Friends: Where is our nation headed when we have senators and media who no longer understand where human freedom originates?  Some thoughts on God in modern U.S. civics. 

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Spirituality Column #982

September 9, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Whither Freedom?

By Bob Walters

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” – Paul, Galatians 5:1

Paul’s assurance here of Christian freedom from the Hebrew old covenant Law vs. modern political freedom uniquely and divinely assumed into American government are today’s topics of discussion. And it was Virginia U.S. senator Tim Kaine’s egregious and ungodly civics fumble last week, comparing the U.S. Constitution to Islam’s Sharia Law, that necessitates a refresher about both God’s intent and man’s understanding.

Let’s briefly sort out human freedom as it applies to the three Abrahamic religions, U.S. founding documents, the Ayatollah’s current reign in Iran, and Kaine’s horribly errant take on a “core pillar of the American experiment” (hat tip: Peter Heck).

In case you missed it, Kaine offered this howler in a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing last Wednesday: “This notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator … that’s what the Iranian government believes. …  So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.”

So, rights from our Creator are “extremely troubling.” Really? Thomas Jefferson’s take in the Declaration of Independence differs a bit: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Genesis 1:27 tells us humans are created in the image of God.  Thinkers through the ages – including Aristotle, John Locke, and Jefferson – have noted man’s special agency in divine freedom subject to God’s righteousness, which Paul understands is imputed to us through Jesus Christ. In Romans 13:1-7 Paul lays out the necessity of government and Christian compliance, but also our ultimate duty to glorify God.

Islamic Sharia Law, without getting into the tall grass, dictates that law and government are ordained by God – theocracy – with little mention of individual rights.

It scares me, but I’m not surprised, that a U.S. politician could be so far afield as Kaine seems to be.  He is saying our rights come – or should come – from government. Wow. Kaine could not be more wrong in theory, but is far from alone in his ignorance.

Going back to Galatians, cited up top, my Bible mentor George Bebawi called this letter “a stick of dynamite” as a broadside exposition on how Christian salvation by faith in Jesus is different from Hebrew compliance with the Law. Paul is expressing freedom in Christ, not slavery to “law that brings sin and death” (Romans 8:2). Paul’s self-proclaimed “slavery” was his declaration of love for and faith in Christ. That’s OK; most of us make ourselves slaves, i.e., are supremely dedicated, to that which we love. 

Founding father John Adams famously said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Those morals – collective, objective agreement on right and wrong and ultimate Godly purpose – are what Adams is citing, not non-Christian “religious” symbols and systems.

People possess rights from God apart from government. Or, is government the sole arbiter of human freedom? These are very, very different philosophies, Mr. Kaine.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) recommends these articles on Kaine by Peter Heck and The Daily Signal. Kaine, btw, was Hillary Clinton’s VP running mate in 2016. Also, Walters checked and saw no coverage of Kaine’s comments on so-called “legacy media.” This tells us the media does not understand Kaine’s comments. Pity.