To Be Free

We can be thankful that God has placed us in a nation that has historically been dedicated to allow the practice of one's faith. Throughout our land, in our cities and our rural areas, we see churches dot the landscape, a reminder of the deep religious faith of those who came to our shores in the quest for freedom. 1st Peter 2 states:
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

We are directed by Scripture to have respect for authorities (and to pray for them), and when they operate outside of that Biblical mandate that we find in verse 14, we can certainly make our appeal. If we are conforming to the law of Christ and behaving in an "honorable" way as the text says, then we reflect our citizenship of heaven, as well as good citizens of the nation in which we have been placed.  In all things, we ideally should be free to glorify Christ in all that we do.

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Even though we see a great departure from our founding principles and a rejection of those principles in the pursuit of a counter-agenda, we live in a nation that was founded on respect - for the dignity of individuals and the practice of their faith. Psalm 33 offers us a worthy goal:
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth;
15 He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.

The Fourth of July weekend is over, and this year, as we have seen in previous years, there was a fair share of fireworks - not just the kind that explode overhead, but that have been spoken by people who are highly critical of our country and have failed to recognize its progress on issues in ways that are true to the foundation of our nation.

Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, in response to inflammatory rhetoric that he observed over the weekend wrote:

The Declaration of Independence provided the moral force for the movements that ended slavery and segregation, but whereas the woke Left has indoctrinated our children against their own country, so that only 36 percent of adults aged 18-24 are proud to be American. They've intimidated patriotic Americans in the public sphere so even Olympic athletes are disrespecting the flag.

One of the key cornerstones of the American experience is our country's years-long devotion to religious freedom, a concept that is embraced by an overwhelming number of Americans, according to a new poll released by Summit.org, a worldview ministry that is aimed at high school and college students.  Regarding the poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports, Summit President Jeff Myers said: “This research affirms that the American people overwhelmingly support the continued protection of the Constitutional right of freedom of religion, and oppose policies requiring churches and faith-based charities and organizations to compromise their deeply-held religious beliefs...Yet, leaders in Washington, DC are aggressively pushing forward on legislative measures such as the mislabeled Equality Act, which specifically strips away religious freedom protections. In an era of hyper-partisanship, freedom of religion retains broad, bi-partisan support among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.”

One of the key findings: "82% of Americans say freedom of religion is important to a healthy American society, only 9% say it is not important."  Of that 82%, 67% say it is "very important."

Another key point is this: "Only 20% of Americans say churches and faith-based charities should be required by law to hire people who oppose their religious beliefs."  Considering the remaining 80%, half of Americans oppose the statement and 30% are not sure.

Again, the breakdown along party lines shows bi-partisan support for those core findings.

Our nation was founded on the principles of, as the Pledge of Allegiance says, "liberty and justice for all."  The Declaration of Independence recognized God-given rights. Our national motto is not, "E Pluribus Unum," but "In God We Trust."  So, it's really tough and irresponsible to separate our nation from our religious founding, consistent with Judeo-Christian principles.

But, there are those who are trying to do that and undercutting the foundational principles that have served us extremely well for 245 years.  Our takeaways from this information:

We can make sure that we are taking advantage of the freedoms of being Americans by taking to heart the declaration of Paul that "I am not ashamed of the gospel."  We do not have to be intimidated to share and live our faith, and even though there have been examples where government oversteps its bounds, we can continue to have confidence that we can be who we are in Christ in and to our culture.

We can also ascertain that we are not embracing ideologies or worldviews that run counter to the principles of Scripture, predicated on the love of Christ and the worth of the individual.  Cultural Marxism leads to division. Perkins poses this question:

Why is the radical Left force-feeding America a false narrative about our racist founding that reinterprets selective facts through the (racist) lens of critical race theory? Not so that we will heal our past racial divides and move forward as a nation. Rather, so they can ram a radical policy agenda through the chasm of racial strife they create.

Out of chaos comes a desire to control, and I can assure you, America will certainly not prosper under the heavy hand of those who would want to hurl us toward socialism.  We are called the "United" States of America, and what unites us is a common bond that is based on something - in our case, the timeless beliefs centered on the worth of the individual and the freedom to live our lives without unnecessary entanglement.  We should be devoted to enjoying our freedom in Christ in a land that respects our beliefs and allows us to worship freely and to abide by His directives.