News reports have indicated that in recent years Christians have been murdered in the Middle East, imprisoned in China, and enslaved in northern Africa. While such atrocities are almost inconceivable to us and these horrific reports come from far away, we must not be oblivious to the encroachments upon our religious freedom at home.

While we may not be overtly persecuted for our faith here in America, it is becoming increasingly clear that our religious freedom is under attack and being chiseled away in the name of human rights.

Religious freedom can be restricted in two ways: by censoring what a religious group teaches or the way its followers live or by requiring actions that go against a religion's teachings.

For example, there was a time when prayers could be offered at public functions, nativity scenes displayed on public squares, the Ten Commandments posted in county courthouses and the name of Jesus invoked without fear of reprisal. But now it appears that our freedom to openly give expression of our faith in Jesus Christ is in jeopardy.

Voddie Baucham, Jr., in his book The Ever-Loving Truth, says that one of the realities of living in a post-Christian culture is the offensive nature of the name of Jesus.

Baucham writes: "No one would forbid a high school or junior high student from writing a paper on Hitler, but let her write on Jesus and sparks will fly. A class valedictorian would be praised if he quoted Gandhi in a speech but punished if he quoted Jesus."

Baucham adds, "A presidential candidate who considered Einstein as the greatest influence in his life would be considered highly intellectual, but when George W. Bush proclaimed Jesus Christ as the most influential person in his life, he set off a media firestorm!"

In fact, the First Amendment of the Constitution, the "religious freedom" document, has come to mean very little in our society. Unfortunately, it is used today mostly as a weapon to restrict the rights of Christians to speak freely in forums where they should be free to articulate their faith.

In her recent speech at the Republican National Convention Elizabeth Dole must have feared the erosion of religious freedoms in saying, "The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."

A recent example of Christianity being pushed out of the public forum is the termination of Marilou Braswell as cheerleading coach at the University of Georgia. Braswell, entering her twelfth year in that role, was fired after Jaclyn Steele, a Jewish student, complained that her chances of making the football cheerleading squad were hurt because she didn't participate in Bible studies and pre-game prayers.

Steele complained to the university in the summer of 2003 and in November coach Braswell was placed on probation for religious discrimination. Steele was subsequently reinstated on the squad without a tryout.

Braswell prepared a statement for the cheerleading squad explaining Steele's reinstatement, submitted it to the athletic department, and waited for weeks to get approval to read the statement to the squad.

When she did not hear from the athletic department she read the statement to the squad, explaining Steele's allegations against her and emphasizing it was the athletic department's decision to reinstate Steele to the team. The university viewed that as retaliation for the discrimination claims and the coach was fired for "discourteous and disruptive behavior."

Braswell commented, "I've had every religion and race you can imagine on our squad. We were a team, a diverse team, but a team and I loved every one of them." She also indicated that she allowed students to pray, but that the prayers were nonsectarian, and in once instance, said in Hebrew.

There was no real reason provided for the termination, no due process followed, no offer of sensitivity training, no consideration given for twelve years of faithful service to the university, just a pink slip.

God's people can no longer be slothful and idle. Our religious freedom is being stolen. We must be alert, vigilant and prayerful. We must find out what politicians stand for and refuse to vote for the ones who have sold out to the "politically correct" elite. We must vote for men and women of principle, those who have a moral compass, and those who have values.