In early January, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) overturned a longstanding policy that forbade churches from getting federal disaster relief money.

The rule change by the Trump Administration affected any houses of worship that were damaged on or after August 23, just before Hurricane Harvey devastated large areas of Texas and especially the Houston area.   It was a welcome relief also to congregations in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in the path of Hurricane Irma, and to church communities in Puerto Rico that endured Hurricane Maria.

What might seem to be a neutral stance – that all damaged buildings in a disaster area could apply for aid financed by U.S. taxpayers – was denounced by atheist groups as a violation of the “separation of church and state” doctrine that has governed church-government relations since a series of Supreme Court rulings in the 1940s.

Beginning with Justice Hugo Black’s misapplication in Everson v. Board of Education (1947) of a reference in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury, Connecticut Baptists promising a “wall of separation” between church and state, the court effectively abandoned neutrality for hostility.

Federal officials’ initial singling out of religious institutions for denial of disaster aid is just one of many consequences from that serious misreading of President Jefferson’s letter — and of the First Amendment.  As historian David Barton notes, liberals now use the First Amendment as a sword to attack religious freedom, while conservatives use it as a shield.

Wrong-headed rulings have fundamentally transformed many constitutional protections into their opposite, but nowhere has more damage been done than to the First Amendment, the first part of which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

America’s Founders, and particularly Mr. Jefferson and James Madison, who championed religious liberty, would be appalled at how those very words have been twisted to advance discrimination against religious speech and practice.

But perhaps a turnaround is on the horizon.

The Trump Administration’s appointment of judges who respect the Constitution is one good sign. Another is the recent move by FEMA to undo bureaucratic discrimination.  Still another is a pending Supreme Court case.  On December 5, the justices heard arguments in what could produce the most important First Amendment ruling in decades.

A Christian baker in Colorado who had declined to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding invoked First Amendment protection from having to use his artistic ability to express something against his values.  The case is Masterpiece Cake Shop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Similar cases have arisen across the nation involving bakers, wedding planners, photographers and florists, all of whom say they have no problem with serving homosexual clients but draw the line at helping to facilitate weddings.  They say it is about the event, not the clients, a crucial distinction that the Court just might find persuasive.

Although all of these involve religious liberty, they could gain more support from liberals if they are based on freedom of expression.  After all, these are the same folks who think nude dancing is covered, so why not expressive cake baking?

In many arenas, the courts have invented new “rights” not envisioned by the Founders or ignored specific constitutional guarantees.  Without the Founders’ Biblically-based understanding of humans as flawed but redeemable, it’s easy to arrive at rulings, policies and laws that sound good on paper but are calamitous in the real world, producing a less responsible populace.

“If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments,” G.K. Chesterton observed, “they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments.”  The less that people embrace personal responsibility, the more we need bureaucrats, police, prosecutors and prisons.

Thanks to the genius of the Framers, there is a way back.  The Constitution itself is the most articulate voice in any legal matter. Since people are policy, the short answer to how we can restore America’s constitutional freedoms and ordered liberty is to elect and appoint leaders and judges who respect the original text and defeat those who do not.

Another remedy would be to impeach lawless judges, something clearly authorized by the Constitution, but almost never exercised. Maybe we need the president to declare some of these judges a disaster.

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This article originally posted on Townhall.com.

Tragedy often brings people together and that is certainly the case with Hurricane Harvey, which has now weakened to a tropical storm. The storm is still pounding Texas and Louisiana and made a second landfall early Wednesday morning in western Louisiana, with rain pummeling much of the Gulf Coast. The danger from flooding is still life threatening in Texas.

The death toll from #HurricaneHarvey is now confirmed to be at least 30 people, likely more. Over the next few hours and days that number will rise. Now, more than ever, the people of #Houston need your prayers.

Reservoirs are above capacity in Houston. According to the New York Times live updates:

Over the past few days, more than a trillion gallons of rain have fallen in Harris County alone – reportedly enough to “run Niagara Falls for 15 days,” or fill the Houston Astrodome 3,200 times. The rainfall is so heavy that parts of the Houston area set a record for rainfall from a single storm anywhere in the continental United States, with a top reading on Tuesday afternoon, since the storm began of 51.88 inches.This eclipses the previous mark of 48 inches that was measured in Medina, TX during Amelia, a tropical storm in 1978. The numbers may surpass the overall United States record for total rainfall from a single cyclone. In Hawaii, during Hurricane Hiki in 1950, 52.00 inches of rain were recorded at a ranger station on Kauai.

Hurricane Harvey is also expected to leave about $40 billion dollars in lost revenue or property damages. The last hurricane that hit the coast of Texas, Hurricane Ike, was only a category 2 storm and it cost $30 billion in damages and the loss of 37 lives. The death toll for Hurricane Harvey is expected to be much higher after the waters eventually recede and the now tropical storm abates.

Despite the ongoing tragedy, heroes and good Samaritans have risen to the occasion. The support for Houston has surpassed all political stripes, religions, and ethnic backgrounds.

According to Rolling Stone,  National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster President and CEO Gregory A. Forrester articulated that focusing on relief efforts can bring everyone together, which is exactly what needs to happen.

“I would encourage [any volunteers] even if they’re not faith-related, we’re all in this together at this point,” he says. “And don’t anticipate that anybody is going to try and push faith on you anyways, even if you do go and volunteer at the local church to assist with putting together the care kits that are going to be needed … It’s about helping.”

There are thousands of volunteers from multiple charity organizations such as the Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse, etc., engaging in relief efforts.

According to ABC News:

FEMA Administrator Brock Long said at a press conference Wednesday that there are more than 12,000 emergency staffers on the ground in Texas and Louisiana, spread across 50 counties. The agency is operating more than 230 shelters in Texas, housing more than 30,000 people.

The Air Force said it was providing aircraft assistance in response to Harvey, including two HC-130J Combat King IIs, three HH-60G Pave Hawks, air crews and other support personnel to College Station, Texas. Two C-17 Globemaster IIIs are carrying more than 30 tons of relief supplies to Louisiana’s Alexandria International Airport.

The Louisiana Cajun Navy, first formed in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, composed entirely of thousands of volunteers, reassembled and headed into Houston in pickup trucks and small motorized fishing boats on Sunday and worked at pulling people from their homes, parking garages, or even flooded shelters.

ABC News reports:

“It’s a mix of emotions,” a member of the Cajun Navy named Jeff told KTRK. “You hate to see people lose all they have. All we can do is get them to dry land.”

Another heartwarming incident occurred as a Weather Channel reporter interupted a live broadcast from the site of a totally demolished school and rescued a tattered American flag. Rare reports that “Paul Goodloe is on the ground in Texas to cover the impact of Hurricane Harvey on communities across the state.” In the video, Goodloe notices the flag, “I’m gonna have to pick that up,” he began. “I can’t let Old Glory just sit there like that. The school, yeah, it’s battered — so is the flag. We’ve got to fold this up, make sure it isn’t a casualty to Hurricane Harvey.”

Goodloe then proceeded to fold the flag in the proper manner, in 13 folds. This is especially touching, given the significance of each fold in a symbolic flag folding ceremony. Fold 1 represents life, fold 4 is symbolic of our weaker human nature, and our reliance on God in times of distress, and the 13th and final fold leaves the flag with the stars facing upward reminding us that we put our trust in God.

https://twitter.com/B911Nature/status/901622388865069056

ABC News reports several other incidents where lives were saved though heroism:

A local Houston doctor, Dr. Stephen Kimmel, braved the Hurricane Harvey floodwaters in a canoe to make it to the hospital so he could perform surgery on a teen who needed immediate surgery.

Neighbors banded together, literally, to help a woman in labor receive assistance from Houston Fire Department emergency workers. Residents in a Houston complex made a human chain to help the woman and her husband get into a rescue truck.

Houston Texans star JJ Watt has put together a massive fundraiser to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. In a video posted to Instagram 5 hours ago, Watt announced that the fundraiser has raised $5.1 million, but at the time of writing this article, the $6 million goal has almost been reached. It is likely that Watts will increase the new goal, as donations keep pouring in (so far from roughly 61,000 donors).

Some of the heroes unsurprisingly are even teens.

15 yr old Declan and friends have been picking people up in Meyerland since late morning @HoustonChron #houstonflood pic.twitter.com/fOh8lwXBzm

— Mark Mulligan (@mrkmully) August 27, 2017

Others with giant trucks helped in the rescue efforts.

They say they called 911 and the coast guard – no answer. But @8thWonderBrew stepped up. #abc13 #Meyerland pic.twitter.com/3pv20byqRH

— Pooja Lodhia (@PoojaOnTV) August 27, 2017

These three deputies helped rescue a disabled woman and carry her and her wheelchair to safety.

Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute, David E. Smith stated:

The media hypes up racial tensions all the time, trying to divide us along various social, economic and political lines.  But they highlight the fringe elements of a tiny fraction of America.

Most Americans are willing to help each other out, even risk their lives to save another human being.  We are seeing that in Houston.