Republican elected officials at Friday's National Rifle Association convention in Nashville, Tennessee, called for a unified front consisting of First and Second Amendment supporters, noting that religious freedom and gun rights are inextricably linked.
While many of the speakers spoke on traditional subjects it was evident that with recent attacks on Christian business owners for standing for their deeply held beliefs that the mood of the country has begun changing.
Several of the speakers spoke with tones that hearkened back to the days of the nation's founding and the speeches of Patrick Henry and other founding fathers.
Referring to comments by the president lamenting those who he says cling to guns and religion, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said, "We’ve got plenty of guns and religion both, but we're not bitter about any of it."
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While in years past such a statement may have been considered a throwaway line, Jindal went on to make it clear that there is a direct correlation between what is happening with today's assaults against religious freedom as enshrined in the First Amendment and attacks on the Second Amendment.
"This month we saw something very dangerous happen in our country," he said referring to the attack on religious freedom laws in Indiana and Arkansas.
"Those two states debated laws to protect the liberty and the freedoms of their citizens. Laws to keep government from compelling anybody from participating in wedding ceremonies that are incompatible with their deeply held religious convictions," Jindal warned. "We saw Hollywood liberals and editorial columnists form a new unholy alliance with some of the biggest corporations in our country. They came together to void the elected officials of the people."
Some in the press have reported on the fight between various factions in the Republican Party such as the libertarian branch, the social conservatives and the fiscal conservatives, however, Jindal suggested that rather than being a schism, the three factions actually complement each other.
"This was an attack on our Constitution. This was an attack on the fundamental right to speech and association and the free exercise of religion. If these large forces can conspire to crush the First Amendment, it won't be long before they join forces again to come after the Second Amendment."
While linking guns to religion may seem strange, it is actually nothing more than a union hearkening back to the formation of the nation.
Prior to the Declaration of Independence being ratified the country was already being stirred up with a yearning for liberty by pastors in the pulpits across America. The colonies' congregations had seen a great swelling of their membership due to the evangelistic efforts of George Whitefield, a close personal friend of Benjamin Franklin.
As these new Christians began to learn the principles of liberty found in the Bible the sermons calling for revolution fell on receptive ears. Once America declared its freedom from England, many pastors would go on to lead the men of their own congregations into battle against the British. Baptist chaplains were known to have been so fervent at motivating the men under their command they often had bounties on their heads and were shot on sight if captured.
"The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing. They had seen religious persecution first hand. They knew that a well-armed citizenry was all that stood between freedom and a tyrant. They knew that it was impossible to build a society that was truly free without the right to speech, without the right to worship and without the right to bear arms. These are the pillars of our nation."
Lest someone think Jindal's call was an isolated event, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Sheriff David Clarke Jr. echoed the sentiment of many law-enforcement officials across the country, especially the nation's sheriffs, who are elected officials and the supreme law-enforcement official in their counties.
Read the Big List of Christian Coercion about a multitude of cases where Christians have been fined, threatened and penalized for declining to support homosexual activities.
"There is nothing else I would rather hold in my hand when fighting government tyranny than a Bible in my left hand that I used to swear on to uphold the Constitution and in my right hand a Winchester rifle, a symbol of freedom and liberty of the United States of America."
Clarke also made a "motion" to replace the arrows in the eagle's claw on the Seal of the United States and replace it with a semi-automatic rifle.
He also echoed Jindal's sentiments, warning attendees not to put their faith in elected officials, noting that Republicans have proven all too willing to cave in the area of personal liberty.
"Look at how some of them caved on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana and Arizona. Don't trust politicians."
Former Sen. Rick Santorum said the recent attacks on Christian cake makers and florists should not surprise anyone because the government's goal is to eliminate morals in order to justify controlling the populace.
"Freedom requires virtue and virtue requires faith. What is the greatest teacher of virtue in America, in the world," Santorum said. "It's the Bible, it's the moral code that comes from faith. What is under assault today is the freedom to exercise your faith."
Santorum said a major problem is students today in public schools are not being taught that their rights come from God, a major tenet of America's founding. He mentioned how when he recently went into a public school to speak he asked the students to raise their hands if they thought our rights come from God and he was met with laughter.
However, rather than blame the liberal establishment Santorum laid the blame on the feet of America's Christians.
"We're letting it happen because we are not doing what the NRA does on the Second Amendment with the First Amendment, which is to be vigilant about the freedoms that are the foundational freedom of our country. The freedom to believe what you want to believe and then live that out in your life."
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