Freedom for all

Every Fourth of July is a time to reflect on what liberty and freedom -- and the cost of those precious ideals -- mean to all Americans.

This holiday marks much more than the anniversary of the founding of a new nation. It also embraces the ideas and promises of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted July 4, 1776.

Perhaps the most familiar portion of that great document is its declaration of rights:

"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 these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Those words ring with the same clarity and force today as they did when the Founding Fathers embarked on the establishment of what has become the most powerful nation in the world.

Ours is a nation built on laws, democratic representation, the strength and ingenuity of like-minded peoples from all over the globe, justice, military might and international trade -- all of which were addressed in the Declaration of Independence's bill of indictment against a British king whose government sought to quell the fires of revolution with a heavy hand.

The declaration concludes:

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States ... .

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

One striking aspect of the Declaration of Independence is how many times it refers to God: Nature's God, Creator, Supreme Judge, divine Providence. Even with so many justifications for severing the civil links with Great Britain, the Founders were willing to act boldly only within the embrace of a supreme being.

Today, nations around the world have accepted the obligations of freedom and the joys of liberty. But too many human beings still suffer the pain and consequences of regimes that rely on force and death to impose the self-serving needs and desires of a few at the expense of those who long for a taste of self-determination.

Let our prayer on this Fourth of July be for the blessings of the Author of Freedom and Supreme Judge of Liberty upon all peoples everywhere and forever.