A pastor HAS BEEN PUT IN JAIL for doing nothing more than conducting a church ministry.
Now I’m not talking about a minister being jailed in the Soviet Union. I’m talking about a pastor being jailed right here in America—in Louisville, Nebraska.
On February 18, 1982, District Judge Raymond Case found Pastor Siliven in “contempt of court” because he would not submit his church educational ministry to state licensing.
The court said Pastor Siliven broke 14 Nebraska state laws when he started a church school without state approval.
Pastor Siliven has already spent 12 days in jail. At the moment of this writing he is free, pending the outcome of new legal proceedings. Meanwhile, his church school is closed by action of the state, and he could be jailed again any day . .. perhaps even before you receive this letter.
The sheriff has chained and padlocked the school and only allows the congregation in the church for Sunday morning services and Wednesday evening prayer meetings.
The danger of this action is staggering.
Anti-Christian administrators in other states will be watching closely to see if the Nebraska courts can quietly get away with this outrage.
This fight is critical to t he survival of free Christian churches and schools. Many other cases are developing, but this Siliven case is the most critical test case in the nation now.
The true story of Pastor Siliven begins in Wa~hington, D.C., at the National Education Association (NEA).
The NEA is a liberal humanist education organization that has long pushed for federal funding and federal control of our nation’s schools. So it’s easy to see why the NEA is opposed to private religious education.
And on top of that the Nebraska branch of the NEA is one of the largest contributors of campaign funds for state–elected officials in Nebraska! Even the Nebraska Commissioner of Education is handpicked by that group.
Please don’t make the mistake of thinking quality education is the issue here. Itisn’t. Pastor Siliven’s school children perf~rmmuch better on national test scores than do t he children of tax-supported Nebraska public schools.
The real issue here is religious freedom. The state’s purpose is control of all education, philosophy and curx:iculum, public and private. The power to license is the power to control.
Nebraska is the test case: Ifthat state is successful in its attempts to control and silence Pastor Siliven and his church school, you can be sure other states will follow.
Excerpts from a newsletter of Dr. D. James Kennedy of Fort Lauderdale, Flhrida, who is seeking to arouse support for this embattled minister and Christian school.