President Donald Trump speaks before signing a presidential memo to the EPA on pollution control in vehicles, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, June 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld presidential authority over commissioners on regulatory agencies. However, it blocked President Trump’s attempt to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. It ruled against his party by upholding state laws that count mailed ballots if they are postmarked by election day but received after. And it rejected the president’s request to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.
My purpose in referencing this news has nothing to do with the merits of these cases or the lack thereof. Rather, it is to identify one of the many ways America’s founding was unique among the nations of the world, a factor that is especially relevant and urgent today.
“A government of laws, not of men”
Two hundred and fifty years ago, monarchs, sultans, and autocrats ruled their nations. The idea that a court of nine unelected people could overrule the leader of the country was a foreign concept.
By contrast, America’s Founders created what John Adams called “a government of laws, not of men.” After forging the Constitution, they drafted the Bill of Rights, which the new nation ratified in 1791. In what we know as the First Amendment, they stated: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Freedoms of speech, the press, public assembly, and petitions to the government then followed.
The freedom of religion, by virtue of its placement and its foundational significance, has often been called America’s “first freedom.” Jorge Gomez, the content strategy director for First Liberty, is right:
The Founders understood that freedom of conscience is essential to all our other rights: speech, press, assembly, and appeal. If government can infringe on your deepest beliefs, nothing is off limits—not your property, your family, or your conscience.
When freedom of religion is transformative
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, I am grateful to join the celebration. As a follower of Jesus, I am especially thankful to live in a nation that recognizes my God-given right to serve him by writing this article. In much of the world, these words would cost me greatly.
Here’s the problem: Freedom of religion is transformative only if we choose a transformative religion. If I am suffering from back spasms, I am free to take any medication in my house, but only one will relieve them.
However, according to a recent poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans would prefer “the US to be a nation made up of people belonging to a wide variety of religions,” while only a third prefer “the US to be a nation primarily made up of people who follow the Christian faith.” Since nearly two-thirds of Americans also identify as Christians, it seems that many who claim to follow Christ do not care whether others do so or not.
Therein lies my point today.
“I must be ploughed up and resown”
The prophet mourned, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). The various religions of the world offer us ways to change our behavior, but they cannot change our heart. By contrast, when we turn to the God of the Bible, he promises, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).
This is what Jesus meant when he told one of the religious leaders of his day, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). We need transformation we cannot effect ourselves. Like a drowning person or a heart attack victim, sinners cannot save themselves from their sin. We need forgiveness we cannot earn and power we do not possess.
C. S. Lewis put it this way:
If I am a field that contains nothing but grass seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short, but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and resown.
Good news only if it is news
The good news is that such heart transformation is the heart of the gospel: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
But this is good news only if it is news.
Less than a third of unchurched Americans say a Christian has ever shared the gospel with them personally. As Paul asked, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14).
Peter set the model when he declared to the rulers who arranged Jesus’ crucifixion, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Both men later died for preaching this message that changed their lives and would change the world.
June 29 marked the annual remembrance on the church calendar of their martyrdoms. St. Augustine said of the day, “Let us love their faith, their lives, their labors, their sufferings, their confession of faith, their preaching.”
Most of all, let us follow their example. Unlike many believers across the world, America’s Christians have the freedom to proclaim the name “by which we must be saved.” We must not fail to share this message wherever we can, with whomever we can, however we can.
Americans need no greater gift today.
Quote for the day:
“If you are fearful to share your faith, don’t pray for less fear, pray for more love.” —Ray Comfort
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