Larry P. Stover,

Pastor at Praise Park Ministries Church of the Nazarene

It’s time to celebrate! The United States of America is getting ready to observe another birthday. We’ve come a long way since 1776. Break out the fireworks! It’s party time!

In the midst of our celebration, the winds of change continue to reach hurricane proportion as we chase after new philosophies and ideologies that seek to better define freedom.

New words like “tolerance” and “relativism” garner the innovative catchphrases of the new dawning in America’s search for that allusive freedom of the 21st century.

We Baby Boomers initiated this counter culture in the 1960s. We demonstrated against Vietnam. We were all about free love, legalizing drugs and fighting the establishment, even if we didn’t really know who or what that meant. We became quite dogmatic about our newfound relativism.

During the last five decades, our conflict with traditional institutionalism has eroded long-established and time-honored foundations of our society that were at one time a bulwark to this nation since the first settlers embarked on the adventure of the “new world.”

America has changed. It’s all about my personal freedom. Maybe we should revive the old flag and its motto, “Don’t Tread On Me” as the new watchword for personal freedom. It’s all about me, you know.

As American citizens become less engaged with each other, due to ambivalent definitions of personal freedom and liberty, we are fast becoming disenchanted with seemingly disengaged politicians and continual policy changes that mirror the creeping socialism of another day.

The breakdown of the traditional family unit initiated the erosion of standards that have been replaced with a very subjective relativism. Marriage vows seem meaningless in a society where divorce can be attained over disagreements as simple as which brand of coffee to use for breakfast. We’re just not compatible anymore.

Sexual promiscuity is being underpinned by continual legal decisions that promote behavior that is most repulsive and repugnant. Because the Internet is somehow protected by first amendment rights, pedophiles and conveyers of pornography are exempt from any kind of responsible behavior.

Our courts abound with cases involving the new relativism that has invaded our legal system as well. The new dogma of the day decries and belittles personal responsibility for behavior that is heinous and despicable.

One individual’s faith allows them to murder their child for going against their belief system. Another person calls it mercy killing. Yet, I can lose my children if I spank them.

It’s the new America. Deal with it. Get over it. Some people call it freedom. I call it irresponsible freedom, and freedom that is not responsible is not freedom at all.