Freedom, Religion and Life

     My family has just returned from a long and enjoyable vacation.  We traveled for 9 days to our nation's capitol.  I have always wanted to see the monuments that have been created to commemorate the lives and ideas that helped found what I consider to be the greatest country every known.  In the months leading up to this trip, there has been more and more news about the current representatives who are leading this country who seem to be unaware of the ideals upon which our country began.  We began an effort to let people live by their own choices....liberty.   Of course we have to come together to combat evil and selfish intentions for the protection of that liberty, but to the greatest extent possible, people should be able to live in a way that they choose.
     The founding fathers' greatest achievement was a constitution that took into account the basic nature of mankind toward selfishness and greed and set protections to keep most of that from finding its way into the government.  They did not trust that one person could decide what another person should do and then force them to do it.  They learned that lesson from their lives under the British monarchy of the time.  The operating  procedures they put into place were there to help in certain areas where common problems arose in a free society.  They did not decide to create a constitution where everything that people should do is spelled out for them, nor did they want to cause people to give up their own convictions.  One lifestyle does not fit all.  There are a few things, however that we must not eliminate,  certain "inalienable" rights....life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They understood that God gave us certain standards that we should live by and that people could operate in a huge number of ways within that framework.
     Knowing that religion is a personal matter and that it also affects the working together of a group, they made special considerations for it as a "problem area."  Congress should not force anyone to participate in a religion.  (Religion is a personal decision.)  Congress should not hinder people from practicing their religion. (By hindering religious practice, you are actually forcing an opposite religious practice.)  Religion is on its own and is an area where a wide and patient consideration for others is to be given.
     There do arrive in our country's history times when we must address inconsistencies in the way our liberty and our interactions with others conflict.  It arose over the question of slavery.  It has arisen over the question of abortion.  It will continue to come up as our country continues to work out the details of what is right and wrong.  It seems that the question of slavery today is clearly understood.  It is wrong to take away someone else's liberty.  It is an inalienable right from God.   I also believe it is wrong to take away someone's life.  It is an inalienable right from God.  In the 1860's some people said there is nothing wrong with slavery because those in slavery were not really people.  We know today that that is incorrect.  Today, some people say that there is nothing wrong with abortion because those being aborted are not really people.  Don't we know that that is also incorrect?   In the 1860's some people said that freeing slaves would be taking away the rights of slaveholders.   Today some people say that outlawing abortion would be taking away the rights of pregnant women.   Did slaveholders actually have the right to take ownership of someone else's life?  Do pregnant women actually have the right to take ownership of another life?  What will it take before we face this issue in a logical and moral way?   It's time to not be hypocritical to our agreed-upon way of life.  I don't think we see slavery today as a "religious" issue.   I don't think we have to only see abortion that way either.  This is a matter of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  These are the truths that we hold to be self-evident.  It is time to once again restore freedom by restoring life.