We need a moral and spiritual awakening

Today, an update from the front lines of the culture wars… Donald and Evelyn Knapp are Pentecostal ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. They were targeted with complaints for violating the town’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to perform same-sex marriages. The Alliance Defending Freedom is suing the city on their behalf, claiming they could face up to $1000 in fines and six months in jail, per day. The case sparked nationwide outrage. Even the ACLU refused to get involved as long as they’re only providing religious services. But wait: the city attorney says the Knapps aren’t being threatened, and that they are exempt from the law, as long as they’re a non-profit religious corporation. But they are both a for-profit company and ordained ministers. The only thing that’s clear is that until Congress or the Supreme Court clarifies the laws and reasserts the First Amendment, no minister who’s paid to conduct marriages will feel safe from government coercion.

The midterm elections are one week away. But what’s wrong with America can’t be fixed by mere elections anymore. Our great Republic is morally and spiritually bankrupt and it has lost any semblance of common sense. Ebola comes to our cities, and our government treats us like idiots and tells us it’s better to let people from infected countries travel here than to contain them where they are. That makes as much sense as saying we can better contain prison inmates if we take down the walls. Speaking of prisons, detainees at Guantanamo Bay are whining that they won’t leave their cells if female guards escort them because they don’t want to be touched by a woman who’s not their relative. I’ve been to Gitmo. They already are accommodated with special Muslim-approved meals that cost 2 ½ times what their guards’ food costs, arrows painted in their cells pointing to Mecca and prayer rugs for their daily rituals; and they get to keep their beards to accommodate their religion. Ditto for the Fort Hood mass killer Nidal Hissan, even though beards are against military prison policy.

And while we don’t want to offend the delicate religious sensibilities of a mass murdering terrorist or the monsters who plotted 9-11, the government stomps all over the religious convictions of Christians. Like Donald and Evelyn Knapp, wedding cake maker Melissa Klein, Elaine’s Photography in New Mexico, and TV hosts Jason and David Benham. All are being bullied out of business because they believe the same Bible Barak Obama claimed to believe in 2008. Hobby Lobby has to go the Supreme Court to keep from being forced to offer baby-killing drugs to their employees. Houston’s mayor subpoenas pastors for daring to disagree with a gay rights ordinance that allows men to use women’s restrooms. Muslims don’t accept homosexual marriage, but when have you heard the Human Rights Commission squealing about Muslims? This nonsense happens because people elect bigoted loons to public office. Next Tuesday might see a reversal of that trend. But a mere election won’t fix what’s wrong with America. For that, we need a moral and spiritual awakening. And a good dose of common sense. MikeHuckabee