The Culture War Continues

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: The economy has dominated the headlines, but the radical secularists have not stopped their assault against our values. Last week, a Rhode Island high school was ordered to remove a prayer that has hung in the school since 1963. According to a federal judge, the prayer "violated the principle of government neutrality in religion." Read the banned prayer that is so "harmful" to our students.

Sadly, too many judges today are deeply confused about the meaning of the First Amendment. It guarantees the freedom of religion, so that all may flourish free from government interference, not a freedom from religion. But the First Amendment has been so twisted now that left-wing judges routinely use it to force our schools to be "faith free" zones.

For example, religious liberty and free speech rights are under fire in Wisconsin after a student-run school newspaper published pro and con editorials on the subject of homosexual adoption. A Christian student wrote the editorial opposing homosexual adoption and cited the Scriptures as one reason to oppose it. His editorial resulted in a formal complaint being filed against the school district by a gay parent.

The school quickly issued an apology for the "offensive" letter. According to the Christian Post, Superintendent Todd Carlson said that the article did not follow school policies, and "the 15-year-old's opinion piece constituted 'bullying.'" The student was reportedly threatened with suspension and banned from writing on topics related to "religion, politics, or social issues."

But by punishing this student for expressing his Christian faith, school officials are hardly being neutral. Instead, they are using government force to express their hostility toward faith and free speech.

In Maryland, Democrat Governor Martin O'Malley is doing damage control after his wife, a Baltimore judge, referred to opponents of same-sex marriage as "cowards." An attempt to legalize same-sex marriage last year was defeated in the Democrat-dominated state after a revolt by black pastors who objected to a radical redefinition of marriage and the left's frequent comparison of homosexual rights to civil rights.

Let me repeat: The culture war is very real. While some on the right mistakenly call for a "truce" on values issues, the left has no intention of letting up until it has fundamentally transformed America on every level -- from taxes and spending to the values we will pass on to our children and grandchildren. This election will decide whether we stop this assault on family, faith and freedom or whether we continue "slouching toward Gomorrah."
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Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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