PLEDGE OF SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM OF SPIRITUAL BELIEF (THE SPIRITUAL FREEDOM PLEDGE): PART 2

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Continued from Part 1 of this essay

"Here's to a world where no black man is ever again dragged behind a truck, no Jewish youths decide a Palestinian farmer deserves a smack in the head from a plank of wood they're holding from inside a moving van, Catholics and Protestants lay down their guns and their slurs. Here's to that world. We should take this pledge. We should live this pledge. Let the people around each of us see that tolerance means a great deal to us...it means life itself."

"Hello."

"A pledge for temperance and religious freedom is a good thing in the context of Christianity, and the scriptures. There are forces at work in our world that we cannot see and seldom feel. The forces of good are cultivated and nurtured in our lives. It takes effort to display these. On the other hand the forces of evil are subtle, and sometimes very hard to notice. Satan is not a pointed eared pitch-fork wielding monster. We are told that he comes as an angel of light. We are facing issues of grand import today in our world. There are legislators who are showing their immorality by what laws are being passed, i.e. gays in the military, partial birth abortion, slacking off on drug dealers penalties, selling our country through one treaty or another (GATT NAFTA) etc. This is a sad thing. The wool is over the eyes of many Americans, not only them but the people of the whole world are sleeping through many of these passing of laws which are devastating to this planet. We are heading, as always, to an extreme end of legislation. What I see happening is the American people are starting to wake up and see what is happening, and I am hearing tempers flying and muscles flexing in places which would be much worse than the present.
What is worse than legislating immorality??? Legislating MORALITY. Let us be very careful who we give that kind of power to. There are powers in the White House that are just waiting for the GRASS ROOTS effort to put God on the throne of this world, and that my friends He is not the King of. Carefully consider what is happening today the true government has God at the head not man thinking he is God."

"The Spiritual Freedom Pledge is an excellent idea, one around which a call can be made to the religious and non-religious communities alike to support the right of individuals to format, learn, and/or teach their own beliefs at will, save that the teaching respects the rights of others to do the same (no involuntary "deprogramming" for example). I definitely shall add a link to this page from mine, in support of the right of the religious and non-religious everywhere to be free from persecution, and to make their own decisions regarding their own beliefs systems, no matter how unconventional or *strange* they may be."

"I fully support this Pledge as a Unificationist, a Christian, student of Scientology, free thinker and scholar of religions and cultures."

"While I agree with every statement on this list, we must be wary of one way this can be interpreted.

We must make equally sure that no religion, organization, or individual has the right to persecute or silence the free speech of non-violent critics or protesters. Every person has the absolute right to freedom of speech and the right to non-violently criticize or protest against any organization, religion or individuals that he/she believes is acting improperly.

I am Christian and the last thing I would ever support is religious persecution, but I equally want to protect my freedom of speech. For if you can curb my right to speak freely or revoke my right to participate in non-violent protest and criticism, then you are enforcing a belief system on me, and that eventually destroys my right to religious freedom.

Freedom of religion flows from freedom of speech. The minute you start to trample on any person's right to free speech, you have also simultaneously begun to limit their freedom of religion."

"Freedom and tolerance of religion is the basic freedom to believe and to think. These are the things that separate man from beasts. And so it follows it is the basic building block of man. And who is so wise as to tell everyone what to believe and what to think. Without religion we are mere animals just as the psychiatrist would like us to believe.

I am a spiritual being who recognizes the spiritual beingness of my fellows and as such expects the same recognition in return.

We must support all persons and groups that fight for religious freedom whether local, national, or international. And we must take the initiative to make our selves and our views known to all governmental bodies."

"Well done to you for creating this pledge and making it available on the Internet. In the United States we tend to take freedom of thought, conscience and religion for granted. We are fortunate in that our government actually follows its constitution in that respect. However, others are not so fortunate, the current situation of religious intolerance in Germany is one example of a supposedly democratic country violating its own constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We must never become complacent, we must be constantly vigilant and we must never allow violation of another's right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion to go unchallenged, no matter how "different" their beliefs may be, because tomorrow our beliefs might be considered the "different" ones.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing to promote religious tolerance in the world."

"I wholeheartedly support the concept of religious tolerance throughout the world. It is absolutely vital that this freedom be maintained and strengthened. The exposure of those who seek to destroy religion must continue until all are allowed to follow whatever path they choose."

"It is especially important to me that families support religious tolerance within the family. The changing of faiths among my close relatives could have alienated us from each other, but didn't, because our tolerance began at home and has endured for more than 25 years past the point where children become old enough to chose.

Yet I have seen other families pull apart from each other because one or more of them chose another path.

One's freedom begins with spiritual freedom, and those who support religious   intolerance add shackles to future spirituality for us all. Ensuring that all men have their right to choose and the freedom to practice their choice is the responsibility of each person who treasures religious freedom. Taking that responsibility begins with simple actions we can all do, such as signing this pledge, adding a link to it from our home pages, telling others about the site, and being tolerant and happy with another's choice of religion, not pushing our own beyond an invitation to find out more."

"I would like to thank you for posting this wonderful pledge. There are some people in this world who would like us to believe that man is only an animal, and thus justify any assault upon religion. The fact that man IS a spiritual being, with the right to his own beliefs and spiritual quest, is the most fundamental building block for peace, sanity, and a culture which furthers optimum survival for all of its members. I believe it is very important for all religions to practice tolerance. To learn to truly love one's fellow man, and to respect his individual right to achieve spiritual freedom, should be at the forefront of every religious practice."

"I agree with and support your pledge for religious freedom. It was a great idea to post this document on the net for others to read and see."

"I pledge my support for Religious Freedom For All. We will need to face the truth as it really is. There are antisocial people and groups that want to destroy religions.I give you a quote from such a person, from such a group. "To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism and religious dogmas." Quote from G. Brock Chisholm Co-Founder of the World Federation of Mental Health.

If we truly pledge our selves to Religious Freedom then we must confront those who would destroy religion, the psychiatrist who pretends to help, all the while covertly destroying morals. I have witnessed in my life time the destruction of religions and religious people by psychiatrist and psychiatry. Perhaps this reality is too harsh for you. But by the time the Nazi came for the Jew there was no one left to help. You now can do something before night falls on another religion by looking
and seeing that what I say is true. When I was growing up we never had a psychiatrist in our church and now one is there taking the place of the minister. And if you haven't read a new paper lately things are not getting better.

This is true"

"It is regrettable that at this very moment representatives of the German government have come to American to subvert our tradition of religious freedom. The German government has not so redeemed themselves from their embrace of the Nuremberg laws and the Nuremberg rallies that they should inform Americans on religious freedom. No Herr Kohl we will not persecute the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, Scientologists and miscellaneous Evangelists as 'cults'. And as a point of information, what armband did the Jehovah Witnesses wear when the German government sent them into the concentration camps?

Have you designed anything new for the Scientologists?"