Tyranny rarely starts with a bang. It usually begins with small restrictions on freedoms. The Nazi’s didn’t start with the ovens. They marginalized and then demonized the Jews. They restricted mobility, speech, the press. They intimidated and ultimately silenced any opposition; Jewish or not. Incremental tyranny…
 
Some of us remember that history, have been watching our freedoms rapidly eroding, and keep trying to arouse our fellow Americans, particularly Christians. Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia is one of those people. His recent column in Catholic Philly is a call to action; Religious freedom and the need to wake up.

Caveat: I have to take exception with the whole liberal social justice philosophy that Fr. Chaput embraces and promotes.
First, there’s absolutely no Biblical justification for this position.
Second, it’s the mistaken belief that health care is a basic human right that helped bring this unjust legislation into existence. And took the focus off critical issues like abortion and homosexuality. We should be opposing sin – not demanding freebies from the government.
(With all due respect Archbishop, the road to Hell…)

 
That being said, the central message of his column is timely, and vitally important ~

Anyone who thinks that our country’s neuralgic sexuality issues can somehow be worked out respectfully in the public square in the years ahead, without a parallel and vigorous defense of religious freedom, had better think again.
 
 
…(T)he latest IRS ugliness is a hint of the treatment disfavored religious groups may face in the future, if we sleep through the national discussion of religious liberty now.
 
…The day when Americans could take the Founders’ understanding of religious freedom as a given is over. We need to wake up.

Deal Hudson at LifeNews elaborates ~

What exactly does the Archbishop mean when he says these issues will not be “worked out respectfully in the public square in the years ahead”? He means that Catholics and all people of faith must embrace a new paradigm of evangelizing the culture. The paradigm of exerting influence by making arguments in the public square, first exemplified by the late Father Richard Neuhaus, must be supplemented by a paradigm of activism.
 
Activism can take many forms, from filing law suits and investigative reporting to public demonstrations, TV/radio messaging, and grassroots political action. But the bottom line is this: the threat to religious liberty, to our families, and our national heritage cannot be conducted from an arm chair. Those pundits who spend day after day in front of a computer, questioning the moral and theological purity of those who are actually making a difference by being “out on the street,” need to think less and act more.

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Please become one of those who are acting in the public square in defense of the Church and our nation. Otherwise, we will wake up one day in the future, and what we considered could have never happened in our nation will be a fait accompli. (I deliberately use the French for “accomplished fact” because the French never believed that Hitler would occupy their beloved Paris.)

For motivation, I highly recommend watching the movie “For Greater Glory” if you haven’t already seen it – or again, if you have. (It’s a stark reminder of what happens when the state claims authority over God.)
 
Then, get off the couch – and go make a difference!
 
Viva Cristo Rey!