“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
~~~ Benjamin Franklin
This wise observation brought to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday series. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/10/22/one-liner-wednesday-he-laughed/
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
~~~Abraham Lincoln, first Republican president of the United States
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/04/16/one-liner-wednesday-wow-a-warning/
Linda’s Just Jot It January offers daily prompts, which I usually ignore to do my own thing, but today I decided to use the provided prompt, jubilee.
Because I’m not feeling well, I attended mass via television this morning and the homily talked about the Jubilee Year of Hope that Pope Francis proclaimed for 2025.
Jubilees in the Catholic Church have their basis in the Hebrew Scriptures, which call for a jubilee every fifty years. Popes have followed that tradition for years ending in 00 and 50, but also sometimes add other special jubilees, as Francis did here.
Jubilees are calls for liberation, freedom, and the forgiveness of debts and Francis explains how these pertain to our present time, especially for those who are marginalized or, too often, overlooked.
Given that hope tends to be a difficult virtue for me, perhaps this year dedicated to hope will help me to be a better “pilgrim of hope,” as Francis terms it.
May all those in need be given hope, freedom, and resources in this Jubilee Year.
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
The United States is not a “Christian nation.”
In the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment makes clear that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” It is the first freedom listed in the ten amendments of the Bill of Rights, which was considered so vital that the states required it to be added before they would adopt the Constitution.
While some of the colonies had originally had an established religion, others, such as Rhode Island, had been founded explicitly without a government-sanctioned religion. At the time of the founding, the majority of United States residents were Christian, which is still true today, but the country was explicitly founded to be non-sectarian.
That’s why it’s so disturbing to me to see so many Republicans pushing the concept that the United States either is or should be a “Christian nation,” ignoring both the First Amendment and our history.
A particularly disturbing example of this is that this week, observed by the majority of Christian denominations as Holy Week leading to the celebration of Easter on Sunday, Donald Trump is selling the God Bless the USA bible, which includes the King James version of the Bible along with the US Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Pledge of Allegiance. Trump’s message is “Let’s Make America Pray Again.” He thinks every home should have a (this/his) Bible.
This flies in the face of the First Amendment, which is, one assumes, included in this volume.
As a United States citizen and a Roman Catholic Christian, I am appalled that Trump is raising money in this blatant attempt to appeal to “Christian nationalists,” who want the United States to become a Christian nation, most of whom intend it to be a white Christian nation.
No.
The United States is a pluralistic nation and that is one of its strengths. It has certainly been an imperfect union with egregious examples of discrimination, bigotry, and injustice over the centuries, but we are working to move in a direction closer to equality for all people. Favoring one religion over another in our government must not be allowed.
Our government is a secular one and must remain so, as the Founders and generations of Americans intended.
When we vote, we should keep this principle in mind and reject any candidate who thinks the US is or should be a “Christian nation.”
As Heather Cox Richardson explains, now is the time for people in the United States and other democracies to speak up against illiberal democracy, Christian Nationalism, Project 2025, authoritarianism, plutocracy, and all other assaults on human dignity, rights, and freedoms.
This sobering message is part of One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! (For the record, most of the one-liners are fun, pretty, or inspirational. I’m just a serious sort.) Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2023/07/19/one-liner-wednesday-new-book-next-week/
Tonight, we meet…with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny.
U.S. President Joe Biden, near the beginning of his State of the Union address to Congress last night
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out more here: http://lindaghill.com/2022/03/02/one-liner-wednesday-snacks/
“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then (they) ceased to be free.”
~~~ Edith Hamilton/Edward Gibbon from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
*****
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2020/04/22/one-liner-wednesday-april-22nd-2020-some-truths-dont-age-at-all/
Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com
“Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
~ Emma Lazarus
*****
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out how here:
https://lindaghill.com/2018/04/25/one-liner-wednesday-difficult-concepts/
Although I am not really a football fan, our family watched the Super Bowl last night. As a native of New England, I was hoping for a Patriots win.
It didn’t look good for a long while, as the Falcons took a commanding lead, larger than any that had ever been overcome in Super Bowl history.
But the Patriots fought back to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation play and scored a touchdown in the first drive of overtime to win their fifth Super Bowl under current ownership, coach, and quarterback.
I woke up this morning thinking that patriots always fight back.
They do not quit.
And, eventually, despite the odds against them, they prevail.
It gives me hope that, despite the attempts of DT’s administration to dismantle or side-step our Constitutional rights, the balance of power among the three branches of government, and checks and balance, we patriots of 2017 will prevail, as have patriots since 1776.
And the reigning Super Bowl champions.
“By its nature absolute power limits and even denies the freedom of others.”
~~ Leonardo Boff
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/02/01/one-liner-wednesday-creepy-or-comforting/
Joanne Corey 