Guest Post: Land of the Free?
It’s the end of our Independence Day holiday weekend here in the U.S., which makes now a good time to consider our freedom — or the lack of it. As a special July 4th weekend post, the New Free Thinkers would like to share a recent article from Bishop John Hanson titled “Land of the Free?”. Here is an excerpt:
Even casual students of history will quickly recognize that bureaucracy and unjust courts are the trademark of nations who have lost their moorings. As the saying goes, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” If a nation does not stand for justice and liberty, it will soon be nothing more than a group of people who are dominated by a ruling class.
God felt strongly about the need for good morals and true justice. On many occasions He told his people that he would rather that they didn’t even come to church and pretend to be religious if they were not going to live right.
The full article is available through Acts II Ministries. Continue to think about the meaning of freedom and liberty this week!
While there are positive sentiments in the original article regarding liberty and freedom, there are several points that should be addressed;
the story mentioned regarding a couple being threatened with fines for “holding bible studies in their home” seems to have more to do with zoning regulations and an over zealous homeowners association in California enforcing parking rules for the neighborhood, rather than freedom of speech, or religion. If it were really a case where someones rights to proselytize were being infringed on, the ACLU and everyone else would be lined up right behind them.
Second, the idea that bureaucracy is taking over the personal lives of private citizens and that we’re moving towards a more “socialistic” form of government seems to stem from the recent pattern of bailouts for banking and automotive industries, which now accounts for .21% of the nation’s economy, hardly a controlling force over the typical middle class or even lower class citizen. Rather, this trend represents the continued domination of private interests, in which our government cares more for the most wealthy and elite rather than the average citizen.
Freedom means a lot of things, from the freedom to express yourself and your ideas to the freedom of economic opportunities which allows citizens to explore the potential of their lives to the greatest potential. Our freedom to worship is in no danger; rather, it is the economic liberties and equality of every citizen being threatened by expansive government that only represents special interests, and on the fourth of July we should remember how a select group of white men formed a government to protect their own priorities, under the guise of freedom and justice for all.
So long as we confuse the protection of private wealth with a curtailing of our personal liberties, and as we misdiagnose the problems of representative democracy, we lose focus on the real Christian priorities of promoting social justice, understanding, salvation, and selflessness, instead clinging to the greed and sin that traps this world in its depressive spiral of self-destruction.
While you can claim that my liberties are intact, the fact remains that I can’t go down to the local library and put up a flier for the church. However, I can put up as many fliers as I want about meditation, new age classes, or seances. Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims can advertise in public places with municipal blessing, but I as a Christian cannot. My right to free speech has in fact been abridged.
In Canada it’s already a crime to speak against alternate lifestyles that are clearly condemned in the Bible. “Hate speech” is what it’s called, regardless of whether hate is involved.
Worship encompasses all areas of our lives; if we lose freedom to proclaim the truth, we have lost the freedom to worship fully. Instead of retreating to an inferior “social gospel”, which results only in outward change and feel-good Christianity, we must advance to true Christianity — Christ-likeness — which addresses the root problems of humanity.
Regardless of our circumstances, the greatest danger we face as Christians is that we aren’t. I’m sure you can think of examples.