BETWEEN THE LINES

THE GREAT BATTLE OF OUR TIME

Exclusive: Joseph Farah sounds alarm over ongoing loss of religious freedom

Kevin and Greg Storman run a small family-owned grocery store in Olympia, Washington, started in 1944 by their grandfather Ralph.

In 2007, the state of Washington passed a law requiring all pharmacies to dispense to the public “all lawfully prescribed drugs or devices.”

As Christians, this presented a problem for the Stormans.

The law required them to make available drugs such as Plan B, which destroys a human embryo after conception. So they challenged it in the courts.

In 2012, a federal court struck down the law as unconstitutional because it was actually designed to force religious pharmacists and pharmacy owners to violate their religious freedom. But last year, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, known for its extremely “progressive” positions, reversed that decision. So the Stormans appealed the U.S. Supreme Court.

Only three justices on the high court agreed to hear the case – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Roberts. Had a fourth joined them, the Stormans and other pharmacists who joined the case might have had yet another day in court.

It may seem like a small matter with all that is going on in our world today. But it’s not. I

t’s symptomatic of the way the greatest issue of our time in America today is being handled – freedom of religion, the cornerstone of American life for the last 240 years. 

Americans are now being coerced to abandon their deepest religious convictions by the president of the United States, state legislators, judges, corporations, the educational system, academia, powerful foundations and other cultural institutions.

Meanwhile, the Congress of the United States stands by and watches in virtual silence.

Here’s what Alito said about the decision of the Supreme Court not to hear the case: 

“If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”

That is one of the great understatements of our time – because the battle to save religious freedom in America is being lost. It’s an ominous sign, indeed.

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Alito saw the case just as the court that first adjudicated the matter in favor of the Stormans – it was a capricious law designed specifically to target Christians.

“There are strong reasons to doubt whether the regulations were adopted for – or that they actually serve – any legitimate purpose,” Alito wrote, adding: “And there is much evidence that the impetus for the adoption of the regulations was hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the State. Yet the 9th Circuit held that the regulations do not violate the First Amendment, and this court does not deem the case worthy of our time.”

Greg Storman had this reaction: “Our company revolves around faith, family and community. We serve every customer that comes to our pharmacy, but where we draw the line in the sand is we will not sell any drug that takes a human life, and we will not sell any drug that results in an abortion.”

Margo Thelen, another pharmacist who joined the case had said before the decision that, no matter what, her religious convictions required her not to dispense Plan B, even if it meant losing her pharmacist’s license.

Alito indicated that’s precisely what the intent of this ill-begotten law was all along – to force Christians out of the pharmacy business, just as other have been forced out of catering businesses, photography businesses, florist businesses, videography businesses, etc., because of similar “progressive” court rulings.

If we lose religious freedom, and we are rapidly doing just that, we lose America as we have known it. It will then become America in name only.

Pray that 2016 is the end of this legal and cultural onslaught against faithful Christianity.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/the-great-battle-of-our-time/#wPiyMCSCjO6s2BuO.99

My comments: America is Submitting to the Rule of the godless, Socialist, Secular Humanist CABAL. The CABAL that is in Defiance of God Almighty and His Word. This is the Path of Destruction for America because God cannot be Mocked. On this Path, she will continue to be Ground to Powder.