All of these freedoms are based on the freedom of religion—the defining characteristic of American identity. If the government can control what you believe, they can control how you act. But we live in the land of the free, where true autonomy belongs to you. This right is not given to us by the government—it is given by God, the author of freedom. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” can only grow and thrive on the soil of religious freedom.