How do you define freedom?

There’s so much going on right now. It can feel like a tsunami. Politics is on many people’s minds, but not because they want it to be on their mind. For many people, politics evokes fear, uncertainty, anger, and more.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it’s appropriate to mention it here again – I have a long background in politics. I used to be a Republican. But that’s going back almost two decades ago at this point. The last time I was registered as a Republican was in 2006. (I did have a brief stint as a Republican again in 2016 – just long enough to vote in the primary and then re-register as non-partisan).

I don’t really identify with either party, which is why I’m registered non-partisan. Some of that is because of my own experience with politics. I don’t trust political parties and I don’t have a positive view of them. They exist for two things – to raise money and to get their candidates elected. And political parties operate on one core value – whatever it takes to win elections. Which means they will change positions as needed and throw anyone under the bus if it serves the main goal. Is that cynical? I don’t know. It’s what I have observed.

So much of the political conflict in our nation comes down to a few basic things really. One of those is how we define freedom. We have one end of the political spectrum which defines freedom as the freedom to impose. That’s what Project 2025 is all about – imposing a set of beliefs and morals on everyone, regardless of what you think about it. Of course we know that the people in charge are exempt from such rules – they always are. It’s not about them modeling these things. It’s about imposing them on others. I think this addiction to imposing beliefs and ways to live on others is really about trying to create an ordered world to their liking. It’s a way to feel god-like.

The other end of the political spectrum is all over the place because it’s never really been a unified thing. It’s always been a coalition of desperate groups who have competing interests, but never a core theme. And all the groups expect that everyone else will listen. But that’s really hard to do. And what do you do when interests are in conflict with each other? Often groups make high cost demands.

Both ends of the spectrum have folks who feel righteous in their beliefs. And that often leads to an unwillingness to compromise, or even listen to other possibilities.

So how do Christians define the term freedom? It depends on what type of freedom we are talking about of course. Martin Luther wrote a treatise on the freedom of a Christian. The summary is that the Christian is a free lord over all things, “not subject to anyone.” A Christian is also a bound servant of all things, “subject to everyone.” (Source). This writing would stir peasants to revolt a few years after it was written – they argued that Luther’s theology had political implications. Luther, knowing the politics that had saved his life, told the peasants they misunderstood and that they are subject to the lords of the realm. So much for freedom.

While I don’t have a specific definition of freedom for you – here’s what I know: Freedom isn’t free if it is about imposing on others. That’s just privilege. And freedom isn’t a free for all either – that’s license. Freedom is oriented towards both the wellbeing of the individual and the community at large. It’s about weighing the needs of each and coming to a compromise that is in the best interest of the community, so that individuals can thrive.

By my definition, freedom would be in opposition to the use of violence. Violence harms both individuals and communities. It impedes thriving. It is a form of imposing on others and using force to get one’s way. The purpose of the use of violence is to get others to comply. Violence is selfish in that regard. It is also unproductive and unhelpful.

Freedom also has to do with responsibility. Freedom comes with costs and boundaries. We aren’t really free if there are no boundaries at all. Freedom isn’t chaotic like that. Freedom is orderly. Freedom doesn’t skirt accountability. Making excuses doesn’t match with freedom either. When you come across people, officials, public figures that always have an excuse for why they are not to blame, when they clearly are at fault – then those folks have no interest in freedom. When someone always has an excuse – run from that person and stay away from them.

Freedom is also about wanting the same freedoms for others, not just yourself. If you are the only one who is free, then you aren’t really free either. Freedom is about empowering more people to be free. In this sense, it’s about expanding power to many people. It’s not freedom when it is consolidated into the hands of the few.

There’s a difference between wanting what’s best for others and wanting to be in control so that you can impose what you think is best for others.  The first is pretty natural.  We want what would be best for the people we love.  We should also want what would be best for those we don’t particularly like.  Healthy people recognize that we don’t have all the answers and that people have gone through a variety of life experiences and come to a variety of conclusions. We only know a portion and when we look on the surface, we make a simple assumption that we know what would be best.  But we don’t have all the information.  We don’t know everything that a person has gone through up to this point.  We only have our own experience.  And they have theirs. 

And so wanting what is best for others also means being a support for someone, encouraging them, and empowering them as best we can because they have to choose for themselves what they think is best, given their life experience, the options they can actually see in front of them (not necessarily all the actual options present), and more. 

Wanting to be in control so that you can impose what you think is the best on others is far different.  It’s what we find in so much of politics.  That’s nothing new though.  Humanity has been doing this for eons.  And it’s unhealthy.

How do you define freedom?