December 30, 2008

A Resolution for the New Year

With another year almost in the books, we begin to turn our sights to a new year. And it will be new in an historic sense. The first African-American elected President of the United States will be sworn into office. And in Tennessee state government, for the first time since Reconstruction Republicans will hold a majority in both the House and Senate and the Speakers in both Chambers are expected to be Republicans.

Theses political leaders will have great influence for good or evil not just for the coming year, but for years to come as the effects of the policies they advocate, if adopted into law, become a part of our societal ethic. Thus, we would do well to be obedient to the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to “pray for rulers and all those in authority.” Political activism is good and needed, but prayer is essential. It is essential for at least two reasons.

Free Exercise

Each year, the President declares January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day, and calls upon Americans to “observe this day through appropriate events and activities in homes, schools, and places of worship.” No doubt some in today’s society, pointing to the “Establishment Clause,” might even decry the passage of such a resolution, but by doing so, they demonstrate the importance of giving due recognition to the countervailing “Free Exercise Clause.”

No doubt the imbalance between the expansion of the Establishment Clause and the contraction of the Free Exercise Clause can be traced to 1990, when the United States Supreme Court retreated from the high protection it had previously accorded Free Exercise claims. Even the prestigious Harvard Law Review said that our highest Court had, as a practical matter “eviscerated” and “gutted” much of the protection previously enjoyed under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. But there are ways that Tennesseans and their elected Representatives can help “right the ship.”

Blessings,

David Fowler

President, Family Action of Tennessee