There is a lie gaining traction in America: that we can blend our constitutional republic with the softer edges of socialism. That we can keep our freedoms while surrendering more of our lives to the state. That the Constitution and collectivism can share the same house. They cannot. And every American who loves God and country needs to understand why.
Two Opposing Views of Rights
The Constitution is built on a radical idea that changed the world: rights come from God, not government. The Declaration of Independence makes this explicit — we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Government’s job is not to grant them but to protect them. Communism and socialism are built on the exact opposite premise. In the collectivist worldview, rights come from the state. The individual exists to serve the system. There is no Creator in the equation — only the committee.
These two frameworks cannot coexist. One says your rights are sacred and God-given. The other says your rights are negotiable and state-issued.
The First Thing to Go Is Religious Liberty
Every communist revolution followed the same pattern. The state seizes economic control first. Then it comes for the churches. It happened in the Soviet Union, where thousands of churches were demolished. It happened in China, where pastors are still imprisoned for preaching without state approval. It happened in Cuba, where the Church was systematically stripped of its influence. The pattern is always the same: if the state is the highest authority, God is a competitor.
We are not there yet in America. But the new socialism — dressed in the language of compassion and equity — is moving us in that direction. When government becomes the source of your healthcare, your income, your education, and your moral framework, it does not share authority with the church. It replaces it.
When the State Becomes God
Psalm 146:3 warns: “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.” When the state assumes the role of provider, protector, and moral arbiter, it is claiming a role that belongs to God alone. The Constitution was designed to prevent precisely this — by diffusing power, protecting individual conscience, and ensuring that no authority can tell you how to worship or what to believe.
The Constitution Is the Guardrail
This is why constitutional literacy is a spiritual necessity. The Constitution does not save souls. But it protects the space in which the Gospel can be preached freely. It is the guardrail that keeps the road to tyranny from becoming a superhighway.
When we teach our children what the Constitution says, we are teaching them that their rights come from God, that no government can take them away, and that they are responsible for preserving them.
That is the mission of The 917 Society: to put a free pocket Constitution in the hands of every 8th grader in America, so the next generation understands what they have been given — and what it costs to keep it.
What We Must Do
We cannot be passive. Freedom will not sustain itself. We must teach our children the truth about their constitutional heritage. We must equip our churches to engage in the public square. And we must remember that the Constitution works because it was written by men who believed rights come from God. Remove God from the equation, and it becomes just another piece of paper. Keep Him at the center, and it remains the greatest charter of human liberty ever written.
The Constitution: Read it. Know it. Carry it.
—Joni Bryan is the Founder and Executive Director of The 917 Society, a Nashville-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to putting a free pocket Constitution in the hands of every 8th grader in America. Learn more at 917society.org.
