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Dalton
Roberts |
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July 4, 2002 Let
me share a few thoughts on my own personal Fourth of July remembrance. Today
I took a "freedom walk" down by Chickamauga Lake to think
about and thank those brave men and women who gave us the freedom we
enjoy in this great country. I
like to walk by the lake and feed the ducks and watch the boats come and
go. There are people fishing and swimming and families gathered under
pavilions for picnics. It's a beautiful place and a good place for good
thoughts. Strangely,
it was 1941 before Congress set aside July 4th as a national holiday. We
spend it in celebration and with fireworks but it would do us good to
take part of the day to pause, be still, and think of where and how we
got our freedom. I decided that's what I wanted to do today. As
Dave Cochran said in his fine essay today, "The Declaration of
Independence was written in ink, but what made the ink stick to the
paper was the blood of men and women who gave their lives to the
protection of the ideas expressed in that document." Many
of those who came together to write the Declaration had lived in
countries with an "official" religion. Meaning, a religion
everyone was taxed to support, regardless of their beliefs or unbelief.
So they protected us from governmental dictation about religion by
adding a constitutional provision about making no laws respecting
religion. When we see how government marriage to religion can play out
in the Taliban, I bow my head in gratitude for that provision. I have no
doubt that life in this nation would be just as repressive under a
Falwell or a Robertson. I
am a Christian but I have no problem accepting people of other faiths or
no faith as fellow Americans. I cannot get excited over anything where
government is asked to inject religion into our lives. I can get excited
over us having the right to choose our religion or having no religion at
all. In fact, the very reason churches have grown and prospered in this
land is because government has kept its nose out of the tent. So
I pause today to say a heartfelt thanks to those who wrote these
founding documents and backed them up with their own blood. And for
every man and woman who has died to keep them alive. |