Pledge For Religious Freedom

 

I PLEDGE that I will protect religious freedom in full for all Americans, and will advance international religious freedom as part of American foreign policy.

As part of this PLEDGE, I hereby commit myself to the following positions:

FIRST, that religious liberty in full is the birthright of every American, as recognized by the First Amendment. It entails the right to believe, worship, and practice in accord with one's faith, subject only to the limits imposed by the U.S. constitution and the Bill of Rights.The right of religious freedom must be applied equally to all religious communities in America, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. At the same time, religious freedom does not mandate belief, but protects the right not to believe.

Religious freedom includes the right to employ religious arguments, or religiously-informed moral arguments, when contending for or against laws and policies, such as laws designed to protect the unborn and traditional marriage, or to relieve poverty and increase economic opportunity for the disadvantaged.

Religious freedom includes the right of individuals and of religious communities to engage in religiously-motivated charitable works. It also includes the right of individuals and of religious communities not to be forced to participate in, or to forfeit their employment because of refusal to participate in, activities that deeply offend their religious conscience.

SECOND, that I will nominate to the U.S. federal bench judges who are committed to protecting for all Americans the religious liberty rights described above.

THIRD, that I will make religious freedom promotion a foreign policy priority of my administration. This will include ensuring the U.S. State Department performs its statutory duty of advancing international religious freedom; appointing an ambassador at large for international religious freedom who is a person of stature, experienced in matters of religious freedom and diplomacy; ensuring that the ambassador at large has sufficient authority and resources to succeed; ensuring that democracy assistance funding includes support for religious freedom; and ensuring that all of America's diplomats are trained in the importance of advancing, and how to advance,  international religious freedom. 

As of March 1, 2012 there is only been one Presidential candidate who has signed the Pledge for Religious Freedom. Only one. Rick Santorum. 

We, as individuals and as a country should be concerned with religious freedom. Our leaders and those who expect us to vote for them should be concerned about religious freedom. Religious freedom is the first amendment to the very constitution of this country. 

Why is religious freedom so important? If we didn't have the freedom to worship and believe or not believe as we choose to then we wouldn't be any different than any other country that is ran under a dictatorship. The United States and her citizens would be forced to worship one religion or no religion with the penalty of death if her citizens decided to worship any other way. 

Religious Freedom was one of the reasons this country was born. The Puritans and Pilgrims left England because they were being persecuted for their unwillingness to bow to the king of England and his one religion. They wanted to be able to worship God in the way they believed He would have them do so.

Hence the arduous and dangerous journey across the sea to America they came. One by one, group by group. Family by family. 

In writing the Constitution of the United States of America, our forefathers saw the need to put into it the first amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 

This amendment was put in place to protect the citizens of the United States from a government, that given too much control, would try to control what they believe such as what had happened in England and in current countries today.

I don't know why the rest of the presidential candidates won't sign the pledge. It doesn't contain anything innocuous. All it is is a pledge stating they will continue to uphold the Constitution of the United States by upholding the religious freedom of her citizens. The one elected to be President will put into place those who will support him or her in the continuance of said constitution.

As a voter in this country I think it says a lot about the character and moral belief of our candidates in their signing or not signing of this pledge. As a Christian voter, it says even more.

I just want to say one thing to our presidential candidates, 

If you want to be believed and elected into office, you should consider signing this pledge. Of course it's only one of the many things we, the voters will look at when we go to the voting booths. We understand you could be signing it with your fingers crossed. But it might help make your stand on freedom in this country more believable.  

Fellow Christians, encourage your presidential candidate to sign the pledge. You can click http://members.opendoorsusa.org/site/Survey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=6321  to get more information to find out how to get the pledge to them.

God bless America, our home sweet home. May her freedoms continue to ring loud and true into the next century.