The United States was founded on the idea of religious freedom. While this does not mean that the United States is a “Christian nation,” it does mean that Christianity, as well as other religions, should be able to be practiced freely within the borders of the nation.

For refresher’s sake, let me quote from the First Amendment to the US Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Of course, free exercise of religion has never been absolute. For instance, if your religion requires human sacrifice, this would be seen as murder and not allowed. There are other, less egregious examples, but you get the idea. If the action of the religious participants is peaceful and doesn’t otherwise break laws or infringe on other people’s rights, it should be allowed.

So, what if the “laws” that the religious participants are breaking aren’t legitimate? I document the passage and enforcement of many of these kinds of laws on a regular basis.

What if the “law” that is being broken is a zoning ordinance? What if the zoning ordinance forbids a person from holding religious study on their own property?

A man in Phoenix was jailed for 60 days and fined $12,000 for doing just that — holding a Bible study on his own property. He is actually staying in a tent jail because of overcrowding. I wonder why the jail in his county would be overcrowded?

Salman is currently serving his 60-day jail term in the Tent City Jail in Maricopa County. The Tents Jail, begun in 1993 as a response to jail overcrowding, houses inmates outdoors in military tents with four Sky Watch Towers for security, stun fences around the perimeter, facial recognition computer software for inmate identification, and K-9 units and patrol deputies for additional security.

As per usual, the reason this came to the attention of the so-called authorities in the first place is because of some neighbors who complained. If you know someone like this, please direct them to subscribe to my blog. They might eventually get the idea that it’s not a good idea to call the police about every little thing because there is no way to be in compliance with all of the laws of this nation anymore.

I’ve chosen a controversial subject today. Actually, it chose me.  As a college professor teaching microbiology, my husband belongs to the American Society for Microbiology.  A discussion in their recent literature piqued my interest.  It was about the influenza vaccine.

There was a study done recently in the Netherlands that was published in the Journal of Virology.  The full paper can be accessed online here.  I confess that I haven’t read the entire thing as it would be way over my head.  But, I did read the summary and wish to share some thoughts with you. (Please note that the summary is no longer online for some reason).

The results of the study assert that giving children a vaccine every year for the flu may help with the seasonal strain.  However, over time, these same children may be more vulnerable to a novel pandemic-type flu (like swine flu, etc.).  I’m not telling anyone what to do, but I do think this is just one more reason not to give you kids the flu shot.  In my adult life, the flu shot has gone from something that only immune compromised or elderly people received to something they recommend to everyone over the age of 6 months.  They are still studying how this will impact children in the long run.

The problem I have isn’t when people give or receive flu shots — it’s when the government mandates that people receive them in order to go to government schools.  Whether you have your kids in government schools is a different issue.  For now, I’ll say that this is the only option for many people so they feel obligated to play by the rules.  Even though they just found out that annual childhood flu vaccines my interfere with cross-resistance later in life, states will probably not back down from their stance to require the flu shot for admittance to school.  The states that currently require an annual flu vaccination are New Jersey and Connecticut.

There are also government mandates for long-term care facilities.  Residents in long-term care facilities are required by law to be vaccinated against the flu in the following states: Connecticult, Deleware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.  Of course, the study I cited today that recently came out doesn’t necessarily impact the elderly, but it is worth pointing out how the government is becoming more and more involved with an individual’s decision about vaccination.

Please feel free to make the decision about flu shots for yourself.  I will respect whatever decision you make, but I do try to keep people informed that they’re usually not getting the other side of the story.  The fact is that if we’re not mandated to receive the flu shot, we sure are highly encouraged to do so with nothing but positive information being given to us.  Many health care facilities require their employees to be vaccinated against the flu and getting out of it is quite a hassle.

I take offense at the government being so pushy about this issue.  I saw a sign a few years ago that really rubbed me the wrong way.  It insinuated that you weren’t a good parent if you didn’t get you and your kids vaccinated against the flu.  It was similar to this one.  Just remember as you drive through town and see dozens of signs advertising flu shots that there are good reasons why some good parents would choose not to get the shot.

If I had the guts, I’d be Amish.  In general, I agree with many of their lifestyle choices…in principal.  In reality, I’m not strong enough to join their ranks.  While my children sleep, I do research on the internet or do writing (using a computer, of course).  I enjoy my electric washing machine and home lighting.

The Amish believe that they should life simple lives, and that includes their adornment.  Colorful or flashy clothing is out.  And so are colorful markings on their vehicles (horse drawn buggies).  But, that doesn’t stop some for being jailed for failure to display safety signs on their buggies.

As the story goes, the men were given fines for their failure to display the signs.  Then, they refused to pay the fines.  They contend that paying the fines would amount to complying with what they believe is an unjust law that violates their religious freedoms.  So, they were jailed.  At least the jail didn’t make them wear orange jumpsuits.  They were provided with a dark colored jump suit and sandals.

I think it’s quite interesting that the local government recognizes that wearing an orange jumpsuit is a violation of their religious freedom, but does not recognize the large orange signs as being unacceptable to them.

Anyway, as usual, this is a matter of safety…and the government always claims to know better than everyone else about how to keep people safe.  In fact, safety is so important in this case, that it threatens to trump religious freedom.