I give applicants for naturalization a bookmark which lists the Bill of Rights. Produced by the ACLU, it lists the rights we have under the Constitution, such as freedom of speech, religion, the press, to petition the government, and he right to assemble. However, this year, several proposed bills in Congress seek to limit the right to assemble.
Not only is Congress going after schools and universities that do not punish protesters on any issue, but it is targeting environmental activism as well. Proposed is a bill that makes it a criminal offense to act in opposition to a pipeline, including bringing a lawsuit. You wouldn’t even need to get close to the pipeline in your action against it.
If the new regime doesn’t like your action, its accomplices in Congress want to refuse you pandemic “aid,” including possibly vaccines. Then there is Alabama, of course, where you cannot protest “near” a pipeline and expanding the definition of riot to include any protest of 5 or more persons, and permitting the use of deadly force to contain such a “riot.” Bull Connor is alive and well in Congress..
Prayer for the Day
Unable to grasp the unfathomable changes around us,
We come to you, Holy One, for support and strength;
Disturbed by attempts to limit our ability to speak out,
We struggle with the silence around us.
Cement our resolve, O Lord, so we become like the rock,
Rather than the sand allowing our house to sink.
In the name of the One who is our rock and rescue,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
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.
United States Constitution, First Amendment
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy. One's right to life, liberty and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly may not be submitted to vote; they depend on no elections.
Robert H. Jackson, Associate Justice, West Virginia v. Barnette, 319 US 694
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty
God’s way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of God’s feet.
Nahum 1: 3