Now Christians will have to choose

The problem I had with "faith based" agencies (like our church, Upper Arlington Lutheran which is an ELCA church) accepting government grants for housing, employment training, child care, and after school and summer lunch programs was that they were not allowed to preach the gospel to any of the recipients because taxpayers were footing the bill. Not even distribute literature--although it could be put out for pick up. But worse, it caused these churches to become dependent on the government, while they were providing the free labor for government programs.

Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign PROMISED to have any visuals and symbols removed from religious sites in order for them to receive government money for social programs. This will be no problem for mainline "peace and justice" Christians--they wouldn't know the gospel if it dropped on their pulpit in the form of a Bible (it's pretty clear if they'd just preach from that Bible). For evangelical Christians, such as UALC, it's a bit less clear. Now we've made a pact with the devil and the invoice has come due. What will the churches do? Apparently what Georgetown did. Founded in 1789, the same year the U.S. Constitution took effect, Georgetown University is the nation's oldest Catholic and Jesuit university. IHS, the symbol in question, is a monogram of the name of Jesus Christ.

(CNSNews.com) - Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram “IHS”--symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university on Tuesday and the White House had asked Georgetown to cover up all signs and symbols there.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the “IHS” monogram that had previously adorned the stage at Georgetown’s Gaston Hall was still covered up--when the pediment where it had appeared was photographed by CNSNews.com.

American freedom of religion, rest in peace