on our new blog Catholibertarian  and while we're still in the midst of adding links to our blogroll, political and Catholic lists we decided this would be the right time to spread the word about our blog.  If you have any suggestions for our blog please do let us know as we are new to the WordPress format.  Kevin has written a post called Thank the Catholic Founding Fathers For the First Amendment.  I hope you enjoy reading it, as it is very informative, interesting and a great piece of work IMO.



The First Amendment  has a quasi-sacred status in the minds of most Americans because that is the amendment that guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press.  On that note, it guarantees the protected status of what I am doing right now in this blog.  This tendency to imagine that the First Amendment is the product of divine inspiration in nearly the same sense if not degree as the Bible is even more prevalent in those who lean toward Libertarianism.  The latter are sometimes tempted to see the U.S. Constitution, and even more so its Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments), especially the First and Second, as akin to holy writ.  For some of us, the First Amendment is the more revered of the two, but not because of the liberty it upholds in the sphere of political speech, but because the first freedom it supports is not that of speech or the press, but the free exercise of religion.
What most people do not know is that we owe the freedom of religion we enjoy here in this constitutional republic in no small part to the efforts of Catholic, most especially Charles Carroll of Carrolton, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence.   He was a delegate from Maryland, which, of the thirteen original colonies, was the only nominally Catholic one – indeed, the other delegates from Maryland were all Episcopalians. CONTINUED 
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A Judge gets SMART and Rules in Favor of Freedom of Speech

In the spring of 2010 the city of Detroit refused to run Pamela Geller's religious liberty bus ads, which offer help to people wishing to leave Islam safely.

Pamela Geller stated, "Despite the desperate need for resources for Muslims under threat for leaving Islam, the city of Detroit refused to run our freedom campaign on the Dearborn and Detroit buses." 

In May of 2010 her group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued the city of Detroit for refusing to post their religious liberty ads.

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that Detroit's SMART bus system must run Pamela's religious liberty ads which are aimed at helping those living in fear, wishing to leave Islam.

The city of Detroit even violated their own ad guidelines on freedom of speech.  The fear which Islamic supremacy poses to others of different faiths has permeated throughout both Detroit and Dearborn. Here is SMART's first guideline:

"As a governmental agency that receives state and federal funds, SMART is mandated to comply with federal and state laws.  First Amendment free speech rights require that SMART not censor free speech and because of that, SMART is required to provide equal access to advertising on our vehicles." 

CAIR claimed that Pamela's ads were "offensive." An individual or group's claim that something is "offensive' does not give them the right to violate the Constitution by violating person' free speech rights.

'According to the Washington Times, a teacher in Dearborn noted that there was "a climate of fear in the Detroit area's community." The educator explained: "The fear is palpable. I know there are things I am ‘not allowed' to say. A discussion of religion with a Muslim person is often prefaced by the statement, ‘Don't say anything about the Prophet [Muhammad].' In free society, open and honest conversation is not usually begun by a prohibition. Threats and intimidation are just part of life here." ' 

Then SMART accused Pamela's ads of being political.  WOW! Is Islam a political entity?  Are they effectively admitting that Islam is political?  Instead of or in addition to Islam being religiously based?

In their motion, AFDI argued "The fact that society may find speech offensive is not a sufficient reason for suppressing it. Indeed, if it is the speaker's opinion that gives offense, that consequence is a reason for according it constitutional protection."

Pamela stated:

"I flew to Detroit to testify in the suit back in July 2010.  David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise, who is with the Thomas More Law Center, represented me. I was armed with hundreds of pictures of honor killing victims; the testimony of ex-Muslim teenager Rifqa Bary, whose life was threatened; screenshots of Facebook fatwas on apostates, and the actual death fatwa issued at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the most important institution of Islamic law in the Sunni world and the authority that approved the revealing English-language guide to the Sharia (Islamic law) known as Reliance of the Traveller." 


"This was a huge win, not just for us, but for the First Amendment, and a defeat for all those who claim that I am a hater because I am willing to talk about what is wrong in Islam -- including, as in this case, honor killings and fatwas for apostasy. Judge Hood protected free speech and did not take any swipes at my message, which she could have (such as saying, "While we might despise AFDI's message, we must protect it..."). She did not do that. Good for her." 


"I was thrilled, not just for the protection of free speech, but for those living in danger who will be helped by our freedom buses." 


"Those ignored and abandoned people were the ones who really won this victory." 

This is indeed a huge win for the First Amendment.  The Constitution won out, as it should, over Islam's environment of fear in Detroit and Dearborn.Source URL: http://outlawrepublican.blogspot.com/search/label/first%20amendment
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Vitriolic Rhetoric by WHICH Party and Against WHICH President?

Before I begin the main part of this post I am again sending my condolences to the loved ones of the victims who were killed in this violent massacre.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims who were hurt and their families as they recover from this horrific tragedy. 


It is truly sickening in our country when politics enters into a national tragedy, and the Left tries to capitalize on a bloody situation to further their political gain.  For the Left to make false accusations and try to make the connection between either symbols or fiery debate on issues and this shooting is extremely disturbing and unwarranted.  The main reason I am writing this post is to correct misinformation by the Left. 


The NY Times is one news outlet that is trying to connect opposition to the President's policies and fiery rhetoric as a cause for the shooting or playing a role in some way in this shooting.   First, Jared Lee Loughner, the shooter,  was NUTS!!! .... mentally unstable and to say that politics or fiery rhetoric made him do this evil act is journalistic malpractice in my opinion.  Second, his political leanings were of a liberal anarchist and to try to connect the Tea Party, conservative commentators, or any conservatives to either him or this incident is absurd.  Brian Lilley of Lilley's Pad points out that it is truly sick for people to try and connect this shooting with Sarah Palin when it is solely the lone gunman's responsibility for his committing this heinous act.  
He also points out the spin being played by the liberal media.  Just because I point out that Loughner has liberal leanings doesn't mean that that is that I'm attributing his actions to his politics.  Brian Lilley shows two targeted maps of districts one used by Republicans and the other by Democrats.  So, for Democrats and the liberal media to act as if Democrats have never done anything remotely similar to Sarah Palin while denouncing her political map and casting aspersions is despicable and hypocritical.  


The New York Times article states: "But it is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge.  Many on the right have exploited the arguments of division, reaping political power by demonizing immigrants, or welfare recipients, or bureaucrats."  The NY Times provides NO PROOF to back up their accusation.  Does the NY Times have proof that a Tea Party member, or a conservative who listens to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or other conservative media played a role in any of the violent acts which took place right after the health care law was passed?  Heck, it could have been a liberal trying to make conservatives look bad or simply a nut.  So, I say to these liberal Commie journalists either prove it or retract a most irresponsible and unproven allegation.  


When an administration's spending is way out of control, and government takes over health care,  car companies, student loans, banks, Obama uses the EPA to bypass Congress and institute his Cap & Trade policies, he uses unconstitutional Czars to implement unconstitutional regulations, conservatives had/have every right to express anger.  When DHS labels opponents of the Left's ideology as "right-wing extremists" how the heck are we supposed to respond?  By heating up the rhetoric and stating the absurd - labeling conservatives "right-wing extremists" - those in the Obama administration have effectively made themselves enemies of half of the country.  But, that was done on the Obama administration's own volition.  And, these libs wonder why conservatives might get a little angry, expressing our righteous anger against this indignant, ignorant and radical administration. These libs are so clueless.  I guess the temperature of the rhetoric should have been lowered during the Bush years and activists against both wars needed to stop using their freedom of speech to promote hatred, vile acts, and should have just fallen in line and been alright with all of the Bush administration's policies.  Of course not, because the New York Times and the rest of the liberal media ONLY care about liberals freedom of speech.  Here are some examples of the heated rhetoric by the anti-war Left which was directed toward President Bush.  The ignorant, illegitimate Left wing Media were silent as a Church mouse when there was heated rhetoric under Bush. I am against THREATS TO ALL POLITICAL FIGURES. 


FROM ZOMBLOG: 




A protester with a sign saying “Kill Bush” and advocating that the White House be bombed, at the March 18, 2007 anti-war rally in San Francisco.





Unfortunately place and time weren't documented.







“Save Mother Earth, Kill Bush” says this sign from a November 20, 2003 protest.







Original source unknown.





A recommendation that Bush should hang, from an October 27, 2007 protest in Los Angeles.







"Bush is the disease, Death is the cure,” says this protester at an anti-war rally in San Francisco.







This man calls for “Death to...Bush” at the March 18, 2007 anti-war rally in San Francisco.





A sign saying "Bush — the only dope worth shooting,” at the March 15, 2008 anti-war rally in Los Angeles.





Bush being burned in effigy, at a November 3, 2004 post-election anti-Bush rally in San Francisco.







Bush being beheaded by a guillotine, at an Obama campaign rally, Denver, October 26, 2008.





An effigy of Bush being killed, at the April 10, 2004 anti-war rally in San Francisco.










The anti-Israel conspiracy site nogw.com hosts this pdf file which describes a mock trial and execution of George Bush for a bizarre litany of purported crimes; included in the document is this image of Bush being hanged at the trial. 





Then Sen John Kerry responded in such a way to Bill Maher in October of 2006 on the HBO show Real Time which could have been construed as a threat: 


Maher: You could have went to New Hampshire and killed two birds with one stone.
Kerry: Or, I could have gone to 1600 Pennsylvania and killed the real bird with one stone.


Full transcript here. 




The we have Kilborn: 





On August 4, 2000, when Bush won the Republican nomination (but before he was president), Craig Kilborn on CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn ran a graphic of the words “SNIPERS WANTED” under George Bush as he gave his acceptance speech. Although CBS belatedly apologized five days later, Kilborn was never investigated, questioned or punished, and continued to host the show for four more years.




Now the progressives or liberals reaction to this horrible tragedy is to take away even more of our rights.  TCL has posted information on Congressman Brady's plan to introduce a bill against inflammatory language. Who decides what is considered inflammatory speech?  What is considered inflammatory to one person may not be considered inflammatory to another person. Matt of Conservative Hideout exposes Leftist hate.  Maggie at Maggie's notebook has posted on Blaming the Tea Party and Sarah Palin for Giffords shootings. 


Bill Lilley  says that: 
"We can’t let the acts of what appears to be a crazed gunman, one described by classmates as crazy and a left-wing pot-head not a right wing Tea Partier, change the way we speak to each other.
Should any of us seriously be talking about blowing away our enemies? No."
   
The gunmen is a 9/11 Truther. 


It seems like a greater number of threats and violent acts occur during economic downturns.  If there are indeed more threats happening under Obama than under Bush it may have something to do with the fact that under most of Bush's presidency the unemployment rate was around 5.5 % and the unemployment rate now is presently at 9.4% and this brings the nut jobs out.  


Freedom of speech is precious and is a right afforded to we the people by the Constitution and we cannot let progressives use one horrific tragedy to limit our first amendment right to free speech.  




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Catholic Colleges Very Identity Threatened by Obama Administration

So much for religious freedom at Catholic colleges.  The Obama administration is now targeting them. This has me fuming mad!  The Obama administration has issued new federal regulations which threaten Catholic colleges right to religious freedom and also threatens their right to be able to teach according to the Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.  This attack on our religious freedom must stop!!  In Chicago Obama was very chummy with Cardinal Bernardin who was the person who developed the seamless garment of life philosophy which "holds that issues such as abortion, capital punishment, militarism, euthanasia, social injustice and economic injustice all demand a consistent application of moral principles that value the sacredness of human life (as defined by the Catholic Church)."  This philosophy has done a great injustice to the pro-life community and is false when equating abortion with that of a public execution since the Church has officially declared Dogma declaring abortion to be intrinsically evil but not in the case of capital punishment, which, according to longstanding Church tradition, the state may justly apply when bloodless means will not protect society as effectively.  So, this "seamless garment" philosophy was a perversion of Church Teachings IMO. Obama was good friends with Cardinal Berdardin and I am going to speculate that that is when he and other Marxists started infiltrating the Church and using their community organizing efforts to teach Church members their Marxist ways while perverting the true meaning of social justice and making into some political philosophy of zealotry.  I am positive that this type of thing didn't just happen in Chicago where I am sure Obama had a hand in it.  It was and is widespread, and others like Obama did their part.  That is at least in part how I believe that the whole perversion of social justice got out of hand within the Church and why church members today feel that it is okay to dissent from certain Church Teachings such as abortion and contraception.  The Catholic colleges need to fight this and take the Obama administration to court for violating their religious freedom.

Here is the article from The Cowl:

"New federal regulations issued by the Obama administration a few weeks ago threaten not only recruitment for Catholic colleges, but more importantly, their very identity. The new regulations increase oversight for colleges through either state chartering or licensing, which are necessary for colleges to obtain federal aid. While states have always had to approve colleges that receive aid, the new law mandates that states approve colleges by name. States will also have greater power to act on complaints pertaining to colleges.



So why is this a problem? New regulations represent a federal encroachment on the independence of private institutions and especially religious schools. Even the Department of Education itself admitted that "a state's role may extend into defining, for example, curriculum, teaching methods, subject matter content, faculty qualifications, and learning outcomes." Catholic colleges that incorporate religious teaching in their curriculum may risk losing federal funding if state governments don't approve of the content.


All sorts of controversial issues come to mind that could be forced into the curricula of Catholic colleges by state governments as a condition of federal aid. Schools like Providence College might have to teach that it's acceptable to get an abortion or that creationism is a myth propagated by religious wackos.


We're not safe from a repeat of what happened at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina. At this Catholic school, the administration issued a statement that employee health insurance would not fund contraceptives and abortions because it violated Catholic teaching on the dignity of human life. However, eight dissenting faculty members appealed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which responded by accusing the college of discriminating against women.



Unfortunately, federal regulation is already trying to undermine key precepts of the Catholic faith, which should be actively promoted by Catholic schools across the country. The scary thing is that even federal officials admit these new regulations do "not limit a State's oversight of institutions." In other words, states have total authority to rule against a school whose curriculum it deems "discriminatory" for promoting life.


Catholic schools that aren't approved by state governments will lose funding, which will hurt enrollment. Although enrollment obviously matters, what's at stake is greater. These new federal regulations threaten the responsibility of Catholic schools to spread their missions unimpeded by politically correct legislation, aimed at enforcing secularism—or even atheism."












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Faithful Catholicism a Firing Offense; Godophobia in Higher Education

In recent years, and especially as of late it has become more prevalent for certain people in our society to defend a Muslim’s right to free speech, and religious freedom while the exact opposite can be said for traditional Christianity. Traditional Christians are told or taught to conform to our ever-changing society which promotes homosexuality, women priests, abortion, contraception and be “tolerant” while there is no tolerance of our traditional religious beliefs. I guess “tolerance” is only a one way street. All religions should be respected for their beliefs. Our constitution guarantees “freedom of religion.” If you looked at our society one might think that our country applied the philosophy of freedom from religion instead freedom of religion in our society today. There have been way too many instances where people stir up trouble and make the claim that the word God or prayer offends them. If that is the case while at the same time they are fine with pornography and sexual implicit scenes and other moral decay of the family being prevalent on both TV and in movies it is because they are either intolerant Godophobes or they must have some mental defect that makes them incapable of comprehending the love of God. Our Founders recognized that both God and religious freedom was important for America and made that one of the underpinnings of America’s foundation. This foundation is very important for America, and for America to be “America” we must continue to defend religious freedom today and not some selective distorted quasi-religious freedom.

There has been an incident at the University of Illinois where a professor was teaching a Catholicism 101 course and someone was offended because the professor explained the tenets of Catholicism which includes having the belief that homosexual acts are a sin. The Catholic professor was fired for teaching one of the beliefs of the Catholic Church - the belief that homosexual acts are sinful. The student accused the professor of hate speech because he thought that the professor should be tolerant of what nonbelievers perceive to be moral behavior when his faith teaches him that homosexuality is immoral. This situation is ludicrous when it was his choice whether to take this particular class or not.

If you took a class called Hindu 101 would expect them to say they like beef and believed it was okay to eat beef just to conform to society when their belief is the exact opposite and that the cow is sacred? If a Christian attended a class called Jewish Faith 101 would you expect the professor to teach about the New Testament when they don’t believe in a New Covenant or that Jesus is the Son of God? Would a Christian student expect Scientology 101 to teach that Christ is Our Creator?

CatholicVoteAction.org has posted both the AP article and the email address of the public affairs office of the University of Illinois on his site. I am in full agreement with his call for people to swamp the university with emails. The fact that both the university and the on-campus Catholic center fired Dr. Howell for being a faithful Catholic is unjust. No person should be discriminated upon for their beliefs. In fact this course is all about the beliefs of the Catholic Church so this whole situation doesn’t make sense. Here is the email that caused Dr. Howell to be fired.

Here is a description of events by Dr. Howell :

Factual Description



Thomas states: “As Catholics, we can’t allow this injustice to stand. If a university can have valid grounds for firing a professor as upstanding a this one for an opinion so universally held by the Church, other universities will be able to gradually push out faithful Catholic teachers from their institutions once they decide the positions taken by the Church and being defended by such-and-such a teacher are inconvenient or offensive.”

I am in full agreement with Thomas’s statement. The University of Illinois is penalizing and persecuting Dr. Howell for his being a faithful Catholic. Secular society is praising dissenting Catholics while persecuting and marginalizing faithful Catholics. This is wrong! We have become a nation in which it is only acceptable to have one set of “religious beliefs” that conforms to those secular societal beliefs of moral relativism, where there is an anything goes policy. These people do not believe in moral absolutes. We have become a nation that no longer respects one’s religious beliefs. This is exactly what the Founders feared. We must fight back against this injustice. When being faithful to one’s own faith, one’s own moral principles is considered to be hate speech then this country has veered way off course to the Left and entered into being an anti-religious State that is diametrically opposite to our Founders core beliefs as to citizens right to religious freedom. We must keep on fighting the good fight to retain and restore our religious rights and restore many of the rights that the immoral secular Left have stolen from us. We must stop the Godophobia!










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IRS tells pro-lifers to give up 1st Amendment Rights

IRS tells pro-lifers to give up 1st Amendment



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The IRS is treading on the first Amendment rights of the members of the Coalition for Life in Iowa. The members were told that they had to give up their 1st amendment rights if they wanted to be recognized as a non-profit organization. Has the IRS made this same demand of Pro-Abortion non-profit groups? Or Leftist non-profits? If not, this is hypocrisy at its worst. If not, then this double standard must be stopped!!



"As detailed in its … narrative, the Coalition for Life carries out its tax-exempt work

by sponsoring educational forums and coordinating with other like-minded groups to educate the public and otherwise promote sanctity of life principles," the letter continues.



"The Coalition is aware that from time to time, individuals who may or may not be involved with the Coalition gather for prayer outside of a Planned Parenthood facility. These gatherings are consistently small (ten or fewer people), peaceful, not in any way disrupting, and consist solely of silent and spoken prayers," the lawyer wrote.



"As detailed in its … narrative, the Coalition for Life carries out its tax-exempt work

by sponsoring educational forums and coordinating with other like-minded groups to educate the public and otherwise promote sanctity of life principles," the letter continues.

"The Coalition is aware that from time to time, individuals who may or may not be involved with the Coalition gather for prayer outside of a Planned Parenthood facility. These gatherings are consistently small (ten or fewer people), peaceful, not in any way disrupting, and consist solely of silent and spoken prayers," the lawyer wrote.



However, an IRS agent then contacted the Coalition, through its president Susan Martinek, demanding to know whether the group "engaged in any 'picketing' or 'protest' activities at Planned Parenthood. … You then asked Ms. Martinek to have all Coalition Board members sign a statement that the Coalition will not 'picket' or 'protest' outside of Planned Parenthood or similar organizations and will not 'organize' others to do so," the law firm's letter said.



Each of us, as United States citizens' have a write to peaceful protest, according to the constitution. The IRS is taking away freedom from this Pro-Life group, called The Coalition for Life. This is totally outrageous. What other rights' of ours, according to the constitution will this administration or/and govt. take away next? This is outrageous!!!



"The IRS' requests come perilously close to violating the First Amendment constitutional rights of the Coalition's supporters, and they are not otherwise germane to the Coalition for Life's pending ... application



" As you acknowledged verbally to me over the telephone, the Coalition's application is now ripe for approval. The IRS's delay and questioning … constitutes unnecessary and prejudicial interference with the Coalition's legal right to a tax-exempt determination."



"This is the way government oppression creeps into a society," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "It starts when the government targets, and attempts to intimidate and silence the grassroots dissenters who will not dance to the tune of the Obama administration’s radically pro-abortion policies."



"This is not only political intimidation by the Internal Revenue Service but it is a blatant violation of First Amendment rights," Brown said. "Neither the Coalition for Life of Iowa nor any other educational and advocacy organization should be subjected to such discriminatory scrutiny. This is a clear case of government repression."



I am outraged by this coercion being used by the IRS to try and intimidate Pro-Life groups from peacefully protesting. WE MUST STOP THIS!!! NEXT TAX DAY, IS THERE A REVOLUTION IN THE WORKS? POSSIBLY STOPPING THE GRAVY TRAIN!!!!!


IRS STOP THIS INTIMIDATION!!!!


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