I know. I’m back too soon.  But I have this speech running around in my brain, and I don’t know what else to do with it.  I’m thinking about the headline this week announcing that Republican senators in my neighboring state of Kansas had voted to revoke the governor’s order to extend the 10-person limit on public gatherings to churches and other places of worship. Government interference, they charged, in the practice of religious freedom. Unconstitutional!!

Freedom. America’s founding treasure.  What is it?

In the beginning, as a traditional account explains–and the U.S. Constitution affirms—human beings were “endowed by their creator” with certain “unalienable rights.”  According to that same tradition, the first thing human beings did with their freedom was make an unhealthy choice.  After that rough start, the making of laws began.  Laws were made—even the “laws of God”—to put limits on human freedom.

Taken to the extreme, “freedom to worship” might extend to, say, the practice of human sacrifice, or perhaps to multiple marriage.  But no.  We have civil laws restraining those practices.  Why?  Because human beings here and there are not especially trustworthy to make healthy choices on their own.  And so, on behalf of the larger community, laws must weigh in. Thousands of laws.

God never intended even Ten Commandments, let alone thousands of laws.  Jesus, the central figure of Easter and all other Christian worship, referred to only one commandment, consistent with the Hebrew tradition of his teachings:  Love God with your whole being, then love yourself and love your neighbor the same.

Imagine a planet where this single “law” were practiced by everyone.  There would be no such thing as government, except to administer plans for the common good:  clean water, shared resources, fair wages, safe roads, support of science for healing and exploration, and many other good things.  No need for laws because, well, no criminals, no profit-takers, no enslavers, no….well, it’s a long list.

The worldwide administration of compassion and love for all.  That would be real Freedom.

Draw your own conclusions about who or what God may be.  Wherever you are on Easter Sunday, your God is present. Worship there.  Meanwhile, until real Freedom becomes universal, laws must be made to enforce the health of the community, in recognition of frequent human failure to choose justly, compassionately, and wisely.