Government obliged to protect liberties

Some 2,000 years ago the religious leaders judged a man to be an evildoer, a blasphemer who mingled with the dregs of their society. These leaders condemned the man to death, fearing that he would turn the people against them, and strip away their power. This event leaves us with a number of lessons. The lesson that comes to mind is the subject of national controversy. It reminds us of the fallacy of religions, and the culpability of governments. How an obstinate mindset of the letter of the law negates the heart of the law, and becomes the very opposition of the truth.

There is this accumulative atmosphere of intolerance in America. A fraction of people are fueling the flame under the misconception that the government is threatening our religious freedom. In truth, the government has an obligation to protect the liberties of all its citizens against a foreign or domestic entity whose sole objective is discrimination.

My fellow Americans, is America the land of the free? Are we not all America? As Americans, do we receive an equal portion of the law? When our government permits businesses to refuse its citizens service based on religious belief, does it fail to be a government for the people? Certainly, such a provision is cause for the intervention of the government to ensure the separation of church and state?

My brothers and sisters in Christ, why have you not stood against this blatant prejudice? How can you stand by when oppression is held up falsely in the name of our Lord? As Christians are we not called to serve? As the called are we not sent into the world? While in the world what are we to be, but a light? And what is the light, but the hope, peace and grace of Jesus Christ? I ask you, what would Jesus do? What has He always done, but embrace us with his love.

Please, let us also come together to support our medical personnel at the Coulee Medical Center. Their exceptional medical expertise is surpassed only by a strong commitment to heal the patients they genuinely care about. To lose any one of them is like losing a family member. Dawn delivered my miracle baby. Every single one of them were there to help me through a nearly three-month hospital stay. They were here year after year in the good and the hard times. Let us try to keep them with us for many more years to come.

Angel H. Clark Hall

Coulee Dam