When I was young, someone convinced me to try pizza with pineapple and canadian bacon ( not ham! ). I liked it, and I still do (sorry if I offended anyone). Much later, someone said I should try peanut butter and tuna because it was a wonderful combination. It was not so. It tasted awful (and made my stomach upset). Some things go together, and some things do not. Yet, if we do not actually try them (or ideologically speaking: examine them logically) then we will never know. There are a few things that are considered standard American things that just simply do not go together with the Catholic faith. Contrary to what many would expect, I am not speaking about the modernist wicked American things. I am speaking . . . brace yourself . . . about some of the freedoms listed in the first amendment of our constitution here in these USA. Now before you think I have lost it, please hear me out. I am not saying something that is totally off the wall. Let us take one that is commonly spoken of for the last couple weeks: freedom of speech. We are so used to it as Americans, that we virtually never question if it is a godly freedom. Consider the second Commandment: thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. That does not sound very much like free speech. We are told by God (in His top ten list!) that there are certain things we are not free to say, like His name in a vain manner. Let me add in the eighth commandment: thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. We are told by God here (also in the top ten), that we are not free to lie (especially about someone else). Our speech is not truly free if we cannot say whatever we want without consequences. Hence, intentionally or not, the freedoms of the Constitution essentially tell us that it is acceptable as an American to lie or blaspheme God. If you do not have a problem with this, then you are more American than Catholic. Consider further, other statements in the Bible. St. Paul says that we should have no filthiness, silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting (Ephesians 5:4). Regardless of how you interpret those words, there is clearly a limit on what we can say and that is not free speech. The list could go on and on. There is truly no sense anywhere in God's written word that gives us the sense the freedom of speech in the modern American practice is truly a good and holy thing. Should people (like Charlie Kirk for example) be allowed to speak freely and faithfully about the Christian faith? Of course. Should people be allowed to speak blasphemy? The American constitution may say yes, but God disagrees. Yes, it is true that many people qualify freedom of speech by saying we are not free to speak government secrets, or things that will impact national security, and they claim that this is self-evident; they thus claim that freedom of speech is not absolute. I will not debate that at all; freedom of speech does not imply total freedom to say anything in any context. The problem, however, is that if we are limited when it comes to government secrets but we are allowed to say that sin is good, and curse God, and knowingly misrepresent reality, then something is clearly wrong with the laws of this nation. I do not know if our founding fathers were ignorant of the consequences of their actions, or if they actually wanted to allow disobedience to God's word (though I would presume the former). We cannot, however, presume that everything they said was in accord with our Catholic faith. Do we truly believe that the constitutional practice of freedom of speech is actually in accord with what God intends to be practiced in His Kingdom? We cannot ignore this question. (more tomorrow)