|
Page 1 of 2 On July 4th, we will celebrate the 232nd anniversary of our independence as a nation. At this time my thoughts are oriented to the wonderful freedoms we have as citizens of our great nation. Our nation has been conceived in freedom, and we can take pride in the fact that our country guarantees us rights and privileges that people living in many other nations are denied. The rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are based on the dignity of the human person and include the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, the right to legal counsel and to a fair trial by jury etc. In the United States we have the great privilege of voting power, which determines the course of our nation’s future. We have the freedom to own property and the right to food, clothing and shelter.
In recent decades, however, we seemed to have forgotten the true meaning and nature of freedom. Our society seems to have evolved into a culture of “extreme individualism and freedom,” whereby freedom is often understood in the sense of “I can do whatever I want to, without any restraint and judgment against me irregardless of the impact of my free choices." This attitude appears at all levels of society and is manifested in violence, indifferentism, abuse and exploitation, all of which have the potential to create a culture of death. Practicing this expression of free choice can lead to the destruction of a person, his/her society and country. Pope John Paul II describes freedom understood in the sense of extreme individualism as a “notion of freedom which exalts the isolated individual in an absolute way and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others and service of them.”[1] I don’t believe that our Founding Fathers had this concept of freedom in mind when they formulated our Constitution.
In his White House Speech, on April 16 of this year, Pope Benedict XVI stated, “America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator.”[2] Our approach to freedom must be rooted in this premise. The freedom of exaggerated individualism has negated the presence of God in free choice. Forgotten in this exercise of free choice is the precept of John Adams that “there is no national security but in the nation's humble acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.”[3] Likewise, excluded is Thomas Jefferson’s statement that "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time."[4] Exaggerated freedom loses the reality of God’s presence in the decision-making process.
A Christian believes in the truth of St. Paul’s words: “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) From a Christian perspective, freedom is the “power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility.”[5] Free choices can be a “source of moral good and moral evil.”[6] The former is one of the highest reflections of a man and woman as created in the image and likeness of God.[7] The latter negates the common good. The presence of law is to foster the former and eliminate the latter. Saint Peter advises, “Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil. . .” (I Peter 2:16) Morally good choices towards the whole of creation mirror the “all embracing divine love.”[8] The more one chooses the good, the more he/she becomes free.[9]
|
