Are we free or afraid
Of what we’re told
Are we out of or under
Control
– Jack Johnson, in Don’t Believe a Thing I Say
So now we have a Ministry of Religious Liberty.
Oh – my bad. Attorney General Jeff Sessions created a Religious Liberty Task Force this week – although the effort was really launched in October 2017, when Sessions issued a Memorandum to All Executive Departments and Agencies on Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty that largely flew under the radar until the announcement of the task force on July 30.
The October memo outlines “twenty key principles of religious liberty in U.S. law” and provides direction to agencies in four areas: employment, rule making, enforcement and contracting/grant making. The twenty key principles (you can read them all in the link) include things like:
When the challenges we face in our human societies are as complex and far reaching as they are today, it’s easy to look for relief from some kind of iconic savior, appointed or self-nominated. It’s natural for human beings to seek the path of least-resistance, to adapt and adjust and look to someone else for order and control. It’s a survival mechanism that has served us well for millennia. The purpose that adaptation may have once served – to identify safe and secure places for rest and recharging, and leaders for village building – no longer, for the most part exists, though. We’ve made everything convenient, climate controlled, sanitized and comfortable. And our natural biological response to that is to keep wanting it, because it feels good.
Centerline Rumble Strip 