Published: July 04, 2008 09:10 pm         

Patriotism: God gave us liberty that is to be shared

Editor’s note: The following column is based on scripture from Galatians 5:1.



When I was a senior in high school, I had a homeroom teacher who would not say the Pledge of Allegiance. On the first day, when the pledge came over the loud speaker, we all stood, as we had for our previous 11 years of public schooling, and recited the pledge. When we sat down, this teacher explained that he could not pledge allegiance to a nation that participated in the war in Vietnam, but we were free to do so.

I am sure you can guess what happened. The next day about six of us stood to say the pledge, on the following day three of us did, and on the fourth day and on every day for the rest of the year, I stood by myself and said the Pledge of Allegiance. For me, who was known as a goody-two-shoes and teacher’s pet, this was not easy. But I had been raised to appreciate the God-given freedoms protected under our Constitution, and defended at great cost by our veterans.

At the end of the year, when this teacher signed my yearbook, he said, “I admire you for standing up for what you believe in.” My response was simple, “My father and his four brothers stood up in World War II so you would have the choice.”

As we celebrate our Independence Day, it is a time to reflect on our history and on the faith of the people who founded this nation and worked to preserve it. Faith was an integral part of the lives of the founding fathers. It was faith that brought many of the first explorers and settlers to the New World to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

It was faith that declared our independence with the words that “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights …” and faith that insisted there would be no official state church in these United States, so that all could follow their own conscience.

It was faith that gave us a republic rather than a monarchy, and established the most enduring democracy on the face of the planet, which other emerging nations seek to emulate.

While we are far from perfect, I can tell you that in all my travels abroad, I clearly saw that we enjoy freedoms other people do not, even in other democratic countries.

In Galatians 5:1, Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (RSV). God gives us spiritual freedom that is far beyond any political freedom we can get.

Grace endows us with freedom that takes us outside of our circumstances and lifts us above the troubles of this world. But it also engenders in us a desire to see grace flood freedom into this world. Faith was the basis of the Abolitionist movement, the Women’s Suffrage movement and countless other reforms to ensure equality and improve life in our nation.

My patriotism is a legacy handed down to me by my parents, and a by-product of my faith in God. Our grace, our gift of religious freedom, our great material blessings, all obligate us to share the grace and freedom we have with others.

This Independence Day I encourage you to prayerfully consider what work you can do to bring the reality of spiritual freedom into our world in a practical way. God’s grace gives us liberty; liberty is to be shared.

— Stone is a

commissioned lay

pastor at the Mount Hope and Bradley

Presbyterian churches.