Vietnamese Christians and the Law (Part 2)

Last month I was privileged to attend a week long Constitutional Law training event with the Alliance Defense Fund and National Litigation Academy in Pasadena, California. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is the largest Christian legal defense organization in the United States with focuses on religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and traditional family values. As a graduate of the National Litigation Academy, I am part of an army of Christian attorneys over 1000 strong dedicated to protecting, training and litigating against humanistic philosophies and organizations like the ACLU in the attempt to protect and preserve traditional, biblical and constitutional matters that affect Christians. ADF has won over 34 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court level. For a summary of recent cases won, please visit http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/.

Although the use of the court system should be something to avoid if at all possible, it is sometimes necessary to avail ourselves to the secular judicial system in order to protect ourselves, our families and our rights as Christians. Even the apostle Paul in Acts 22:25, appealed to the laws of his day for protection from the unjust punishment of scourging without a fair trial. When Paul lost at the lower court levels, he appealed to the higher courts—in his case, appealing directly to the courts of Ceasar (Acts 25:21), as was his right as a Roman citizen.

God has placed us in this world for a reason. Though God does not want his people to be conformed by the world (Romans 12:2), he does desire that we be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-14) in the world as to be a witness and in my view, transform our world. God has commissioned his people to go into the ends of the world—not only to preach the gospel, but to also make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). God not only wants individuals to be saved but He also wants the kingdoms and governments of this world to be transformed by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the ways that kingdoms and governments can be transformed is for its laws to reflect the righteousness of Christ.

There is now current legislation in the United States Senate to make it a hate crime to speak negatively against homosexuals or issues regarding homosexuality. In Sweden, there was a Lutheran pastor who was preaching on the text that mentioned a list of unbibilical lifestyles, with them, homosexuality (Romans 1:21-32). The pastor was brought up on hate crime charges against homosexuals because of the reference to homosexuality as an unacceptable biblical lifestyle. He was actually convicted at all the lower court levels and sentenced to prison. His case was appealed to Sweden’s Supreme Court and thankfully with the help of ADF, the Swedish Supreme Court reversed the conviction, threw out the unjust law and set the pastor free. What happened in Sweden can actually happen in the United States (just a matter of time) if Christians don’t utilize our legal rights to oppose a humanistic agenda that seeks to remove Christ from society.

For too long, secular humanistic organizations like the ACLU have terrorized people of faith (especially Christians) with their lawsuits. God is now raising up Christian organizations like ADF to help Christians everywhere protect values most important to us—that is, the right to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to protect the least of us without a voice (the unborn) and to uphold the biblical standards of traditional family values.

Discrimination against Christians rarely happen outright, but often are done through disguised reasons or the implementation of certain laws that restrict. As Vietnamese Christians, please avail yourselves not only to the power of the Holy Spirit but also the laws of the land to protect yourselves, your family and community. If you ever need help against those that seek to restrict your rights to speak out for Christ in any way, please feel free to contact me. As an ADF allied attorney, I can help advise you of your rights and help make available the resources of more than 1000 attorneys across the United States who are willing to battle the agendas of secular humanists for the sake of Christ and His Church.