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Erosion Of Rights In The USA

Posted on 10th May 2017

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This piece in The Guardian should be cause for concern for anyone who lives in the USA.

The article describes the unprecedented number (more than 30 since the 8th of November 2016) of state laws introduced to crack down on protests. UN experts have called these laws “incompatible with US obligations under international human rights law”.

The USA is famous for its 1st Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to free speech. Now, that right is being severely limited when exercised via organised protests.

It occurs to me that this is in some way opposite to Christian principles. In the New Testament, Jesus is reported as saying "Whenever two or three people are gathered together in my name, I will be with you": you can only commune with God in organised groups. Under these new ant-protest laws, you can only exercise your right to free speech (in the states which have such laws - more than half, it seems) if you do not do so in an organised group.

Since these new laws about protests are being promulgated by Republicans, who by and large purport to be Christian, I detect a whiff of hypocrisy in their position.