Well, it is a new day in America … and it is not all good.  Last fall, I wrote 4-5 blogs about the role of Christians and politics and ended with a posting about our responsibility to support our newly elected president where we could, pray for him always and seek to change his mind where necessary.

President Obama’s campaign pledges left no question of where he stood on abortion rights and he has quickly put feet to those views by rescinding pro-life legislation first enacted by George H. Bush, rescinded by Bill Clinton, reinstated by George W. Bush, and … now… rescinded again by Barak Obama.  If the goal is to reduce and eliminate abortions it is a huge step in the wrong direction to provide federal funding for abortive services around the world.  But, it is not a surprise that our new President would take this stance; this is who he said he was during the campaign.  The pro-life issue is and will continue to be a real and ongoing struggle to defend the rights of the unborn.

However, the new $920 billion dollar (say that number slowly so it will sink in) stimulus plan designed to prevent our country from descending into a “full blown recession” is loaded down with monies earmarked for special interest groups and pet projects … or “pork” as it is commonly known.  One of those is $20 billion designated for public schools to revitalize their facilities.  Of course, few would disagree with the importance of shoring up our educational infrastructure … but what does that have to do with rescuing our economy?

However, there is another and more insidious snag.  The plan specifies that that money will not be available to public schools who allow churches to rent their facilities for worship.  You can click here (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/04/conservative-groups-declare-obamas-stimulus-war-prayer/) to read a news article related to this issue.

You may not realize it but many …or most … church plants start off by leasing facilities from local schools.  It provides income for the school and familiar ground for the prospective church planter.  This partnership is critical to the start of many new churches that certainly grow into faith communities that will both serve and bless the communities in which they exist and operate. In every community where I have lived, the school’s decision of whether to lease to a church or not belongs to the principal of that school.

So, our new President is proposing that we dangle $20 billion of government funds before schools and offer it only so long as they cooperate with his agenda to further separate church and state! President Obama’s stance is an aggressive move against both freedom of religious expression as well as freedom of speech.  It is a thinly veiled effort to take your tax money and mine and use it to reward or punish local school principals based on how whether they support his agenda to further remove faith from the public venue.

Is this really the role of government?  Since our President clearly believes this stimulus package is important then why burden it down with such divisive and partisan legislation? If you feel strongly about this then I encourage you to write our President, Senators and Representative in the House today.  Here are the websites where you can write each one:

PRESIDENT                                      http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Barak Obama

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES  https://writerep.house.gov/htbin/wrep_save

Ander Crenshaw

U. S. SENATE                                              

Bill Nelson (D)            http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Mel Martinez (R)        http://martinez.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenatorMartinez