Freedom Of The Press

"The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell. ... [W]e are asked to hold that ... the Executive Branch, the Congress, and the Judiciary can make laws ... abridging the freedom of the press in the name of 'national security.' ... To find that the President has 'inherent power' to halt the publication of news ... would wipe out the First Amendment and destroy the fundamental liberty and security of the very people the Government hopes to make 'secure.' ... The word 'security' is a broad, vague generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment. The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security... . The Framers of the First Amendment, fully aware of both the need to defend a new nation and the abuses of the English and Colonial governments, sought to give this new society strength and security by providing that freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly should not be abridged.[16]"

From Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's opinion that elaborated on his view of the absolute superiority of the First Amendment | June 30th, 1971

For more information on this Supreme Court decision, click HERE. 

Poems by Ellen Sturgis Hooper

Poems by Ellen Sturgis Hooper

I Slept, and Dreamed that Life was Beauty

"I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;

I woke, and found that life was Duty.

Was thy dream then a shadowy lie?

Toil on, sad heart, courageously,

And thou shalt find thy dream to be

A noonday light and truth to thee."

Citizens Of Heaven

As believers in Christ, we are citizens of another country and subjects of our glorious King. Our loyalty does not belong to an earthly kingdom, or tethered to nationalistic obligations. Our loyalty belongs to Jesus Christ, and our citizenship belongs to Heaven. We are simply sojourners, enduring the prelude before the main act, placed on this earth for a brief life-span, to accomplish His objectives and to advance His Kingdom. To be fixated on earthly things that will pass away is a fool's quest and a waste of our true talents. Instead we should fix our hearts on the coming king, longing for Jesus to restore creation to His standards once again. Our relationship with Jesus, and all the gifts that He freely gives us as recipients of His grace is all that matters. 

Our eternal home is a gift from God, but it is only through faith in the sacrificial blood of Jesus that we have a full assurance of our heavenly inheritance. Our heavenly citizenship does not depend on any of our own works, but on His work. The passage to heaven is not an open way to all, but is available to all who place their allegiance, trust, and devotion to Jesus Christ. 

"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"  (Mark 8:36 NIV)

Imago Dei

Our highest dignity and purpose can only be found in the identity we have received from God, and no other identity formed or edited by us can even come close. Here the formulas of addition and subtraction are flipped and the will of God is seen in its glory. For only when we lose ourselves can we then become the highest and purest creature that God originally intended for us to become. For if we have been made by God, then no shadow or facsimile identity can ever satisfy - yet the core will of man is opposed to the things of God and our flesh must be put to death daily for us to achieve our glorification through the will of God. 

"Image of God" or "Imago Dei", which is the latin translation, has its origins in Genesis 1:27, wherein "God created man in his own image..." This biblical passage does not imply that God is in anyway human, but that humans were created in the image of God in their moral, spiritual, and intellectual essence. Thus, humans reflect God's divine nature in their ability to achieve the unique characteristics with which they have been endowed. These God-given qualities make humans different than all other creatures: free will, rational understanding, creative liberty, the capacity for self-actualization, and the potential for self-transcendence.