Last year, a new Religious Right organization was formed to fight the "satanic wickedness" that was engulfing America. Calling itself the Faith and Freedom Institute, the group held a sparsely-attended press conference/prayer rally and then ... who knows ... we stopped paying attention to them.
But now they are back, picking up on the Religious Right's latest bogus crusade against President Obama for supposedly using the phrase "freedom of worship" instead of "freedom of religion."
And just because it's entirely false, the Faith and Freedom Institute isn't about to let that stop them from sending a letter to Obama demanding that he publicly "retract" all previous uses of the phrase and cease all future one:
It is with great concern that we have watched your rhetorical shift in terminology, choosing to use the phrase “freedom of worship” rather than “freedom of religion.” We’ve noted your use of that phrase (“freedom of worship”) at the Ft. Hood memorial service in November of 2009, as well as your utilization of the same during speeches in Japan and China.
While some may deem the words “worship” and “religion” to be synonymous, and thus interchangeable, they are most definitely not! The First Amendment of the United States Constitution uses the word “religion” and states unequivocally that Congress cannot prohibit the “free exercise” of said “religion.” Your use of the word “worship” implies that we have freedom ONLY within the confines of structures set aside for religious expression (i.e. churches, synagogues, etc.). This is not only a gross departure from the original intent of the First Amendment, but is also the first step toward eliminating faith expression in the public marketplace (i.e. display of religious symbols on public land, printing of religious materials for the purpose of evangelizing, public discussion of faith, etc.).
Mr. President, we call on you to retract all past use of this incorrect and misleading phrase, “freedom of worship,” and cease all future use of the same. We also call on you to acknowledge America’s Christian heritage as is clearly evidenced in our Founding Documents and the overwhelming abundance of statements from our Founding Fathers.
But on the off chance that doesn't work, it looks like the group has a back-up plan - impeachment:
According to Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, the President of the United States “shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” It is the opinion of the members of The Faith and Freedom Institute that the current President of the United States of America, Barack H. Obama, has compiled a number of personal offenses that qualify him for impeachment from the office of the presidency. Among those offenses are the following:
A. The act of not providing a clear copy of his official and complete birth certificate indicating that he is a natural born citizen of the United States of America as is called for in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution where it reads, “No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States…shall be eligible to the office of the President.”
B. The act governing contrary to the spirit of the Constitution by the establishing of numerous “czars” who have no accountability to Congress, but who answer to the President alone.
C. The act of subverting United States sovereignty by bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia.
D. The intrusive act of confiscating private industry, (i.e., the take over of General Motors Corporation, Chrysler, and Bank of America – even dictating employees salaries), thereby making them accountable to the President alone.
E. The incessant desire to develop a civilian militia or military style organization that would be “as well funded and organized as the United States military,” to operate exclusively at the discretion of the President.
F. The overt attempt to force national health care on businesses and individuals, who oppose such, through creating a public health care option that would place individual insurance companies in competition with the United States Government.
G. The act of disregarding the law of the United States of America by not publicly recognizing the National Day of Prayer which was signed into law in 1952 by President Harry S. Truman.
H. The act of appointing to high level positions persons of questionable integrity who display treasonous animosity toward the United States (i.e., Van Jones, former “Environmental Czar”; Kevin Jennings, “Safe School Czar”; FCC head Mark Lloyd, etc.) and whose actions violate the letter and spirit of our national philosophy.
I. The act of violating the oath of the presidency by neglecting to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
TFFI actually issued this impeachment demand in October of last year. So I guess that'll teach us to ignore them, especially now that we see that Faith and Action's Rob Schenck will be speaking at TFFI's upcoming conference in September.
