All Presidents Are Not Created Equal : George Washington & Religious Liberty

A GOOD PIECE TODAY AT THE FOUNDRY on how George Washington viewed and supported religious freedom in our country's populace contrasted with the way Barack Obama barely tolerates it, acting as if it's an affront and distraction today to the way the country needs to be run  by big government. Whereas President Washington saw the exercise of religion as a fundamental ingredient to moral behavior and a responsible citizenry based on  our founding principles,  President Obama (dis)regards religious freedom as a necessary evil and grundgingly relegates it be narrowly defined by bureaucrats:

All Presidents can learn from Washington’s leadership in foreign policy, in upholding the rule of law, and—especially now—in the importance of religion and religious liberty. While the Obama Administration claims to be “accommodating” Americans’ religious freedom concerns regarding the Health and Human Services (HHS) Obamacare mandate, it is actually trampling religious freedom. President Washington set a tremendous example for the way that Presidents should handle such conflicts. Washington knew that religion and morality are essential to creating the conditions for decent politics. “Where,” Washington asked, “is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?” Religion and morality are, Washington wrote, essential to the happiness of mankind: “A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity.”

Religious freedoms and moral choices are fundamental to our way of life. We are losing these to big government dictating what we can and cannot believe in, no matter what our conscience dictates. God help us all.