When I first heard the news of President Obama at Georgetown University, my original reaction was based on who I am as a Catholic who works in Higher Education. However, there is something wrong here. What gives anyone the right to or the need to ask an institution to cover up symbols of their identity?
President Obama is not doing a great job of unifying this country. Of course, as President, you cannot make everyone happy. Yet, there are Tea parties and rumors of states such as Texas seceding from the Union. This is a long way from his "bi-partison" plans, which seem to have gone out the window. A rather large portion of Americans are Catholic. But the purpose of this writing is not to single out this specific instance, but a call to stand up for who you are. Embracing your identity is what makes this country so great. No one has the right to impede on you based on religion, race, or ethnicity. However this past Wednesday, President Obama attacked our freedom once again.
On Wednesday, April 15, President Obama made a speech at Georgetown University, one of the oldest universities in the nation. It just so happens that this university is Catholic. Of course when a diplomat or politician speaks at any university, a proper backdrop is necessary. International flags, American flags, the state flag, or some other public symbol is put up. However, our president seemed to take it a step further. Since the blue curtain couldn’t cover all of the Catholic symbols and pictures behind where the president would speak, he ordered a black, triangular molding to be place above it. Why? Because the letters, “IHS” would have still been visible. These letters, in case you didn’t know, symbolize the name of Jesus.
Separation of Church and State—any liberal, leftist, left-wing, democrat, or whatever you wish to call half of our nation’s population, will adamantly argue that the Church has no right to impede on public affairs such as elections or political conventions. Yet, President Obama had a Seder meal in the White House, and now he is covering up the name of Jesus at a CATHOLIC university. I guess separation of Church and State is a one way street? WRONG!
Let’s analyze the First Amendment, shall we?
“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.”
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say the phrase, “Separation of Church and State,” nor does it give any branch of government the power to do what the White House did this past Wednesday. So anyone thinking that the President was simply separating Church and State, does not have an argument. Please tell me where in the 1st Amendment it says that the government has the right to impede on religious institutions. The idea of this Separation has been taken way out of context. Its original purpose was to protect the free practice and worship of religion and to make sure that no “national religion” was established. This gives people the right to believe in what they want to believe in and to freely express that. It is ridiculous that an institution had to cover up it’s identity as Catholic for this one-time speech.
Imagine for a second if President Obama went to give a speech at Xavier University at the Center for Black Studies and asked to cover up a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. Or, visiting the American Jewish University, asked to cover up the Star of David. There would be hell to pay! Why isn’t there an uproar by Catholics, or better yet, why didn’t the Administration at Georgetown say, “What? You want us to cover up symbols which represent what we believe in and who we are? Are you nuts?”
I do not know what disturbs me more—the fact that our President continues to extend the power of government in this nation and divide it OR that a Catholic institution would bend so easily to an unlawful request to deny who they are by covering up the name of Jesus. I am not one to judge a man's faith, but our President claims to be Christian, yet he ordered a Christian university to cover up the name of Jesus.
“Whoever denies Me before men, I will deny him before My Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 10:33)
For a complete article on this, Google it, or check out:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46667
