Jefferson’s statement of separation of church and state wasn’t about keeping the church from meddling with the government. No fallible ruler aught to force nor prevent other men from pursuing Him. All gave some, and some gave all because they believed in a higher Being who determined what is good and who valued mankind. To some Union soldiers it wasn’t just about freeing slaves, nor to the Confederates was it all about their fears of a federal government grown too empowered. Thirteen colonies didn’t call out Britain simply to escape their unlawful abuse of power. So pilgrims didn’t survive deadly winters just to make their own rules. They knew this, and it prompted them to risk it all because they recognized a Biblical God who had planted it there. The way they saw it, all men were meant for far greater purposes than just to live for themselves. There had to be so much more to it than that to spurn such drastic actions. So what kind of freedom did our ancestors consider worth paying for? Were they so enticed by loose living they risked being hanged? Or did they desire ‘their say’ so badly that they laid down comforts of home for calloused battlegrounds? I don’t think so, at least not for many of them. You see, my friends, freedom costs something and often at a steep price. Most lost something be it their homes, limbs, loved ones, or lives. They didn’t climb those mountains ‘cause they were there’ nor did so at no risk to themselves.
What led poor refugees to abandon their whole world to settle untamed wilderness? What made thirteen colonies challenge a world power? What was so important for brother to slaughter brother on the Gettysburg field? Or how does one willfully march across the globe to save millions of strangers from tyranny with nary a ‘thanks’? Those people didn’t wake up one day and ‘felt’ like doing it.
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