Why “Freedom of Worship” Is Not Enough

[The Rock]

This is an old article, but relevent considering the recent actions by the Obama administration...
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesqua...-is-not-enough

In his Cairo speech in June of 2009, President Obama gave religious freedom a place of heightened importance in his administration’s agenda...

“Freedom of worship” first appeared in a high profile speech in Obama’s remarks at the memorial for the victims of the Fort Hood shooting last November, a few months after his Cairo speech. Speaking to the crowd gathered to commemorate the victims, President Obama said, “We're a nation that guarantees the freedom to worship as one chooses.” Given the religious tension that marked the tragic incident, it was not an insignificant event at which to unveil a new way of referring to our First Freedom....

To anyone who closely follows prominent discussion of religious freedom in the diplomatic and political arena, this linguistic shift is troubling.

The reason is simple. Any person of faith knows that religious exercise is about a lot more than freedom of worship. It’s about the right to dress according to one’s religious dictates, to preach openly, to evangelize, to engage in the public square. Everyone knows that religious Jews keep kosher, religious Quakers don’t go to war, and religious Muslim women wear headscarves—yet “freedom of worship” would protect none of these acts of faith.

Personally, I feel that the administration's "evolving" policies and rhetoric involving religious freedom and gay marriage have been a calculated shift pre-planned from the beginning of his administration. I can't find the article now, but I do remember reading that Obama gave assurances (at the beginning of his term) to the gay marriage crowd that they would approve of his stance regarding enforcing the Defense Of Marriage Act by the end of his first term.

The initial stance of the Obama administration was to defend the DOMA, only later to reverse this policy.

Similarly he abandons the defense of freedom of religion for freedom of worship, attacking religious freedom.