The nation is rightly traumatized by the horrible assassination of Charlie Kirk.

The media is filled, also rightly, with give and take trying to understand what can and should be done so that we don't see more of the same.

But unfortunately, much of the expression that I hear is informed by the same misguided sense of right and wrong that brought to fruition the horrible act.

That is — who do we blame?

Homicide is unfortunately not so exceptional in our country. Among industrialized nations, the U.S. homicide rate, hovering around 6 per 100,000, is among the highest.

Somehow it seems to bother us more when someone is gunned down for their political expression than when they are gunned down in gang violence in an inner city or in a robbery or in a horrible, meaningless mass murder perpetrated by some lost and deranged individual.

A hot button here is the element of free speech.

Free speech is the oxygen of a free society. The threat of its being impeded by terrorism or by government is horrifying.

Our freedom has degenerated into chaos because we have forgotten why it is vital and precious.

Why does our Constitution's preamble speak of "the blessings of liberty"?

To answer, we must have a discussion that so many do not want to have.

Is ours a free nation under God or not? Is a free nation that is not under God possible?

My view is this: Generally, our discussions today about freedom ignore what makes freedom meaningful and critical — that is, that each human being has free choice. Free choice means it matters what we choose. It means there is good and evil, and man was created to take responsibility to choose and make a world that our Creator wants.

Our nation was founded by Christians seeking freedom to live a faithful life. Our founding was a great meeting between the Christian population and the founders, many enthusiasts of the modern age of reason, who designed a government to protect its citizens and allow them to live according to their free choices.

In other words, political man was there to protect religious man and enable him to take responsibility for his life and live free.

But with the great success of this arrangement, hubris as always sets in. Many came to believe that our great success was because of the political arrangement rather than the choices of free religious men and women.

Gradually, religion was pushed out the door, and we became increasingly a political society.

Liberty was transformed from a blessing shared by all to an alleged right of every individual to determine for himself what is good and what is evil, what is true and what is false.

The heights of politicization of what was once a free nation under God were the Roe v. Wade decision, declaring women free to destroy their unborn children, and the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, in which the state was given authority to define marriage.

In a free nation under God, life is sacred, as is the holy institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

The result is the chaos in which we find ourselves. Politics has become our God, and individuals feel personally entitled to determine what is good and evil. And with tragic inevitability, some emerge who feel empowered to determine who will live and who will die.

Celebrating an America that is not a free nation under God, a flag that does not represent standards of good and evil as transmitted to us by our Creator, is what the ancients called idol worship.

We must restore and build a country where each sees his neighbor in the image of God, where each feels personal responsibility to take charge of his own life and allows others to take similar responsibility, knowing that the ultimate Judge is above.

Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, "What Is the CURE for America?" is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Michael Kroul at Unsplash