I recently received a book entitled  Assault on Liberty: Rebirth of the “Fairness Doctrine.”  The book was researched and authored by a friend of ours, Dr. Kenneth Hill. Many of you in the  East Tennessee area know Dr. Hill as the founder of the Appalachian Educational Communication Corporation (AECC),  the owner of five radio stations, and a strong advocate and defender of conservative Christian values.  On a more personal note, he has been a great friend of the Radio Bible Hour and my father.  Dr. Hill is well-informed on many issues regarding the impact of political action on religious freedom.
         In the book Dr. Hill examines the “Fairness Doctrine” as an attempt to silence the broadcasting of conservative Christian views. In his examination of the history of government attacks on conservative broadcasters, he quotes extensively from my father’s experience in Knoxville during the late 1940’s.   He includes a sermon my father delivered at that time entitled “Termites in the Temple.”  He also quoted a radio interview that I did with Dr. Hill regarding that time in my father’s life. 
        It seems that many of these same battles that my father fought are still with us.  After World War II there were many individuals in our national government who were committed Marxists, and who were actively sympathetic and supportive of the atheistic policies of the Soviet Union.  Our own State Department was strongly influenced by these people.  In that environment, people like my father recognized the danger that the Communists posed to our way of life.  As I traveled in Russia, and saw the economic, social and environmental damage that Russia has suffered as a result of Marxist policies, I quietly thanked God for people like my father who resisted those same influences in our own country. 
        My father’s concern was spiritual.  He knew that Marx called religion “the opiate of the masses.”  He knew that Communism had a policy of trying to eliminate evangelical Christianity (or any other religion it could not control.)  He knew that the National Council of Churches (and the World Council of Churches) were sympathetic to the program of the International Communist movement (COMINTERN).  One can make the case that even today, the NCC and WCC remain sympathetic to Marxist “liberation theology.”
        I wondered what our country would have been like today, if during the period after World War II, the Communists and their sympathizers had succeeded in getting control of our government.  Our churches have thrived since the 1950’s; our evangelical churches have been the cornerstone of a world-wide missions initiative which has reached into almost every part of the world.  Many have been won to Christ in formerly Communist-controlled countries. None of that would have been possible under a Marxist government.  Meanwhile, the political forces which hate the real message of Jesus (“I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father, except by me,”) are still at work. 
        Our parents fought against the evils of their day.  They opposed and defeated Nazism, and Soviet tyranny, even when it cost them their lives, their treasure, and their peace.  We owe them a great debt for the freedom we enjoy today.  But make no mistake, the enemies of freedom are still at work.  Satan is the one who loves to enslave; bondage is the condition he creates for all who work for him. His favorite form of government is a master-slave relationship.  Christianity is all about freedom; freedom from sin; freedom from bondage;  freedom from all forms of slavery.  Totalitarian governments are always about giving up your freedom: Less freedom of speech, of expression, and of course, freedom of religious expression.  In our day, the enemies of  freedom of religious expression call their policies “Fairness Doctrines,” or “Anti-Hate Speech Laws,” but in the end they seek to stop the preaching of the Gospel, and the silencing of those who believe that God’s Word is the final authority.
        I think you might enjoy Dr. Hill’s book, and will certainly benefit from learning about the history and current state of this fight to restrict religious expression in our land.  It’s available from Dr. Hill, and you can find out more at www.AssaultOnLiberty.com.  As Christians, we need to be informed about these issues more than ever.