I am sitting in the Holiday

Inn in San Clemente, Calif., on Tuesday evening, July 4,

anticipating that, soon, a brilliant display of fireworks

will be launched from the pier that juts out from the

beach into the magnificent Pacific Ocean. I should easily

be able to see the festivities since the beach is just a

few blocks away.

In this community just a

half hour north of the Marine Corps Base at Camp

Pendleton, a quiet, but palpable, patriotism permeates

the citizenry. Today, Marines, sailors, and other service

personnel and their families were in abundance in this

beach community, enjoying a rare day off and savoring the

freedom they are sworn and committed to defend.

Yet, with all the unfurled

red, white and blue banners, the fireworks, and the aroma

of the barbecues wafting through the air, I am a bit

troubled. More than a bit, if the truth be told. I am

troubled because, little by little, bit by bit, the

freedoms being celebrated here and throughout the United

States are slowly being eroded. Oh, not in dramatic,

frightening ways, but in small, almost imperceptible,

tiny little instances.

I am not a smoker, nor a

friend of smoking. My father died of lung cancer and I

generally believe that smokers who persist on filling

their lungs with toxic tar and waste by-products ought to

find a quicker and less painful manner of committing

suicide. However, smoking is legal and tobacco may be

lawfully purchased.

In California, all smoking

in public places (according to a friend who lives here)

has been outlawed. When one of the members of our party

requested a nonsmoking table at a restaurant, the host

snorted and said with a sneer, "What state are you

from?" It's an unpopular habit this days and those

who smoke in the Golden State are likely to be shunned.

But to pass a law to restrict a lawful action, one that

has been legal for over 200 years?

In San Juan Capistrano, the

locals have decreed that "Malibu lights," those

little lights on the ground that help guide a person from

the car to the front door, need to be regulated. The

maximum height of these little lights is set at 18 inches

above the ground. If your lights are 18 and one-eighth

inches above the California sod, you face the possibility

of heavy fines and jail time.

No kidding! You can go to

jail. "Hey, buddy, what are you in for?" asks

the mass murderer. "My Malibu lights were an eighth

of an inch too high," answers the Capistrano Kid.

In some communities, church

bells, which have rung throughout this nation's history,

are being muted by newly passed laws designed to mandate

silence by the threat of fines and jail. Other

municipalities have passed so-called "zoning

laws" designed to address the nefarious problem of

people who dare to open their own private homes up to

prayer meetings and Bible studies. Freedom of religion?

Hardly.

Some schools have attempted

to ban students from wearing Christian T-shirts while, at

the same time, permitting outrageous, obscene and

socially destructive messages to be displayed on the

shirts of others. In some schools, students may wear

symbols of ethnic pride but they may not wear clothing

that portrays the Confederate "battle flag" as

a symbol of their Southern heritage. So much for

"freedom of expression."

In Peachtree City, a friend

of mine was slapped with a $50 fine. His crime? His grass

was too tall. In Fayette County, an unsuccessful effort

was mounted to restrict the number of American flags that

a business could display in public. One man in a south

Atlanta suburb was given a citation because, in his rush

to park his car, he accidentally parked partially on his

own grass in his own front yard. Again, the grass police

levied a fine. When will it ever stop?

Even in the Bible Belt,

zoning restrictions for churches have become so

burdensome that many churches have moved out of the city

limits into the unincorporated counties only to fine that

their county counterparts are also zealously protecting

the community from the influence of the church. Freedom

of assembly? Freedom of religion? Don't bet on it.

This is still the

"land of the free and the home of the brave."

It's just that we aren't as free as we used to be. And

that is a sad and frightening situation.

[Father

David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic

Episcopal Church in Peachtree City. He may be contacted

at [email protected] or www.ChristTheKingCEC.com .]