Host Alan J. Reinach, Esq., takes a broad look at the history of American freedom, and asks what we mean by freedom, concluding that the freedom God gives is paramount. 

<p>Host Alan J. Reinach, Esq., takes a broad look at the history of American freedom, and asks what we mean by freedom, concluding that the freedom God gives is paramount. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Church State Council

Alan Reinach

What is Freedom?


Ah, sweet land of liberty. Our founding fathers not only pledged but gave their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to obtain our God-given liberty. Now it's our turn. Liberty can only thrive if it's alive in the hearts of a freedom-loving people. I'm Dan Matthews, and I'm pleased to welcome you to Freedom's Ring.

Here's our host and constitutional lawyer and minister, Alan Reinoch. What is freedom? And what does it mean to be a freedom-loving people? You know, it's hard to believe, but we've been recording Freedom's Ring Radio for more than 15 years now, and I'm not sure that we have really stopped to ask these most basic questions. What is freedom?

I've been reading a fascinating book about the story of American freedom. It's clear that freedom has meant different things at different times. But I wanna start our show today by playing a spot that I recorded 10 years ago with my son Benjamin, who would probably be appalled to hear what he sounded like now that he is taller than I am and about to graduate college. Let's take a listen. Daddy, what is freedom?

Well, son, it's hard to explain, but freedom means being able to think and do what you want. Are we free in America? We used to be. Why aren't we free anymore, Daddy? Because too many people think we need security more than freedom.

So that spot comes from the post 9-11 era when the real question was 1 of freedom or security. As I said, freedom has meant different things at different times. To our founding fathers, freedom meant primarily the right of political self-determination. They wanted a say in governing their own affairs. And this is still an issue today.

If you live in Washington, D.C., you don't have a vote in Congress. You don't have representation. Same is true if you live in other places governed by the United States, such as Puerto Rico or Guam. We're taught in grade school, the Puritans came over to the New World seeking religious freedom. Well, of course, that's only partly right.

They came seeking religious freedom for themselves, but hardly with a mind to grant the same freedom to those who differ. The story of American freedom is certainly fraught with contradictions. American prosperity was built on the backs of millions of African slaves. It has taken 400 years for American blacks to achieve a measure of legal equality. And even today, social and economic equality remain elusive.

What has American freedom meant for Native Americans, or for successive generations of immigrants whose labor was exploited as the engine of economic growth. Well, some equate freedom with the so-called free market. But we've got to take a closer look at this free market. Walmart reported recently it would raise its minimum pay to $9 an hour. Whoopee!

Well, it doesn't hire, for the most part, at the retail level, doesn't hire full-time workers. They cap their hours at 20 hours a week so they don't have to provide benefits. A recent study showed that in Ohio, one-third of all food stamps went to Walmart employees. So Walmart, great engine of the free market, is being heavily subsidized by the American taxpayer. So for that matter is the fast food industry.

Another report I saw suggested that we taxpayers contribute a healthy $10 billion a year in public benefits to workers in the fast food industry. Things like food stamps. Well, because they don't earn enough to pay the rent or buy food or, dare I say, shop anywhere else but Walmart. Henry Ford figured out that if he wanted a market for his cars, if he wanted to sell cars, workers had to earn enough so they could afford to buy them. Well, Walmart has figured out similarly that if they pay their workers a subsistence wage, they won't have any choice but to spend their meager paycheck at Walmart.

They won't be able to afford to go anywhere else. And so sure enough it turns out that Walmart is the recipient of the lion's share of the wages of Walmart workers. So let me ask you friends, is that freedom? Is that really a free market? Or how about this 1?

In many industries, in order to get a job, you have to waive your rights to sue the employer in court if they cheat you out of your wages, if they discriminate against you or sexually harass you. You have to agree as a condition of getting your job to submit your claims to an arbitrator who is typically selected and paid for by, you guessed it, your employer. An arbitrator gets lots of business from this company and it's all perfectly legal. You have to sign away your rights and you sign away your rights too when you do business with many of these companies, when you sign up for cell phone service or internet service, when you sign up at your doctor's office. Oftentimes you are signing arbitration clauses whether you know it or not.

Beware that fine print that we never read because it's in there. But if you can actually get the fine print and have a sign something, then you can cross it out and not be bound by it. Today it seems increasingly, maybe it's always been this way, the courts are not for you and me, they're for the wealthy. Well, then coming back to the theme of my spot with my son Benjamin, there's the little matter of privacy. Have you been following the story of Edward Snowden and the NSA?

Seems their government's motto is collect it all. Well, maybe you've heard they're only collecting metadata, whatever that means, but it's metadata that tells the Feds who you call, how often, and when. It paints a picture of your life even more clearly than the content of your phone calls. And apparently the NSA has a backdoor into just about everything. The internet, social media, telephones.

If they want, they can even listen to your conversation when your cell phone is off. Apparently, unless you remove the battery. Ah, but you can't remove the battery on your iPhone. I've got 1 of those fancy new Samsung smart televisions. That was our family's Christmas.

Didn't realize when I got it that Samsung can listen to my family room conversation even with the television off. And now they can plant stuff on your computer even when your computer is off. And businesses are developing applications that can access your computer when it's not connected to the internet. When we drive to the store, when we drive to work, cameras in many of our towns and cities are recording our license plates, allowing the authorities to develop a picture of your movements. So is that freedom, folks?

We're so way beyond George Orwell in 1984, it's just, it's not even funny. Now, I'm not trying to make you paranoid, But remember the old saying, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. Think about it. While the primary focus of Freedom's Ring has been, and will remain, religious freedom, today we're faced with the same problem as the Puritans. For the vast majority of the world, including the Christian world, religious freedom means the freedom to believe as I do.

So long as you believe as I do, you can be free to practice your faith. But you have no freedom to change your faith, and little or no freedom if your faith is the minority. The folks who keep these sorts of statistics tell us that 76% of the global population live in nations with little or no religious freedom. 76% folks. Today it seems here in America we enjoy the illusion of freedom more than its reality.

We're lulled into thinking that an abundance of consumer choices constitutes freedom. Really? You're free because you can choose 1 of a hundred red ties or buy a cheap suit or a designer suit or a Ford or a Toyota? That's freedom? I don't think so.

But there's another type of freedom we haven't talked about. Spiritual freedom. Jesus said, He who the Son sets free is free indeed. And Paul wrote, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. In my generation we sang songs about changing the world.

We will change the world, rearrange the world. Recently a popular song went like this, waiting on the world to change. I vote for my music. I vote for being an agent of change. The world is a product of human sin.

In the words of the old gospel song, If we ever needed the Lord before, we sure do need him now. Folks, freedom is not what we find in government, in society, or in the marketplace. Freedom is what we find in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And if we're free in Christ, we are free indeed. So let us use our freedom to bring redemption to souls around us, to bring redemption to society itself.

Let's become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. God has not given us this spirit of fear. Fear is the most powerful and corrupting political tool. We live in an age where fear and freedom are mortal enemies. The terrorists won when we enacted the USA PATRIOT Act, when we forfeited our freedom out of fear of more terror attacks.

And who could have imagined 15 years ago after 9-11, when the Patriot Act was enacted, just how far the authorities would go to gathering up every shred of our internet searches and just destroying our privacy in the interests of security. And the amazing thing to me, friends, is how completely apathetic the American people are. On the people of the world, we've given up our privacy, we've given up our freedoms, we have succumbed to fear. And it has had a devastating impact on our entire society. I think it's so critical, friends, that we fight back against fear.

Be of good courage, Jesus says to us, I have overcome the world. We do not need to live in fear. Fear is the worst enemy that we have, socially, politically. Fear is a tool of those who would manipulate for their own advantage. Today, corporations are making billions of dollars on the so-called war on terrorism.

Unaccountable billions are being spent of our tax dollars in military and security industries, and what does it really contribute? Meanwhile, infrastructure is collapsing. The middle class is collapsing. Our society is struggling. We're struggling economically.

So those of us who have a confidence in Christ, a freedom in Christ, these are difficult times we're living in. And it's time to recommit ourselves to finding true freedom and working for the betterment of our society. Well that's our show for today. As we close we want to remind our listeners here at Freedoms Ring for the past 50 years the Church State Council has not just been talking about religious freedom, we've been providing legal services to those suffering religious discrimination. Check out our legal resources page at www.churchstate.org.

Most of our cases, we help those suffering religious discrimination at work, but we will try to assist anyone who experiences some kind of religious discrimination or a violation of their religious freedom. And don't forget friends, freedom is not free. Be informed, get involved. Join the North American Religious Liberty Association, producer of Freedom's Ring. And you can join NARLA on the web today at religiousliberty.info.

That's www.religiousliberty.info. And also on our website at churchstate.org We have a ton of wonderful resources. So check out all of the resources that you can find on our website. And we'd love to hear from you. If you'd send us an email, let us know that you're listening.

Let us know that you care. We've been doing this radio show a long time. It really helps to hear from our listeners. This has been Freedom's Ring. I'm your host, Alan Rynok.

Till next week, let freedom ring. You

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What is Freedom?

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