“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (American Declaration of Independence)
That I even feel compelled to write an article entitled “Freedom Comes from God” indicates how far our nation has drifted from its original moorings, its belief in a virtuous, limited government, its near-universal acceptance of Judeo-Christian morality. It’s right there in our founding document: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator” with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Left’s efforts at overturning this basic truth in America’s founding philosophy indicate how much they want to change and create a completely different America.
Freedom comes from God. So said Thomas Jefferson, and so believed all Americans for most of our history. And they clearly taught that without godly virtue, there can be no freedom. Benjamin Franklin: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters" (1787 letter to the Abbés Chalut and Arnoux).
James Madison concurred: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea” (Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788). No law or government can save a country if its people are corrupt and immoral. This was universally accepted among early Americans, as was the idea that our life, liberty, and property came from God. And the necessary virtue was found in the Bible: “Education is useless without the Bible…God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct” (attributed to Noah Webster). “All necessary rules to direct our conduct”—virtue. It comes from the Bible. That was essentially unanimous in early America.
Even Jefferson, who wasn't a Christian, said, “The Christian Religion, when…brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the free expansion of the human mind." Please read that carefully. Pure Christianity is “most friendly to LIBERTY, science, and the free expression of the human mind.” If Jefferson believed that, you can be sure that 99.9 percent of Americans in his day did also.
But the Democrats, and their sheep, do not believe what Jefferson, Madison, Webster, et al., taught. And they have been able to convince countless people that religion (especially Judeo-Christianity, though not Islam, because they currently need Muslim votes) doesn’t enhance freedom; it restricts it. And there is a modicum of truth to that, depending upon how one defines “freedom.” “You shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not covet” do indeed limit men’s most vile actions and desires. But even the Left believes there must be some restrictions on human activity. They simply want government — a government they control — to define what those restrictions are, not religion. And, not surprisingly, there would be very few restraints on sexual freedom, one of the most basic and fundamental dogmas of the Left.
Whether we want the Left, or any human contingent, to define what “virtuous freedom” is is extremely doubtful, given what the totalitarian Left did in the Soviet Union, Communist China, Cambodia, etc. in the 20th century. Apparently, “virtue,” to Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc., meant killing as many innocent people as possible. And the Democrats believe American rights, too, come from government. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) in 2025 very clearly stated that our rights come from government, not God. Government and humans make the rules, not God. Democrat Party, Leftist humans.
But let’s look at this. How does “God” promote “freedom”? Again, the definition of “freedom” is key. In Galatians 5:22-23, the apostle Paul wrote, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” It is never wrong to practice these virtues. We need no laws against them. Let me ask a poignant question: if every American would sincerely follow these virtues, how much government would we need? If Americans FREELY CHOSE to be loving, kind, gentle, self-disciplined, etc., we would indeed have maximum freedom, the virtuous, limited government our Founders so wisely envisioned. But that isn’t what the Democrats want!
When will we need increasing government involvement in our lives? Paul tells us that, too: “The works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries” (Galatians 5:19-20).
Which will need more government, love or hate? Which lifestyle requires greater government — the “fruit of the Spirit,” or the “works of the flesh,” Christian godliness or Leftist subjective promiscuity?
It’s absolutely critical to understand that the Left doesn’t want freedom; it wants totalitarian government control.
Thus, the Left’s definition of “freedom” is licentiousness. But that’s not freedom; that will produce the very government oversight they crave. Hear Edmund Burke: “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without…men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”
Licentiousness is not true freedom; it will always produce greater government control. Witness recent America. Freedom means personal, individual self-control. If people are forced, by anyone, to be “virtuous,” that is neither virtue NOR freedom. And Jesus never did that.
The truth is, there is no freedom without God. There may be licentiousness and consequent government totalitarianism, but that’s hardly freedom. “Their passions forge their fetters”—people’s inability to control their lusts and desires will result in greater government dominion over society.
Americans need to be taught — again—where their freedom truly comes from.
It’s our choice — virtuous freedom or licentious totalitarianism.
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