_--LET FREEDOM RING 3. send Copies ts Ear esha, JOHN M. BUCHANAN?

AMOS 210-17 Hariey Weker, Yoret Karlie @) — — BETHANY PRESBY. CHURCH
ACTS 5:19%-29 gle mm Newslellr~ capres of “Let JUNE 30, 1974
Freel. Ly * wre Bvetladle ,

Freedom is like the most delicate of flowers: esee*ort, beautiful, Rut

so very fragile. Without constant attention freedom withers. With rough
handling freedom is crushed. Freedom has been given away in the hemes
story more times than it has been preserved: usually in the name of caine
netmhere§ defense, stability.
Notes” a brief article that described a project undertaken by a High School
‘class in Oklahoma. The students drew up a petition and took it to the state
capitol for their legisiators to read and sign. The petition read:
“In view of Watergate, we the undersigned firmly demand

that the Congressmen from Oklahoma support eéhe following

article! ‘In ali criminal prosecutions the accused shall

enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial

jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have

been committed, which district shall have been previously

ascertatned by lew, and to be informed of the nature and

cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witness

against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses

in his favor; and to have the assistance of Counsel for his

defense',”

271 state assemblymen, senators and eae seer persons were asked
to sim. 111 refused, dismissing the document as a dubious proposition,
poorly worded and probably illegal.

The petition, as I'm sure everyone here recognized immediately, was
the sixth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America,

Several years ago, in another similar experiement a reporter in

Madison, Wisconsin took a copy of the Declaration of Independence to a

4th of duly Parade. He interviewed 112 people, explained what the document

meant and asked them to sign it. Of the 112 people interviewed, one man

LET FREEDOM RING r =a JUNE 30, 1974
'
Signed. The rest thought tee—teeumert too radical and revolutionary.

ww ee

Or, do you recall not long ago the 5th Dimension singing words from

the second paragraph of the Declaration: "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 those are Life. Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Riahts Governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute
new Government.”

Now its? one thing to envision Jefferson writing those words vis a vis
the tyranny of British Monarchy: it's anotherdagm thing to discuss it
academically in reference to a certain date in history; but it's an altogether
differeng thing to hear it sung by people who are black and Americans in the
middle of a movement calied Civil Rights. Under those conditions it sounds
frightening, and panpie - predictably got angry - and called radio stations
te stop playing that commie iieesela,

Freedom is asfragile as a delicate flower. Anxiety, fear, boredom seem
at times to conspire against freedom, so that men in the name of Patriotism
limit it, and if need b@ elliminate it.

onnmittee

Congressmen Hibert of the couse Wmee

ayued that we should fendment', so that people like

Martin Lugher King and § éTy Carmic d be put in jail - and not one

member of thg-ecUiimittee MX¥K disagreed with him." (P.15%™?s Brown The

petonymous of God .)

The apocryphal story 1s told of Benjamin Franklin on the day the
Consititutfonal Cenention in Philadelphia finally adjourned. Franklin was
old and sick. He was carried through the largeg crowd waiting outside, A
woman approached him and said: "Dr. Franklin, is it finished?" “It is! he

w
said, “But Dr. Franklin, will it work?" “That, madam", he answered is

entirely up to you."

LET FREEDOM RING o3- JUNE 30, 1974

Thet's where it lies. It is up to us: to you and me and 200,000,000
other Americans. The preservation of freedom and liberty is a task assigned
to each generation and in our day it has become a most difficult task: one
which I fear too many people are unwilling to undertake. And so, partly
because we celebrate the independence and existence of our nation this week,
and partly because I believe it is one of the major issued to which all
men of good will need to address themselves, I invite you this morning to
think with me about Freedom ~ about our nation in the Year of our Lord 1,974 -
about the theological implications of responsible patriotism.

I think the topic is particularly important today because of the
phychic trauma of all that goes under the name Watergate, Somehting is
happening to us: something destructive, I believe. Call it a loss of confi-
dence; loss of trust: cynicism; apathy. Call it whatever you wnt, one thing
is clear to me and it is that the corporate attitude of the American people
about their system of government is changing. OGne simple illustration: I
have tried desparately, as a father, to imbue my children with respect
for the political process in general and for politicans specifically. One
of the most intense disagreements I've ever had with a friend occurred
because he taught his three year old to say “Dirty Johnson”: while I was
insisting that President Johnson's oppofnent be addressed - by my children =
as Senator Goldwater. In my house it is "President Nixon". But that's not
easy anymore, And I think we are in trouble at that precise point.

And so I believe it's important to think about it: to acknowledge where
we are: and particularly as Christians - as people who stand in a tradition
that has strong political implications, regardless of how strenously the
right wing i x -~ to bring to our time - and to the issue - the best
resources and the sharpest intelligence at our disposal.

I think we might begin by being honest about who we are and what we are as
a people. There seems te be a stronger than normal need in the American
psyche to feel that our nation has always beenright and good: to translate

every military victory into a victory of good over evil: to be essentially

LET FREEDOM RING oo JUNE 30, 1974
incapable of admitting to our fallibility.

In an excellent artick in the pa recent edition of A.D, Michael Novak
submits that “Sentimental self-deception is America's radical sin,” @m—oegee
Cini onestmabontimerr=emrmrpsterr: (See page 18) Novakrelates
that when his grandparents came to America in 1879 they had to resort to
bribery in order to get a job itn - steel mill. And that for the vast
wajority of Southern European immigrants life in America began with that
kind of experience.

Novak goes on to point out that a midwest farmer must acknowledge that
his band once belonged to Indians and that he exists as a farmer only be-
cause of an infamous natiO@@a] policy called “manifest destiny” - or -

“the only good Indian is a cad Indian."

In the South an entire economy and way of life was built on slavery® «

Now Novak does not suggest, nor do I, that these facts about us make
us an evil nation. They are simply the truth, and part of living comfort-
ably today is te acknowledge that our nationg has not always been right
and pure. It has behaved no worse than many other nations - and on many
occassions considerably better: but there is nothing gained by hiding behind
a facade of self-righteousness.

In fact, one of the baste principlie of this Rebpublic is a hard
headed realism about the nature of man. Novak puts it in these terms:

"The secret wisdom of our founders in 1789 was that

they did not trust the goodness of the American people, their

elected representativeg, the courts, the press, or the President.

They didn't trust anybody. American Democreacy is built on the

premise that human beings are too corrupt to trust.” (A,0.P.21)

Integrity abOut oursleves is where an intelligent patriotism might
begin. Integrity also about the ways this nationd has desparately tried &
to act out of noble ideals. For in EMRAKX spite of the truth about ourselves

we conéinue to exhibit a conscience. Allop me please to refer to last

Summer. The school master in our Scottish village was a loyal Scot but an

LET FREEDOM RING “5 JUNE 30, 1074
unapplogetic lover of America. In a discussion of love - he cited our

-, Awe World Word ,
county - our sacrifices on European soilZ our immense amounts of aid to
rebuild, our responsiveness to suffering and hunger in the world. He was
right. Unegualled in the history of the world this nation has given and
given and given. Sometimes not enough: somtimes for the wrong reasons
and to the wrong people. Bur life has been preserved because of a strong
and unrelenting American conscience.

Novak's point,and I think he is right, is that our time makes a
rémanticized, sentimentalized patriotism impossible. And we will be saved
from cynicism simply by being a little more honest. Our system is based
on realism about man.

That realism, I would sub mit is a product of the Judeo-Christian
tradifion. From the beginning we have been in trouble with governments.
Men in power have consistantly taken freedom from people - and standing -
against eyyaats of all sorts and stripes more often than not has been
a Jew or a €% Christian - or the Church - although not often enough in the
latter case.

The Old Testament Lesson this morning happened early in Israelite history
750 8B .C. ates eae waa King and it was a time of peace and pros-
perity ~ but all was not well: the righ were exploiting the poor: Qustice
and fair play were reserved for the siléscat. Along came the prophet
Amos - speaking out of a deep lovey for his nation and a deep commitment
to the idea of equal justice. What he said offended the government. One
of the King's priests told Jeroboram, "Amos is conspiring against you -
the country cannot bear what he is saying." And to Amos he said" Be off -
Off with you to dudah....never phophecy at Bethel, for this is the King's
sanctuary."

The New Testament Lesson takes place 800 years later in Jerusalem. The
government was Roman. A man by the name of Simon Peter got himself
arrested for teading something about the aus of Jesus Christ. The
government @e ordered him to stop on the groundsthat what he was saying

LET FREEDOM RING ~§- JUHE 30, 1974

was subversive ~ which, in fact, it was af Ceasar is sovereign. When he was
arrested a second time he was told: "We expressly ordered 18" 50 desist -

and what has happened? You have filled densalem with your teaching." To
which Peter responded with characteristic bluntness, “We must obey God
rathen than men."

Amos was exiled. Peter was flogged for that statement and eventually#
executed. But together their stories demonstrate the basid gudeo-Christian
political stance, We wwust obey God cater than meu. |

1650 years later the men who gathered in Westminister to write the de-
finitive Presbyterian theolagtcal statement said it eloquently : "God alone

a
is Lord of the Consciences. \Ardei

uN the is the basis of all golrvica |
Fe ouk ean Viger hy

The point of ali this is that the United State of América was founded

on the principle that no government has the right to infringe on the God
given rights of tts citizens ~ particularly the sanctity of conscience.
That's the got and the beauty of our Tand. It is algo the poht at
which our system is terribly vulnerable. For the individual conscience
js the cite of the most fragije and most important freedom of all.

How then tea be a patriot responsibly? How to preserve Jiberty in
our day?

First - by being grateful for what is good about America. te don't
have to be apologétic nor defensive about it. I think we can and ought
to be grateful for the standard of living our system has engendered. I
think we ought to be grateful that we slept last night without fear: that
we can buy two papers this morning - one of which supports the Presidet
and the other of which demands his resignation. I HH# think we can and
ought to give thanks that in November we wit] vote. 1 think we can and

aught to be grateful for the incredible beauty and resources of this land.

LET FREEDOM RING «]- JUNE 30, 1974
I believe Patriotism begins with gratitude.

Second, I believe patriotism demands that nen of Intelligence be
critical of their nation when it falls sort of its ideals. Because God
alone 1s soverign - because our consctence belongs to him - we do not have
to agree with @erything our government does or says. To dissent is not
to bedisloyal. In fact it is to put in practice the highest ideal any
government everg tried. Patriotism, at least of the American variety,
submits its government 4@ the most searching of criticism - publically,
openly, and without fear. When the early Christians mid "Jesus Christ

Sydtrvise. they were Sayin
is Lord" they were saying somethings that their ultimate allegience belongs
to him andwt to the state. Our system allows that; invites it; and is
built upon it. Patriotism demands that you and 1 acknowledge that - and
never be willing to sacrifice it,

Fimily, patriotism demands involvement. Particularly now, in the
midst of a growing cynicism. The recent primary election in this county
was a debacie. Only about 17% of us 4M even bothered to vote: part of
us had only a few choices to make once we got inside a i That's
wrong: that's a failure of love for our system: that says that a lot of
people doen't really care.

Robert Kennedy put it eloquently

“If we fail to dare, if we do not try, the next generation will
harvest the fruit of our apathy - MK a world we did not want ~<a world we
did not chose ~ but a world we could have made better..."

so this week, fly the flag: think about your country: Recall that,
as a Christian your ultimate allegience is to Jesus Christ - and that the
freedom to give that allegience to him is what it means to be an American.

Let us love our land: with a love that is grateful: a love that wants
the nation to be more than tt t: a love that sees the vision - the dream -
the potential: a love that is willing to get involved - to care - to take
part and be responsible.

Let us love our land with a love that is thankful and vigorous and
honest.AmEN,