According the the UK Telegraph, a paster was out preaching on the street and was arrested for saying that the Bible teaches homosexuality is a sin, loud enough for people to hear. There are so many things that will rub you the wrong way with this story, but the fact that we are becoming more like the UK should literally put the fear of God in you. When you read the article, it's not talking about some nut case that was obviously angry and purposely trying to get under people's skin for the sake of it.
To put this into context, the original offense was this. "During the exchange, he says he quietly listed homosexuality among a number of sins referred to in 1 Corinthians, including blasphemy, fornication, adultery and drunkenness." "Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act." Later when speaking with an officer before the arrest, "He claims that the PCSO (the person who arrested him) then said he was homosexual and identified himself as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison officer for Cumbria police. Mr McAlpine replied: “It’s still a sin.”
Regardless of your beliefs on the subject, our constitution in the first amendment sets up a foundation that gives us more freedom than most men have had the privilege of having in human history. It was so obvious to those looking in from the outside, that just a few hundred years after it's writing, the face of Europe was radically changed. No longer were state religions instituted or governed by one church body, but the very foundation has seemingly changed over night. The UK, thought to be our brother in freedom, now seems to be leading the way the opposite direction.
The reason this is so important is not just about our economy, or losing the ability to choose our health care provider. It's not even because of the tragedy is losing the capitalist ecconomy that has developed more world changing technologies in two hundred years, than all the nations before it. It is because we are about to lose something, that once lost, is nearly impossible to get back. The freedom of religion, all by itself, was worth fighting, living and dieing for by those that founded this country. We have not had to learn the lesson they did, growing up in religious oppression, but if we do not stop and think long and hard about the consequences, we will.
Here's the link.
