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Esther 4:14 …and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Yesterday, WorldNetDaily carried an article detailing the decision of the Sacramento library system to allow adults to turn off filters that prevent people from viewing pornography. It does not matter if children are present or if offends those that may be working on the next computer over.

This is in stark contrast to the failed attempts of a middle school in New York to prevent Christian students from passing out literature that explains why many Christians oppose abortion. Fox News reported that after legal wrangling, the school was forced to allow the students to continue to exercise their freedom of speech.

It is so striking that on opposite ends of the country, the same thing is happening in different ways. In California, the Constitution is used to argue that people have the right to view objectionable material on the state’s dime in plain sight of children and others such as myself who would be offended. It is so sad, because the freedoms of press and speech were not created to protect prurient (meaning overly obsessed with sexual matters) interests. They do exist to protect unpopular political and social expression. On the other hand, the children in New York were nearly deprived of these very rights for just that reason. Their views were not popular, and people wondered how middle schoolers could have developed these complex moral positions.

In response to that I am reminded of my childhood. I distinctly remember as an eight or nine year old being completely repulsed by the idea of abortion. I was taught from the Bible that life begins at conception. As “just a kid”, I thought that if that is true, man then does not have the right to end it. That takes care of their latter argument. The former is refuted by the Constitution itself.

We as Christians in this age must be very wary of two things. Those rights which the government gives us, we must both protect and use to our advantage. Paul demonstrates these principles in the book of Acts when he exercises his Roman rights. Second, we must be kind but vocal in our opposition to those imposing corrupt values on our society. We may not have libraries allowing porn in our neighborhood, but no doubt there are social vices that we have not opposed. Then there will be more that will move into our towns. How will we respond?

If there has ever been a time that needed kind, compassionate Christians to influence our society, it is now. May the Lord help us to stand firm.