Remembering the LRCL’s First Fourth of July in D.C.: Rejoicing Today!

Happy Fourth of July! As we celebrate America, please also help support our efforts to contend for the freedom to proclaim the faith.

It’s Friday, July 4th, 2025, in Washington D.C. and it has been an incredible journey. Our LCRL work started in 2017. From the start, our mission has been to bring a faithful two-kingdom voice into the heart of federal politics—a voice that limits the reach of government, defends the family and the Church, and upholds First Amendment freedoms so that God’s people can freely proclaim the whole counsel of God without fear of coercion or intervention to the contrary. For a time, threats like COVID shutdowns, the Obergefell decision, and the politicized coercion of DEI-LGBTQ mandates eroded those protections and weaponized government against those holding to traditional, biblical values.

On that first Fourth of July here in Washington back in 2018, I wrote about how precious are the freedoms for American citizens, freedoms upon which this country was founded. Notice that I didn’t say the freedoms that this government “established” for its citizens. Why? The Founders realized that our freedoms are unalienable, from God not from government. The Founders realized that each person had the same rights before the law because they were created by God. They also limited the powers of government because they recognized another biblical teaching, that of human depravity. Amazing. America was the first place in history that “set free” the average citizen, to freely live “self-disciplined,” virtuous lives for family, Church, and community, motivated by their faith in God not coerced by government fiat. Again, those freedoms were under attack, being eroded all throughout the country.

Today, that erosion has been halted—and that’s why I’m writing. I’m overjoyed to share that religious liberty (conscience and practice) in America is now protected more clearly and concretely than at any point in our lifetimes. Wow! (And I do mean wow!) I’m still amazed at what has happened in the last few years in the courts and now what has happened just this past month here in Washington. Did you hear about it? It was the first gathering of the “Religious Liberty Commission” of the United States, June 16, 2025, at the Museum of the Bible. The Commission was created to advise the President and safeguard freedom of conscience. It aims to ensure that federal agencies, bureaucracies, and even Congress respect the First Amendment’s clear limitation on government—because the First Amendment limits government, not the Church, not the free citizen in doing what is right, godly, and kind for one’s neighbor.

In this first Religious Liberty Commission meeting, we were reminded anew that the freedom of religion and its exercise is the cornerstone, the fundamental freedom of all the rest. The Trump administration not only supported that truth but it acted on it, establishing this Commission to hold government accountable and stop political interference in the freedoms Americans are called to exercise for their families, churches, and communities. I was honored to be present among a diverse group of fellow advocates—people who’ve won First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court, who overturned the misguided “Lemon Test,” and who seek to return conscience matters to homes, churches, and neighborhoods, not government chambers. I never thought I’d see this day, but here we are, standing at the edge of tremendous blessing, so it is vital that we not be tempted to think that our work is done when it is just beginning.

We are at a time of great protection, but also at a time moral lethargy and confusion in our culture. We are at a time when the Church, unfortunately, is often afraid, even embarrassed to share the law of God because any “no,” even from God Himself is deemed by culture as hateful and discriminatory. Though pastors may no longer endure calls from mayors to scrutinize their sermons like that in Houston, though chaplains may no longer be brow beaten into silence about preaching certain passages of the Bible in their voluntary VA chapel services, though coaches may no longer be harassed, punished, or fired for silently praying at the 50-yard line long after the game concluded, we must recognize this moment as a renewed call for the Church to be the clear moral voice in our culture—for the sake of society and the mission of the Gospel. I've heard it said many times: “Politics is downstream from culture.” I would add, “Culture is downstream from the Church.” The religious liberty that has been secured is the very reason I came to D.C. That return to constitutional protection is amazingly concrete at this moment in time, but the opportunity to be that public voice of the whole counsel of God is our role as God’s people in the freedoms with which He himself has blessed us.

Again, the main reason why the LCRL is in Washington is to contend for such a “culture of freedom” so that all might hear “freely” of the eternal freedom that only Christ can bring by His life, death, and resurrection. The LCRL works with many other like-minded groups on the Hill to ensure these God-given fundamental, temporal rights are respected for all (Everyone’s freedoms depend on that!), and to make sure that they are differentiated from God’s ultimate liberating work in Christ which can never be accomplished by politics, polity or policy. That’s what we were a part of on that first Monday meeting of the “Religious Liberty Commission” here in D.C.

So, this Fourth of July, say a prayer of thanks! God has renewed our constitutional protections for us and our families. Let’s celebrate with joy—hot dogs, hamburgers, baseball, and apple pie—and let’s recommit to being a faithful, public witnesses to the Gospel, indeed witnesses of the whole counsel of God in the Scriptures, in and for our culture. Happy Fourth!

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

Be Informed
Listen to a review of the new Gallup poll on sanctity of life issues with Dr. Michael New of the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Be Equipped
Interestingly, Gen Z’s “support for religious liberty is growing.” Click here to see the stats!

Be Encouraged
“As you walk the path of life with your neighbor, learn and celebrate the depth and breadth of the infinite worth of their life—whether they are preborn, homeless, destitute, dying, friend, or foe. Learn, through the trials set before you and the sacrifices you make to improve the life of your neighbor, the awesome worth of life. Life is sacred. Every life matters.” –Rev. Robert Mohns, Lutheran Church–Canada

Next
Next

July Prayer Partner Thursday