I am thankful for the religious freedom that people in the United States have. As of now we still have religious freedom in the United States..somewhat. I have not been told that I can not put my faith in Jesus, of the Bible. This is true for any person and I believe this is the way it should be. A Muslim should be allowed to put his faith in the Koran, a Buddhist should be allowed to put his faith in the teachings of Buddha and other sacred teachings, and an Atheist should be allowed to put his faith in science. The same should be true for Mormons, Jews, and Hindus I would be willing to die for a person of any faith so that they may believe what they choose to believe. Some conditions do apply to what a person believes or what a faith espouses.
1) belief in that faith can not go against the basic rights of any other human. An extreme hypothetical example might be a cult that rapes women/men as part of a belief. They are then violating the sanctity of a person's right to be pure, untouched, unharmed, and not coerced.
2) Religious freedom can only apply to a long standing widely accepted belief. Monotheistic religions (meaning they believe in one God) such as Christianity and Islam have always taught that there is one God. It does not infringe on anyone else's basic writes for me to claim there is one God, for me to say there is one God, or for me to say there is only one way to eternal life and that is through Jesus. Under religious freedom I am able to claim this belief.
Here is why I would die for someone to believe whatever they wanted. I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the one God. The only God. He loved me so much that he came to earth, became a human and took on all of the weaknesses and frailties that we have. Then because he is God and he is perfect, he died for me to take away all my pain, take away all my suffering, give me freedom and to give me eternal life. I no longer need to make sacrifices, restitution, works, or do anything but put my faith in Jesus. I am saved! It is a fact, not a "I think I am saved" or "if I am just good enough I will be saved". I am saved for now and all eternity. That is why when Paul, a man of God and writer of most of the New Testament in the Bible, exclaimed with joy when realization of salvation came upon him,
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is because of that love that I want to love other and why I would defend someone elses right to believe in something that will eventually lead to their eternal death. I want to love that person and want them to understand the freedom found in Jesus but I never want anyone to be forced to believe. So I am thankful for my freedom to tell people about the good news of the Bible. I will fight for religious freedom till the day I die.
