Independence Day

I really love the 4th of July. I love this nation and I know I'm truly blessed to have been born here and given all of the opportunities I have. Unfortunately so many have lost sight of all that we've been given, of all God has given us.

In the 1946 Independence Day Oration John Fitzgerald Kennedy stated that "[t]hroughout the years, down to the present, a devotion to fundamental religious principles has characterized American thought and action." He reminded the people that a deep religious sense inspired the authors of the Declaration of Independence and our earliest legislation..."Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion." He quoted our first president, Washington, who said that "of all of the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." Kennedy continued saying that "[t]oday these basic religious ideas are challenged by atheism and materialism: at home in the cynical philosophy of many of our intellectuals, abroad in the doctrine of collectivism, which sets up the twin pillars of atheism and materialism as the official philosophical establishment of the State. Inspired by a deeply religious sense, this country, which has ever been devoted to the dignity of man, which has ever fostered the growth of the human spirit, has always met and hurled back the challenge of those deathly philosophies of hate and despair. We have defeated them in the past; we will always defeat them."

Unfortunately, these philosophies that Kennedy spoke so strongly against in '46 have persisted and grown. I truly believe in freedom. Freedom to choose what is right over what is wrong, to choose the good over the evil. We will not be slaves to our desires and whims, to culture and it's malefic force. I believe there is one true faith, but I still love our freedom as Americans of religious expression. However, those "philosophies of hate and despair," under the guise of freedom, have taken it to a place it was never meant for. Today, society tells us that expressing our beliefs and disagreeing with others is offensive and unjust...religious expression is being suppressed for the sack of religious freedom? Belief in God is natural to human beings, but imperfection, weakness, and pride are also natural. We must pray and work against the evil that we can be used for.

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. It was the price yesterday. It is the price today, and it will ever be the price. The characteristics of the American people have ever been a deep sense of religion, a deep sense of idealism, a deep sense of patriotism...Let us not blink the fact that the days which lie ahead of us are bitter ones. May God grant that, at some distant date, on this day, and on this platform, the orator may be able to say that these are still the great qualities of the American character and that they have prevailed."
Independence Day Speech 1946, John F. Kennedy

Love and prayers