I love it when the Fourth of July is on a Sunday.  On a day that is considered by many a holy day, a Sunday Fourth makes it pretty clear to me what this day is about.  It is a religious day, for what is America’s religion but freedom itself?

In America, of course, you can be part of some organized religion, whatever you choose, or not.  You can believe in God, gods, or just in yourself.   

“USA, USA, USA.”

But mostly we believe in your right to say,  “No, thank you.”

You can even drop the “thank you,” and be as vigorous in your dissent, alone or all together, however you wish.

When you’re an American that’s what we understand to be true and what we fight to protect.

We have faith in this freedom. It’s called patriotism. 

Patriotism isn’t a blind allegiance to folks in Washington, and the policies of the elected.  

To be a patriot is to be one who knows that freedom is beyond debate. The Founding Fathers may be dead, but the founding principles are still alive.

A patriot is there to make sure it stays that way. Who are these “patriots”?  They aren’t all from a  particular gender, ethnicity, or income group. Nor are they the rabid folk who call conservative talk shows and waste good tea. Indeed, immigrants tend to be the best patriots, fighters and rebels to the core. Many are here because they believed and fought for the same things we believed in, only in their own homelands. Ask the Southeast Asian who fought with the U.S. in the Vietnam War.  Ask a Filipino veteran of WWII.  They are no less American than the descendents of the Mayflower.

And here we are all together this Sunday,  celebrating our freedoms without question.

That’s what we Americans believe in, religiously.