At my age, one learns to look at life with a little distance. When I hear of new laws seeking to restrict religious conversion, I feel deeply concerned. Our Constitution was written to safeguard freedom — especially the sacred freedom to follow the faith of one's own choosing.
Conversion to Christianity, in particular, is often misunderstood. It is not a matter of changing one's name, one's rituals, or the outward symbols one adopts. At its heart, it is a matter of being "born again" — an inner renewal of the spirit, a turning of the heart towards faith in Christ. No earthly authority can regulate this, for it belongs to the realm of conscience.
That is why such restrictive laws cannot stand the test of our Constitution. Preventing force or fraud is one thing; trespassing upon the inner freedom of belief is quite another. Faith begins where the authority of the state must end.
To me, faith has never been a matter of numbers or of ceremonies. It is the quiet freedom of an individual responding to the call of the spirit. No law can prevent that; and if judged without prejudice, such laws will not endure.
At this stage of life, I write not to argue, but to share what I have seen and understood. May these thoughts help us remember that true freedom lies within the human spirit, beyond the reach of any earthly law.