A survey conducted by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in September and October 2019, revealed that the vast majority of Americans support religious freedom.
In the survey, people were asked to rank their support for protecting religious freedoms on a scale from zero (indicating no support) to 100 (indicating full support) on multiple issues.
According to the survey of 1,000 Americans, the overall average score of 67 indicated very strong support for religious freedom in the US.
In particular, the millennials (aged 24 to 36 approximately) showed the highest support for religious freedom, and they also reported the highest rates of religious discrimination of any age group.
One of the areas surveyed was whether people should have the freedom to disagree with same sex marriage.
On this controversial cultural topic, 74% of people believed religious groups and individuals should not face discrimination or fines if they do not support same sex-marriage. Of the several issues addressed in the survey this opinion had one of the highest levels of support.
This flies in the face of what is actually happening as religious people are facing heavy fines and harassment by government agencies if they do not support or endorse same sex marriage.
Another area that received higher support was the freedom to share your faith privately or publicly which scored 71% level of support.
Yet despite broad-based support among Americans, there is a small, but vocal group, wanting to deprive people of their religious freedoms guaranteed in the American constitution.
In the end, what it fundamentally comes down to is that people are not allowed to disagree with these activists’ totalitarian views on how society should operate.
The early church faced a similar problem in the book of Acts, when authorities tried to stop Christians from preaching about Jesus.
And in fact several disciples, including the Apostle Peter, were thrown into jail because they had been preaching the Gospel and healing the sick in a public area attached to the Southern side of the Temple known as Solomon’s Colonnade or porch. Believed to be the remnant from Solomon’s temple, it provided protection from the elements (John 10:22-23).
But an interesting thing happened after their arrest. In the middle of the night an angel of the Lord broke the disciples out of jail and told them to return to the Colonnade and continue preaching (Acts 5:19-20).
The next morning the disciples were re-arrested and brought before authorities. When they were told to quit preaching Jesus, Peter realizing that by having an angel to break them out of jail, God was sending a very different message stated:
“We must obey God rather than men.”
Acts 5:29 ESV
Of equal importance as the early church faced growing persecution, God responded with an outpouring of His Holy Spirit, miracles and increased angelic activity resulting in an explosion of growth.
Sources:
OpentheWord.org 