Attack on religious freedom is the most important issue facing Christians today, say US Christian leaders
South African pastors are urged to stand together against government attacks on religious freedom, says Andrew Selley, founder and CEO of FOR SA (Freedom of Religion South Africa), in a video message [see below] posted on the FOR SA website.
In the video he says FOR SA was birthed out of a growing concern about the government’s increased interference in religious freedom and the autonomy of the church to govern her own affairs.
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“While churches may disagree with each other on the interpretation of certain Scriptures, we can agree on this: it is not for the government to define the Bible and dictate morality for us,” he says.
Selley warns that the current attack on religious freedom affects every one of us – our workplace, our family and church life. Christians need to rise up and stand together as our freedoms are about to be lost, and Christians who believe, teach and live their lives according to the Bible may well find themselves on the wrong side of the law. He urges pastors around South Africa to contact FOR SA, who will with their support be able to speak as a strong and united voice to government on issues affecting our religious freedom.
US Christian leaders sound the alarm
The threat to religious freedom is the most important issue that Christians face today, noted the annual National Religious Broadcasters convention in the United States which met a few days ago in Nashville, Tenn. Churches. The convention brings together ministries and organisations representing Christendom who come together to connect and communicate with one another.
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Writing in Charisma Magazine, author Larry Tomczak says: Decision magazine, the publication of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, has been coming to my home for almost 40 years. Normally the articles are upbeat testimonies and reports on evangelistic outreaches. The recent edition is completely different, in that it sounds an alarm on the cover that we are now in a war on Christianity. Franklin Graham states boldly in his lead article, “I do not believe this is simply a culture war or a battle between conservative and liberal elements of our society. … This is a full-scale assault against Christianity and the followers of Christ.”
Tomczak also reports that “The Roundtable”, a recent meeting of senior leaders convened by Rick Joyner’s MorningStar ministries, issued a clarion call for courageous leadership amidst the radical gay agenda and its aggressive attack on religious freedom. He recommends that Christians equip themselves to take a stand in love by viewing a new 47-minute video Is Gay Ok? 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know
awesome Andrew. thank you for starting a great work in Gods kingdom. Continue in hope and faith. peace
Hi Andre and Andrew,
I commend you 100% for the amazing job you are doing but I feel that we need to promote Chrstian partes in order to increase God’s voice in Parliament. So many folk are under the misconception that Christians within secular parties make a difference instead of seeing their support for the compromise that it is.
Thnx Andrew i will shortly be passing on this info to our Eastern Cape Church Regional Meeting
Blessings
Thank you for this. We need to stand together on this as Christians.
There are 40,000 different sects of Christians. Many churches conduct same sex marriages. Many churches have gay clergy. Many churches have no problem with LGBTAIQ people. Nobody gets to define Christian beliefs because there is no Christianity only Christianities.
Clayton Caroline-we managed to rally leaders representing 12 million around spanking & believe we will rally 18 million behind FORSA.That will be more people than even the ANC government has ever managed, & amounts to nearly half of SA!The church is uniting around freedom…
Andrew lets be honest. Pakistan,Saudi Arabia,Iran,Iraq etc base their laws on the Koran & look at the results. The Inquistion,the Holocaust,slavery,theHugenots,witchhunts,the Crusades all were justified by the Bible. Google them if you don’t believe me. You can’t have freedom of religion without freedom from religion. Your religion doesn’t trump human rights.
Clayton many atrocities have been committed in the name of “religion” as you mentioned, but never reflected the heart of Truth. Many people are very religious by holding onto their vain opinions as they express a different set of values interpreted by a distorted view of truth. Just as the crusaders who carried a cross as a mere religious relic symbol or idol, yet they all had no relationship with the person that religious symbol was supposed to point them to ! Clayton…Yes “LETS BE HONEST” Who or what do you esteem or worship ? Because that will be your god “your religion” When we do that “Christians included” we place ourselves as judge over God ultimately committing rebellion and idolatry. Which side of “The Bench” do you choose to stand on in eternity lets be honest the HRC or Gods?
Clayton, I disagree.human rights came because of religion-specifically christianity. child,women rights etc came from christianity.law,justice,hospitals, abolition of slavery,ending of child labour, orphanages-etc all have christian roots. Today the church still does more good than any other independent group around to society.My religion defines human rights & without it-no man has a right-evolution says then-the strongest must rule & destroy the weak. Your definition of human rights has no base without the Bible. Otherwise human rights will be defined upon what you think & frankly you, a finite imperfect broken human being, like me-which shifts like sheep-blind, stupid & with no moral compass-will never trump religion
Mr Selley now you are talking nonsense.
Please provide evidence that Christianity defined “human-rights”? You are simply cherry-picking through history.
Today, this very day it is YOU who stomp on human dignity by enslaving women, denying people of a different sexual orientation to live a life of dignity and equality.
Let me give you a bit of a history lesson: human rights predates your religion by as far as 2350 BC from the Ancient Near East.
At the same time refer to the “Golden Rule” and the following “Siler Rule”.
Further, modern human rights really gained momentum after the recent world wars. Predating that it was the European RELIGIOUS wars that birthed the philosophy of liberalism and the belief in human rights became a central concern of European intellectual culture during the 18th century.
“Human Rights” and universal morality have stronger roots in Ancient East and Islam than in Christianity. Read your history.
Christians and Christianity had very little to do with it.
Is it not you who wants to control women’s bodies and reproductive cycles? How and when people have sex?
You accuse “Otherwise human rights will be defined upon what you think” but YOU are the one that wants to define “human rights” based on YOUR interpretation of the Bible. So much so you want YOUR “Religious Freedom” interpretation of trump other people’s basic human rights.
This is indeed a sad day for Christians when, once again, hatred is being preached and promoted from the pulpit under the guise of “Religious Freedom”. You and I are FREE to believe (or not believe) in South Africa, however there are limits to that freedom when we deny the rights of another person.
Mr Selley – do unto others!
Further, on what information do you base this statement: ” Today the church still does more good than any other independent group around to society”? That is simply not true and is purely designed statement to bamboozle your flock who cannot be bothered to check YOUR ‘facts’.
Mr Anonymous ??? the HRC started off well i quote you “Human Rights and universal morality have stronger roots in Ancient East and Islam than in Christianity. Read your history” … THEN WHY do these Ancient East HRC countries forbid Christian Churches today ? who is Bamboozled ?
The comments that contradict and argue against Andrew Selley are generally based on the assumption that Christians are attempting to deny others their rights as opposed to Andrew arguing for the rights of Christians. Furthermore, comments such as interpretation of the Bible as opposed to accepting the Bible literally and also many comments regarding “human rights” but no where accepting that with any rights come responsibility, is what I note. I do not agree with an unmarried coupe having sex but I do not do anything to fight to outlaw this. I take exception though to a life being ended which could have been prevented if such sexual encounters had been practised responsibly to avoid a pregnancy and respect those that accept as a responsibility the pregnancy that does occur even if unplanned. I do not fight to outlaw the act of homosexuality. I do however take exception when someone forces me to accept that I should allow such acts to occur in my establishment or if I as a Christian am forced to bless such a union. This is the difference. As Christians we are not standing in judgement. We are standing for our right to follow our consciences and beliefs. We know we cannot argue anyone into being Christians and we also know that we cannot legislate anyone into accepting our faith. We also do not identify with those who live and act outside of literal Biblical teachings and do so under the guise of being Christians. This particular aspect we do not expect many to understand. The reason for this is simple…it is because a true believer has a relationship with a living God, cloaks himself with humility, love and forgiveness….not because such a believer is better than anyone else….but purely because such a believer acknowledges being a broken sinner and is unable to do anything of substance without Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Hard to understand if you do not have such a relationship, I know. It is easy to say “I am a Christian” but in truth not be a true believer in Jesus Christ. It is therefore irresponsible to label true Christians with the acts of those who simply state they are Christians. If you know your Bible you will see many examples and teaching of “knowing a person by their fruit” etc. Such as the so called godly Pharisee’s who truely did not know God. Therefore it is a mistake to lump true Christians in the same stable as the modern day Pharisee’s. If you do not know the difference, see their fruit.
Blessings Andrew. There are more who are for us than those who are against us. I will continue to pray for you and I will also pray for all those who are against you. May our Lord strengthen you with his love and bless you with wisdom and continuous humility. May our Lord also open the eyes and hearts of those who do not understand you.
@Stef: Because they did exactly what Mr Selley wants to do – override human rights (dignity, respect, equality) with “Religious Freedom” and therefore allowing one, or a few, man’s interpretation of a holy text to be forced on everyone.
You, Mr Selley and some other “Christians” would abolish Same Sex Marriage in a heartbeat, so you are already likening yourself to those countries. Just as the Apartheid Era churches preached racism, homophobia and women inequality from the pulpit. Mr Selley already treat women as your “servants” who dare not be equal to a man in leadership positions.
You campaign incessantly that this must become a Christian Godly government so you can enforce your “Religious Freedom” on everyone. Everyone is free do as they please IF they are your flavour of Christianity.
Anonymys SA Citizen …. freedom of Religion gives a Muslim, Hindu, Jew, christian or whosoever the right to exercise their values, principles and beliefs without imposing and taking the right of others away. If you are okay with Homosexuality thats fine, your choice, if you want to encourage the degradation of women by legalizing prostitution and destroying family values which are indorsed by our SA constitution that’s your choice. If you want to murder or abort babies i cannot stop you. We may not agree on many things and perhaps agree on many others. Hence this is what “FOR SA” is about … do not interfere with me and i with you…But is’nt amazing that when Biblical Christian Values are upheld you want to empose HATE SPEECH on christians. No annonymous citizen Mr Selly does not want to abolish same sex marriages even though he totally disagrees with it but he wants you and others not to abolish his present freedom of religion to express his distaste rather than silence it. Freedom permits that we except any expression on either side even though we do not agree with one another. This is Exactly what the HRC is NOT DOING !! If my values do not except marrying gays and lesbians simply go to an institution that does that does endorse it. Please carefully read Staurt Wragg comment once again.
Andrew since you dispute my claims with any evidence I win. Now here is a detailed analysis of Christianity human rights record.
http://www.badnewsaboutchristianity.com/index.htm
If you disagree then provide evidence otherwise I’ll dismiss your opinions as irrelevent. Have a good time learning. PS is molesting children wrong because the Bible doesn’t mention itat all.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-scoffers.html
@Stuart Wragg: Is that not exactly what you are trying to do? Force your definition of right and wrong on everyone? No one is telling your to kiss another man, we are simply expecting your to treat them like the human beings they are. If you think of yourself as a worthless sinner, keep it to yourself and do not project unto others.
The rest of your word sosatie is just that.
Mr SA Citizen, I often find it odd that those who choose to villify others often choose to do so anonymously. I tend to believe that it is because of cowardice and I am happy to accept I am wrong if proven otherwise. I do not think SA Citiizen suits you though because there are over fifty million of us and your views are definitely not in the majority in our country. Perhaps that is your motive for coming onto our news forum. You are campaighning for your views. No problem with that although I would suggest that you are on the wrong forum for that. Simply in response to you mail, it is clear you are not a very nice person because of your acidic manner of writing and secondly you are so obsessed with your views that you clearly have failed to objectively read what I wrote. This is common with people who hunt those down who dont agree with them. It doesnt intimidate me at all and of course you are free to express yourself where ever you want and however you want. This is the issue though boet. I dont step on your toes and stand in jusgement of you, I just dont agree with you. Simple. Do not therefore stand in judgement of me and do not ever believe that I will ever allow you to step on my toes. I do find your expression “sosatie”world rather humerous though. My world is probably the most realistic world there is if you knew where I have come from. what I do and where I am going to. Of course that would not interrest you. You are only concerned or should I say obsesssed with the the fact that I dont agree with you. oh Yes Mr Mzantsi…I will pray for you and it will be sincere. That is perhaps one thing that you and your friends have got right. It is what we Christians do and our motive is love otherwise why would we bother. I must get a last point in here…Love…..I find it hard to love you or anyone if the truth must be told. I find it incredibly amazing though that I am actually able to love you. That is the power of Christ and it is amazing. Walking around in this rotten and evil world and still being able to love. Before knowing Jesus my instinct would have been to offer a snot klap. I am so glad that has changed. Question time…do you feel that love within you for others? Yes? No?
@Clayton: Oh snap. Do not expect a comeback. You are likely to get “I will pray for you”, “you do not read the Bible Spirit filled”, or copy and paste from apologetics sites.
Clayton- seriously??a website started to attack Christianity by an aethiest spewing vitriolic & that is your proof!! I don’t have the time to debate with a man already convinced. I learned long ago- no one wins. Sad you can’t see what is true. Hope u find the wonderful hope I have.
Mr Selley is right. “SA Citizen” is not. Any fool can see as much. It is only Mr Selley’s gracious engagement with “SA Citizen” which give “SA Citizens” line of thought the appearance of being an actual argument.
Stand fast, do not deny Christ, we stay in the Kingdom of God. If we die for Christ’s sake, then what greater reward shall we recieve. The end result….Heaven be our eternity with God………..fire and brimstone be there eternity…those that come against us, hurt us, try to destroy us, kill us.
We are safe with the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you suffer…you suffer as Christ did. be happy and strong through all this.
Let God sort it out…and oh yes He will. we fight with the Lord!!!