The current political climate in country is becoming more and more openly hostile to Christianity, almost to the point that we seem to live in a post-Christian culture.
Here at CSE we believe that God is sovereign and our allegiance is to him first. At times our beliefs have caused us to face persecution, ridicule and many other unfortunate and unfair situations. Yet we know that God is faithful and he is more than able to finish that which he began in and through us. It is that spirit that we offer to you information that will assist you in knowing yours rights as a Christian, and how to defend the precious liberties that are yours because someone was willing to pay the price to ensure that you are able to freely exercise your religious beliefs in the United States of America.
With our rights come responsibilities and it is of the utmost importance that we understand that as Christians our battles are spiritual in nature. Satan is active, he is using people in power to attempt to accomplish his goals and sadly many Christians sit idly by and let him do as he pleases. God called us to action, not inactivity. If you are a child of God, you are a soldier of the Cross and it is your responsibility to stand fast, sound the alarm and give an answer to those who question. Christianity is not passive, although many fall into the routine of comfortable Christianity and choose to let others do the work for them. This passive attitude is one of the most effective tools of the devil. He convinces Christians that is it hopeless, one cannot make a difference. That is simply not true. The Bible is replete with examples of one man or woman sold out to God making a substantial difference in the world in which they live. Our hope is eternal and we have the God that cannot fail on our side. The victory is ours, if we'll only step out in faith and take up the battle shield.
One of the saddest commentaries on Christianity is that unsaved men and women have fought and died to preserve our precious liberties, and many Christians do not use those inalienable rights endowed on us by our Creator. Eternity in hell is a large price to pay for defending rights that are taken for granted. As never before, America needs religious freedom fighters. We no longer need covert Christians. Everyone else has come out the closet and it is well past time that we do too. It is our prayer that you will use the resources provided in this section of our website to help spiritually salvage our country. May God richly bless your efforts as you are obedient to his call on your
life.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
140 West Main Street
P.O. Box 568
Midland, Michigan 48640
Phone: (989) 631-0900
Fax: (989) 631-0964
E-mail: mcpp@mackinac.org
Internet: http://www.mackinac.org
National Right to Work Legal Foundation
8001 Braddock Road
Springfield, Virginia 22160
Phone: (703) 321-8510
Toll Free: 1-800-336-3600
Internet: http://www.nrtw.org
Pacific Justice Institute
P.O. Box 4366
Citrus Heights, California 95611
Phone: (916) 857-6900
Fax: (916) 857-6902
Landmark Legal Foundation
457-B Carlisle Drive
Herndon, Virginia 20170
Phone: (703) 689-2370
Fax: (703) 689-2373
E-mail: markrlevin@aol.com
Internet: http://www.llf.org
Center for Individual Rights
1233 20th Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 833-8400
Fax: (202) 833-8410
E-mail: cir@mail.wdn.com
Internet: http://www.cir-usa.org
Student prayer and religious discussion: The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not prohibit purely private religious speech by students. Students therefore have the same right to engage in individual or group prayer and religious discussion during the school day as they do to engage in other comparable activity. For example, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray before tests to the same extent they may engage in comparable nondisruptive activities. Local school authorities possess substantial discretion to impose rules of order and other pedagogical restrictions on student activities, but they may not structure or administer such rules to discriminate against religious activity or speech.
Generally, students may pray in a nondisruptive manner when not engaged in school activities or instruction, and subject to the rules that normally pertain in the applicable setting. Specifically, students in informal settings, such as cafeterias and hallways, may pray and discuss their religious views with each other, subject to the same rules of order as apply to other student activities and speech. Students may also speak to, and attempt to persuade, their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics. School officials, however, should intercede to stop student speech that constitutes harassment aimed at a student or a group of students.
Students may also participate in before or after school events with religious content, such as "see you at the flag pole" gatherings, on the same terms as they may participate in other noncurriculum activities on school premises. School officials may neither discourage nor encourage participation in such an event.
The right to engage in voluntary prayer or religious discussion free from discrimination does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or to compel other students to participate. Teachers and school administrators should ensure that no student is in any way coerced to participate in religious activity.
Graduation prayer and baccalaureates: Under current Supreme Court decisions, school officials may not mandate or organize prayer at graduation, nor organize religious baccalaureate ceremonies. If a school generally opens its facilities to private groups, it must make its facilities available on the same terms to organizers of privately sponsored religious baccalaureate services. A school may not extend preferential treatment to baccalaureate ceremonies and may in some instances be obliged to disclaim official endorsement of such ceremonies. Official neutrality regarding religious activity: Teachers and school administrators, when acting in those capacities, are representatives of the state and are prohibited by the establishment clause from soliciting or encouraging religious activity, and from participating in such activity with students. Teachers and administrators also are prohibited from discouraging activity because of its religious content, and from soliciting or encouraging antireligious activity.
Student assignments:
Students may express their beliefs about religion in the form of homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free of discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance, and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school.
Religious literature:
Students have a right to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates on the same terms as they are permitted to distribute other literature that is unrelated to school curriculum or activities. Schools may impose the same reasonable time, place, and manner or other constitutional restrictions on distribution of religious literature as they do on nonschool literature generally, but they may not single out religious literature for special regulation.
Religious excusals:
Subject to applicable State laws, schools enjoy substantial discretion to excuse individual students from lessons that are objectionable to the student or the students' parents on religious or other conscientious grounds. However, students generally do not have a Federal right to be excused from lessons that may be inconsistent with their religious beliefs or practices. School officials may neither encourage nor discourage students from availing themselves of an excusal option.
Released time:
Subject to applicable State laws, schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation or penalize those who do not attend. Schools may not allow religious instruction by outsiders on school premises during the school day.
Teaching values:
Though schools must be neutral with respect to religion, they may play an active role with respect to teaching civic values and virtue, and the moral code that holds us together as a community. The fact that some of these values are held also by religions does not make it unlawful to teach them in school.
Student garb:
Schools enjoy substantial discretion in adopting policies relating to student dress and school uniforms. Students generally have no Federal right to be exempted from religiously-neutral and generally applicable school dress rules based on their religious beliefs or practices; however, schools may not single out religious attire in general, or attire of a particular religion, for prohibition or regulation. Students may display religious messages on items of clothing to the same extent that they are permitted to display other comparable messages. Religious messages may not be singled out for suppression, but rather are subject to the same rules as generally apply to comparable messages.
n. governmental permission to perform a particular act (like getting married), conduct a particular business or occupation, operate machinery or vehicles after proving ability to do so safely, or use property for a certain purpose.
n. the certificate that proves one has been granted authority to do something under governmental license.
n. a private grant of right to use real property for a particular purpose, such as putting on a concert.
n. a private grant of the right to use some intellectual property such as a patent or musical composition.
v. to grant permission by governmental authority or private agreement.
As you can see from the foregoing definitions, the granting of a marriage license by the state carries with it several legal implications and assumptions. First, the government assumes it has the right to regulate and license that which is a God-given right. It does not! Secondly, why on earth would a Bible-believing Christian seek governmental permission to enter into that which God ordained and blessed? When you seek a license, you enter into a contract with the government; thus your marriage becomes a three-sided agreement--you, your spouse and the state--thereby leaving very little room for God in the equation. By seeking the permission of the state to marry, you are, in essence, implying that marriage is an institution of the state and not of God, which is wrong. The state cannot grant the right to marry; it is a God-given right, and it is a holy and precious thing in His sight. Thirdly, your marriage license extends to the fruit of the marriage (i.e. your children). Your children are a gift and heritage from the Lord and He has instructed YOU to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Nowhere in His instructions for the family did God ever include the government in the rearing of children. There is a great deal of case law that confirms the fact that a marriage license extends to the offspring of the marriage. The license agreement is a contract; and the government will hold you to it at any time they so desire and in arbitrary and capricious manners that defy any notion of fairness and justice.
It is important that we recognize the history of marriage licenses. In colonial America there was no requirement to obtain a marriage license. It was absolutely unheard of. The only requirements in those days was you had to obtain your parents' permission and had to post a notice of the marriage 5-15 days before the ceremony. With rare exceptions the state no longer requires that you have parental permission to get married. In most cases they do not require it for one to have an abortion, but they demand that you seek their permission to marry. Why do you suppose that is?
The license grants control; and our government is ever expanding its tentacles of control. If they control the family, they pretty much control it all.
Many of our founding fathers, including George Washington, were married without a license. From the outset of our country all of the states had laws forbidding interracial marriage. In the mid-1800's some states began to permit interracial marriage, provided the parties obtained a license from that state. This was a defining moment, as the enactment of laws that granted permission to do that which was otherwise illegal is a cornerstone in our modern-day marriage license disaster.
In reading Black's Law Dictionary definition of "marriage license" one finds the all too revealing historical perspective of the enactment of the marriage license laws. Blacks contains the original definition of marriage license which is "A license or permission granted by public authority to persons who intend to intermarry." And as a flood begins with one drop of rain, thus the deluge of laws concerning marriage licenses. In 1923, the government established the Uniform Marriage License Act; and by 1929 every state had adopted laws concerning marriage license. And so it goes today.
The government is attempting, quite successfully I might add thanks to pastors and couples who willingly give that which belongs to God to the state by entering into the marriage contract with them, to control and regulate that which is created and ordained by God.
What should we do, you ask? I firmly believe that a marriage license is wrong and that it is a sin to surrender the God-ordained covenant agreement of marriage to the state. I suggest you utilize a marriage covenant or use the family Bible marriage page. Make sure the covenant is signed by the pastor performing the ceremony and two witnesses. If you choose to use your Bible as your record of marriage, make sure it is also signed by the pastor and two witnesses. You can record the covenant at your local courthouse as an official document and, after having obtained a certified copy of the document, you may utilize it to change names on records, etc. There have been incidents of elected officials balking at the thought of recording marriage covenants; but I have yet to find an instance where, when confronted by the law, they refused to comply. I pray you will be obedient to our Lord in the sacred covenant of marriage.
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