Faith in Action

Faith requires action for it to be real. Without action to complete faith, it’s dead. Might as well never have been there in the first place. Faith in Christ Jesus has to be lived out in our actions. That’s where the proof of our faith is.

Put your money where your faith is.

In 2020s America, there’s subtle and not so subtle pressures against putting your faith in action. Christians are told: “ Don’t push your religion on me “ or “ That’s your religion “ or even “ Religion doesn’t belong in politics. “ There’s pressure to be silent on faith and to keep faith in private; out of the public. As if the source of your beliefs and morals have no place in your decision making regarding matters of public policy.

The problem with the “ religion doesn’t belong in politics “ argument is that it’s both impossible to divorce one’s faith and morals from one’s political decision making and that it’s unconstitutional; as the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment states that “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof… “

The establishment of religion clause means that the government doesn’t make any one religion the national religion ( Establish a religion ) and the free exercise of religion is guaranteed as one of the original ten rights of the Bill of Rights.

Which means that the Obamacare and Equality Acts, without religious exemptions because they specifically state that the religious exemptions of the Religious Freedom Act of 1993 do not apply; are inherently unconstitutional as they violate the First Amendment.

The separation of church and state means that the government, at the state or national level; doesn’t establish a religion as the official religion of the state or nation. Not that religion is to be kept out of politics.

As for the “ Well, that’s your religion “:

Once I debated a girl who was an abortion advocate, a self identified socialist; in a training class at work. A coworker of mine attempted to defend her pro life stance, based on her Christian faith; against her. The socialist kept telling her: “ That’s your opinion and it’s wrong. “ Helpless, all my coworker could do was repeat that abortion’s wrong. As a Catholic apologist and pro life activist, I stepped in to help and engaged the girl in debate.

I could see that she completely disregarded religion, so I engaged her on pure reason. On the grounds of pure reason alone, I defeated all of her talking points in turn and won the debate hands down. Thanks be to God. At the end of our debate, all she could do was concede defeat and say: “ You better be womb to tomb. “

The “ Well, that’s your religion “ argument dismisses religion, undermining faith as some sort of idiosyncratic private opinion like whether or not you believe Coke is better than Pepsi. Faith is more important than that. Faith shapes your whole mindset and worldview. Faith is a truth statement on the nature of the Universe.

The dismissal of religion like that implies that your religion is mere opinion and perception; not the all encompassing truth statement that it is.

In the same training class, a girl came up to me one day because she saw me crying. I told her I was crying because of a huge fight with my sister and niece over my voting for Trump and that I’m scared to be open about my Faith; as there’s pressures for us Christians to be silent. Avoiding social censure. She told me that she’s a Christian too and she voted for Trump and she too feels intimidated about being open about her faith.

As for the “ Don’t push your religion on me “:

When we Christians speak out on our faith, we often can be accused of pushing our religion on people. When we speak on our faith, sharing the Gospel and admonishing people to do better in their moral lives; with love and respect for free will, we’re not pushing our religion on people and forcing them to believe. What we’re doing is sharing the Gospel as we are commanded to do. We simply state our case and let God do the conversion. As Father Mitch Pacwa says: “ I’m not in management; I’m in sales. “ If they don’t want to hear it, that’s fine. The Gospel tells us to wash the dust from our sandals when a town doesn’t want to hear it.

Do we openly profess and practice our faith in the public sphere or are we intimidated into silence and inaction? This is the question for Christians in 2020s America.

My answer is this: We fearlessly put our faith into action. That we unapologetically live out our faith and speak out freely. That we fearlessly exercise our right to exercise our religion as protected in the U.S. Constitution. Do not be intimidated into silence and inaction. Write your Congress men and women. Go out there and get involved in your local school boards and city councils. Vote in elections for Congress and the President. Make your faith and voice be heard.

I encourage all my fellow Christians, Catholics and non Catholics; to live out your faith in Christ Jesus in action.