Liberties are being tossed aside for political agendas

The Rev. Kevin Brown
Guest Column

I wanted to take a minute to reach out to all of you who for the last few months to a year have been struggling with the politics of eminent domain and other liberty issues throughout our blessed country.

For me, both a man who is active in a community and a minister, it has been a double burden for me to be fighting for things we not so long ago held dear to our hearts and minds as secure and sacred.

The freedom to worship and pursue our faith was what I grew up on in America.

The freedom to own a home and a business and to pursue happiness was instilled in me by my family and teachers throughout my childhood and young adult years.

Now we are faced with a system that interprets age-old truths to fit political and development agendas.

As the minister, I am not shocked by this. The tenets of my faith have been left to many different opinions and interpretations for many years, resulting in a watering down of basic philosophical and moral issues.

Now nonreligious liberties are also tossed aside for the decrees of one circumstance or political agenda.

Fighting for the right to exercise my own faith and freedom to use my building in a faith-based manner and fighting to preserve my property from development-minded elected officials has been a real eye-opener to me in the last six years.

The cherry on the top of this whole pile of whipped cream came when nationally it became an issue that the Christmas tree and the Christmas holiday could no longer publicly be proclaimed throughout the land, for it was not politically correct.

The United States of America is a Judeo-Christian nation. It was founded on the beliefs inherent in the scriptures. It also decreed and adopted a national philosophy to be extremely kind and tolerant of all religious beliefs, never stumbling to arrogance or violence purely because one believed differently than another. It also guaranteed the rights of all people, no matter what their faith or religious beliefs.

Today we have a different philosophical crowd pushing the people to an extreme. No longer is a homeowner guaranteed the pleasure of their property and home.

No longer is a business owner protected in a free commerce and market environment. No longer can you put down a soap box and preach a message found in the Bible.

Land and faith are no longer benefits of our free society.

Some think our problems are caused by a handful of selfish and greedy people. I think we are on the dawn of a very dark era. The time is upon us to be more diligent in our fight to preserve what made this land great and prosperous to begin with.

We as Americans need to move in a positive restoration of truth, justice and the American way. The way that allowed a man and a woman to purchase a tract of land and build a home and a family. To live there until they decided to sell it and relocate elsewhere. That decision was theirs, not another’s.

A place where someone can open a shop, a church or a theater to offer to the general public goods and services necessary to live in harmony among others in your community.

We need to allow prayer, private ownership of property, and above all else, justice for all.

I remember when I would ask God to end world hunger and war each Christmas. Now I am asking God to end discrimination against Christian-Judeo beliefs and eminent domain abuse.

I would call you all to a special service here at the Lighthouse Christian Center, where we would come together in peace and embrace each other and comfort each other as a community of people drawn together by our plight over the last year or so.

I would open my heart and my arms to each of you and speak of love and charity and support.

I would, I should and I most definitely want to. After all, when I was located at 159 Broadway, right across the street, I was open 350 days a year doing just that from 1992-1999.

However, it is against the law of Long Branch New Jersey, for me to open the church at 162 Broadway, Long Branch, because church is a prohibited use in the zone of our building.

To me, man’s laws when they violate God’s purpose need to be repealed. If we stand together we can overturn what has cropped up to keep us down.

The Rev. Kevin Brown

Lighthouse Christian Center

Long Branch