Liberty
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
This past week our nation celebrated its Independence Day. In light of the Gospel, is a good opportunity to reflect on the meaning and importance of being “one nation under God,” and what is the state of liberty.
My own generation has seen a great transformation of this nation from its founding principles, such that it can hardly be recognized from its original Constitution. When asked what was the key turning point, many people will point to one of two events: the legalization of abortion in 1973, or the removal of prayer from public schools in 1963. Both of these events signified a rejection of God, and the Christian principles upon which the nation was founded. They were watershed moments in a cascading set of consequences that have culminated in a rejection of all Biblical morality, and a specific abhorrence for Christianity which is depicted as “intolerant” and inimical to the modern state. Our society embraces, quite explicitly, the pagan immorality of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Biblical picture of a society that has rejected God (Gn 18-19).
Ironically, like the people from Nazareth who grew up with Jesus but rejected him when he presumed to assert his Messianic authority (Mk 6:3), the United States establishment which now takes great offense at Christ and his disciples, grew up from Christian principles and exists because them.
The citizens of Sodom indignantly point to “separation of Church and State” as justification for this suppression, but this completely inverts the intention of the “establishment clause” in the Bill of Rights.[1] The founding fathers did not intend to remove religion from society, only the ability of the government to interfere with religious practice.[2] American liberty is not freedom from religion, but freedom for religion. The Founding Fathers carefully established a government with limited power, and put in place numerous “checks and balances” because they knew the corrupting dangers of sin. They repeatedly declared the Constitution would only be effective in preserving freedom if the people it governs are a moral and religious people.[3] It is hard enough for religious people to overcome the tendencies to lie, cheat, and steal that go with politics, but without Fear of the Lord it is impossible to temper the greed and lust that lead to tyranny.
Thus we find ourselves at an ominous crossroads. The only guarantee for the liberty we enjoy as Americans is religion. And the primary purpose of liberty is religion: that man might enjoy the blessings of God as His free children, not living like slaves in Egypt. Religious liberty is the first of the inalienable rights set forth in the Bill of Rights, for good reason.
Today we face in the United States a secular religion being established and imposed on the population through indoctrination in the educational system and media. It is thoroughly intolerant of “heresies,” and tolerates other religions only to the degree they help undermine real Christian values and authentic Christians.
To preserve this nation, the Christian population must recognize the dangers and reassert itself at all levels. This is not as easy as it sounds.
In a God-less society, the Economy is perhaps the greatest threat to religious liberty, because it enslaves. Are Americans slaves? God commanded that the Lord’s Day be kept holy: “six days you shall work,” so that the seventh may be directed to Him. Ask yourself honestly, how many Americans are truly at liberty for God, faith, and family on Sundays? Wherever possible, Christians must refuse to work, shop, or engage in any activity that requires financial transaction, or that detracts from the ability to attend Mass and be with family. Secondarily, we must avoid any unnecessary non-beneficial debt, particularly credit card debt; and work through the political process to lower the theft of money through taxation. Government can never provide for people more efficiently than they can provide for themselves and each other. How possible is it for most people to accomplish this? How deeply are we in fact enslaved by the system?
In a God-less society, the Media establishment must likewise be engaged with extreme caution and judiciousness. There is no television show or movie produced today that depicts or upholds a traditional family built upon marriage, or reinforces the traditional western heritage of Christianity. There is no mainstream news outlet that is not carefully controlled propaganda. And there is almost no social media that is free of tracking and manipulation designed to isolate and control, and destroy healthy human relationships. Wherever possible, Christians must refuse to watch and pay for any of this, and strictly discern the legitimate uses of social media. Instead, we must seek and pursue those activities where people (family, friends, co-workers) interact, converse, and engage directly with each other, including multi-generational relationships of the old and young. Those who do not have liberal amounts of such leisure do not have liberty.
In a God-less society, the indoctrination of the Educational establishment must be avoided whenever possible, and challenged prophetically the way early Christians challenged the structures of Roman society. Every Christian family must homeschool, at the very least with regard to religion. No child should be sent to public schools without a prior educational formation at home that fortifies them with the discernment and critical thinking skills needed to navigate that unhealthy environment.
These are three of the important areas where Religion must take priority and form us into prophetic “disturbers” who are not accepted in our native country among our own kin (Mk 6:4). We must take up that Messianic authority of our Baptism and Confirmation. Good is much stronger than evil, and Truth is much stronger than error and lies. The effect of one good family is thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold upon the society. But let us not underestimate the demands of true liberty, and the fundamental change it will require of the citizenry. Only the Christians will be capable of this. It was only through Christianity that the United States ever had liberty to begin with, it will only be through authentic and lived Christianity that liberty can be restored.
[1] “Article the third... Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...”
[2] As is clear from the rest of the phrase that begins with the establishment clause: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
[3] “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” (John Adams). “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports” (George Washington). “The great pillars of all government and of social life (are) virtue, morality and religion. This is the armor ... and this alone, that renders us invincible” (Patrick Henry).