Independence Day - Words Matter

Today is the day we celebrate our nation and the amazing results of our 236 year old democracy. When brave patriots put their fortunes and their lives on the line to form our nation, they knew they were creating something wholly different from other forms of government. They were exceedingly careful in crafting our Declaration of Independence and especially our Constitution. They were very cautious about the words they chose and debated them seriously to ensure that each word accurately reflected their intention, so that our great nation would be a true democracy and not fall back into the control of power brokers and those who would use our government to pursue their personal ideas about how people should be governed.
The opening words of today’s scripture speak to the importance of seeking good and not evil:

Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts,
be with you as you claim!
Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail … (Amos 5:14-15)I suspect this very thought was on the mind of our forefathers when they met to debate the wording of our constitution. They knew full well that our rights come from God, not from government, and that unless we remained a religious people, acknowledging God and our duty to love Him and love one another, our democracy would fail. In fact, John Adams said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

As recently as 1961, although John Kennedy declared that his religion was separate from his politics, during his inaugural address he referred to the rights our forbears fought for, namely, “the belief that the rights of man come not from government, but from the hand of God.”
Sadly, many Americans have confused personal license with true freedom. They mistakenly believe that everyone should have to absolute right to do anything they want, “as long as no one gets hurt.” Their pursuit of happiness seems to consist of following every urge they feel, regardless of the consequence. Worse yet are those Americans who believe that religion inhibits personal freedom and should therefore be removed from public discourse. Their idea of the perfect society is one in which everyone just does whatever they please, and to ensure this right, they want to impose restrictions on those who practice their faith. Case in point: our current president and his cabinet are telling Catholic employers that they must pay for chemical abortions, surgical sterilization and birth control pills, despite their deeply held belief that they are morally wrong.

Words are important. They are meant to convey meaning. The 1337 words in the Declaration of Independence were carefully chosen to ensure that the American people maintain true freedom, including the God-given right to life and the freedom to put our religious beliefs into daily practice. However, in our current age, words don’t seem to matter and their meaning has been distorted or completely changed. During the debate over the health care bill (aka Obamacare) several pro-life democrats were holding out. To win them over, the president signed an executive order promising that no federal funds would be used to fund abortions. In a commencement address at Notre Dame University, the president promised a “strong conscience clause” to protect the freedom of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who oppose abortion, from being forced into complicity. Yet, just months after the bill passed, administrative rules where written, requiring coverage for abortions in health plans offered by the new exchanges and subsidized by tax dollars, and the HHS ruling mentioned above was announced, challenged, and reaffirmed. Apparently the presidents’ words don’t actually say what he means. He also seems to believe that it is the government that gives people their rights, and the government can just as easily take them away.

Over the next few months we’ll be hearing a lot of words from both parties, and much of it will be slander. The two candidates will be attacking each other constantly. Political contests have always been ugly, and democracy is not easy. The challenge will be for the electorate to sift through the rhetoric in an attempt to determine which of the two candidates is most likely to uphold the Constitution, as the presidential oath requires.  Which of the two will seek to enforce the Bill of Rights, and which will attempt to set it aside in the interest of promoting his personal agenda?  Much of the debate will be about the economy, jobs, and social issues, but the bottom line is that our country needs a leader who “seeks good, not evil, so that we may live” as today’s scripture declares. Both profess to be Christians, but only one supports the destruction of human life in-vitro and endorses gay marriage. He defines these two things as good. If you agree with him on that, then he’s your man. 

Let me close by repeating a line from today’s scripture:
“Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail …” (Amos 5:15)