When Liberty Enslaves

Above picture is one of many Civil War monuments throughout our nation commemorating the thousands of American lives lost during that war between the states. (This monument was the subject of a post dated February 2, 2022 that can be reviewed for more about it’s history.)

Comparing the pre-Civil War days to now, I find a common experience.  Both times contain a nexus between faith and politics, a linkage that causes twists and turns in the way our nation is governed to conform to these polarizing influences.  In times past there was a common understanding never to mix politics and religion in the same conversation.  However today discussions of politics and faith routinely fill social media.  The combination of the two has been extensively analyzed as influential in the outcomes of recent elections.  During the times leading up to the Civil War, this same confluence of faith and politics can be found in the election process and the governing of our nation. 

Freedom and liberty are in the design of creation. It can be seen in many forms and shapes as we travel the earth as shown in the picture above. “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mathew 6:26)

Freedom and liberty are in the design of our Constitution. It states in the opening preamble “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union …. and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity ….”. The Constitution exists to preserve liberty in our nation.

Freedom and liberty are at the core of our faith as well. “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17). But there are occasions in our history and now in our present times where the liberty of some actually enslaves others because of the manipulation of faith.

Alcatraz Island, initially known as Fort Alcatraz, was first used as a U.S. Military reservation and later as a prison to house Civil War Confederate sympathizers. It is most famous for being designated as a Federal Prison in 1933 and housing the hardest criminals like Al Capone. It stands as a memorial of man’s cruelty to man that accompanies imprisonment. Alcatraz stands today as a symbol of the enslavement of ones liberties.

During the Civil War era, the exercise of liberty in our nation centered on the issue of equality.  Some believed all men were created equally with equal rights.  Some believed all men were not created equally and did not have equal rights.  At that time people of the same faith were found on both sides of these issues. 

In our experience today, the exercise of liberty in our nation concerns the sanctity of life.  Some believe sanctity of life includes guaranteeing the birth of every fetus, regardless of the circumstances of the pregnancy.  Others believe sanctity of life includes the liberty to manage the development of the fetus, maximizing the general welfare of both mother and child.  Here too, people of the same faith are found on both sides of the issue.   

Also, in our experience today, some people believe sanctity of life includes constraint in the use of guns and the elimination of automatic weapons.  Some people believe liberty includes the right to stockpile ammunition and weapons without any constraint.  Once again, we find people of the same faith on both sides of the issue. 

Our nation’s divisions have grown in part due to recent Supreme Court decisions reversing what many in our nation believe to be a constitutional right protecting the general welfare and sovereignty of a woman’s body.  Many now feel enslaved because faith has been used to fuel a political outcome that has reversed a freedom that existed for decades in our nation.   These in our nation feel that they have been enslaved by the “liberty” of others, including others of the same faith. 

Additionally, our nation’s divide has been accelerated because legislators refuse to adopt any restrictions on gun access and their use. Many in our nation are subjected to violence while routinely shopping in the mall, attending worship services, enjoying outdoor concerts, or attending school.  Here again, many in our nation feel enslaved to this violence because of the “liberty” of others.

This phenomenon of “one person’s liberty enslaving another” is not unique to our times.  It existed during the days of Lincoln as well.  Frederick Douglas was an author, editor, and a freed slave.  Addressing a crowd on July 4, 1872, Douglas stated the following. “The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me.  The Fourth of July is yours, not mine.  You may rejoice, I must morn.”[1]   What was one people’s liberty was causing the enslavement of others.      

“Feeling” enslaved is quite different from “being” enslaved and in that regard our times are blessedly different from the pre-Civil War days.  But these two times in our nation’s history are decidedly similar, twisting faith and politics to justify preferred outcome.   

 Slavery was a moral corruption that was commercially induced into the life of our pre-born nation.  That vice had to be nourished and sustained over the formative years of our nation in order for it to reach its full fruition.   The evolution of slavery was a slow deliberate movement in the governing of our nation and in the soul of its people.  In order to grow to the extent necessary to divide our country the slavery movement required a political and religious underpinning until our nation became willing to be half slave and half free.  In so doing, slavery was not considered racism by many during the Civil War era.  The confluence of faith and politics during that time allowed many to support slavery while still being loyal to both their faith and their politics.  Slavery was merely an acceptable social behavior of the times. 

Similar to our divisions today, what some regard as moral decisions others regard as social rights.  Many of these differences are between people of the same faith that have been deliberately exaggerated by the political and religious manipulation of these issues.   

The social issues of today differ from each other and even more so from those of years ago.  But all are emotional and powerful enough to already have caused a divide in our nation.  The only unknown is to what extent these issues will further divide.  Can they be so divisive that for the second time in our history Americans will take up arms against one another?  That is yet to be determined. Pictured above is President Obama leading a reenactment of the celebrated march to Selma that occurred during the height of civil conflict in the 1960’s while fighting for equal rights for all black Americans. Those were days when action was required to close the divide between white and black Americans.

We are approaching days of action again. But this time the divide is not between white and black Americans. It is between Americans that share the same faith but have different social views. The call to action this time is not one of marches and protests. It is a call of action to drive us to our knees. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)  

There is a common sin in the faith communities of our nation on both sides of these social issues. It is the sin of stubbornness. We are so dug in on our respective positions of faith that we refuse to hear what the others are saying. We are convinced we are right, our position is the biblical position and we are on the side of God’s righteousness. The question is if that is true, then why are we so divided? Why doesn’t God answer our respective prayers and change the thinking to be like ours? Maybe God wants us all to learn something about grace and seeing our faith through the eyes of others. Scripture equates stubbornness to idolatry. (see 1 Samuel 15:23) Idolatry? What idol are we worshiping? Ourselves and our own pride. When we refuse to listen to other positions of faith we are as good as the Pharisees during the time of Christ. And we know what Jesus thought of them. Something about being a “brood of vipers”. (see Mathew 3:7)

We become so focused on our own faith that we refuse to listen to other views of faith because we fear what we might hear. We might hear testimonies from men like me in the church who were complicit in an abortion in some form years before their life of faith. We might hear about some very difficult times women have gone through, forced to undergo abortions by men. It takes great courage in ones own faith to hear someone who believes differently but loves God as much as we do. It takes great courage to give up a perceived liberty like unlimited guns and ammunition because the faith of another requires it.

Until we humble ourselves in the sight of God and each other, there is no use in praying for God to heal our land. He has already instructed us what to do. We just have to have enough faith to act on His direction.

                         

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[1] “And There was Light” by Jon Meacham, P.119; Random House, 2022.