Freedom of religion more than worship

Is there a difference between freedom of religion and freedom of worship? At first glance you may not think so but look again. Freedom of worship is just that - it allows people to worship as they choose in their own homes or churches and that's the end of it.

Freedom of religion includes the above but goes way beyond it to allow people to bring their views into the public sector, into the marketplace, into the institutions of higher learning where differing views can be honestly and openly debated. Our constitution guarantees freedom of religion not just freedom of worship.

And yet there are those among our leaders who wish to limit what the framers of our Constitution believed to be an integral part of our society, our very lives. Because of its central importance to all the rest, it is covered in the first article of the Bill of Rights, which guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

But religious freedom has been stifled in the workplace, in our universities, schools, and in government. The new so-called "hate speech" law is being tested even now in the recent firing of a U of I professor teaching a class on Catholicism (a university-sanctioned class) because he stated the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexual behavior and indicated agreement with it based on natural law. A student accused him of "hate speech" and the prof was fired.

That won't be the end of it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has formally stated the importance of freedom of worship, but not the significance of freedom of religion. Socialism, statism will not continue the heritage of freedom we are blessed to have and that is desired throughout the world.

P.J. Bertrand

Wood Dale