MY SIDE on the God question is unhappy, for good cause I think, about the president's fondness for the phrase "freedom of . . .
. . . worship" in place of the tried and true "freedom of religion."
Go here for a nice review of the subject by Randy Sly. A sample, quoting Ashley Samelson, First Things:
"To anyone who closely follows prominent discussion of religious freedom in the diplomatic and political arena, this linguistic shift is troubling[. The] reason is simple. Any person of faith knows that religious exercise is about a lot more than freedom of worship. It's about the right to dress according to religious dictates, to preach openly, to evangelize, to engage in the public square. Everyone knows that religious Jews keep kosher, religious Quakers don't go to war, and religious Muslim women wear headscarves -- yet "freedom of worship" would protect none of these acts of faith."
. . . .
[Language] matters when it comes to defining freedoms and limits. A shift from freedom of religion to freedom of worship moves the dialog from the world stage to the confines of a church, temple, synagogue or mosque. Such limitations can unleash an unbridled initiative that we have only experienced in a mild way through actions determined to remove roadside crosses, wearing of religious t-shirts and pro-life pins as well as any . . . evangelization. It could also exclude our right to raise our children in our faith, the right to religious education, literature or media, the right to raise funds or organize charitable activities and the right to express religious beliefs in the normal discourse of life.
Does President Obama explicitly favor the reining in of religious freedom in these ways? I doubt it. Even if he does, he's too smart to start battles about such things to distract from his larger mission of "transforming" America. But his unfortunate rhetoric is consistent with the worldview of more radical leftists who don't share his political reticence and who can harass religious believers in the courts and through the bureaucracies.
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