Vic Bilson

About the author: Vic Bilson is the editor of the Jeremiah Project, an online Christian "print ministry" that posts views on numerous religious and social issues.

Smokers are stripped of their civil rights, denied employment rights, and reduced to second-class citizens as the government increasingly works to make smoking illegal in public places. The government's antismoking campaigns pretend to focus on health, drug abuse, or teen smoking, but these campaigns are mere socialist propaganda. The government is actually interested in making money and controlling the lives of its citizens. Legislation slated to reduce teen smoking, for example, does nothing more than raise taxes on the middle class, extending the role of government in private lives. Exaggerations about the negative health effects of tobacco lead to higher insurance premiums and medical fees. And antismoking sentiment...