It has been sad to see the swift and spineless capitulation of our nation’s Christians to the atheist agenda. For the last decade, Christians have come under a steady persecution the likes of which have never been seen in American history. Liberals, with their twisted view of the Constitution, believe they are standing up for the First Amendment. And because few are brave enough to challenge them, they are winning by default.
At least one man is not going down without a fight. He is Superintendent Michael Gilbert of White Oak, Texas. Gilbert is being pressured by an atheist group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation to take action against Principal Dan Noll of White Oak High School. Mr. Noll, you see, has been subjecting his school to the horror of a Bible verse each morning in the announcements.
Under almost any other circumstances, one would expect a quick apology from the superintendent. One meant to avoid legal troubles. We expect this because it’s what we get time after time. We recently saw it when a Florida student was admonished for saying “God bless America,” to conclude his own morning announcements. If uttering a nondenominational, historically patriotic phrase like that is a violation of the establishment clause, surely there can be no room for a Bible verse.
But Gilbert is standing firm. He responded to the Foundation defiantly. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said in a statement. “I will be praying for you and your staff daily.”
Wow! That’s the kind of backbone we should see more of. It has been disheartening to see so many Christians abandon their faith in the effort to get along and keep the boat afloat. To see one with the courage of his convictions is like finding a rare diamond among a thousand cubic zirconia.
We the People
What Gilbert realizes is that this country is what we make of it. So often, traditionalists, conservatives, and Christians are content to complain. Content to watch as liberals infect one area of our American life after another, marginalizing our viewpoints until they seem extreme and outdated. But while the media portrays the country in certain ways – buoyed by misleading polls that give exactly the answers the pollsters are looking for – the reality is something far different.
The majority of us do not like what Obama has done to this country. We do not approve of the way Christianity has been whitewashed from our culture and history. We are the people that made American Sniper the number one box office hit of 2014. We are the people who still believe that the American flag means something.
Unfortunately, we are watching our values being flushed away. We shake our heads, as if government is something separate from us. We cringe at the growing federal authority, the anti-American trends, and the slow but sure turn away from God. But we do so little about it.
This country can be exactly what we want it to be. But it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take the bravery of men like Michael Gilbert.
But isn’t it worth it?
