We are all subject to the cultural influences of our particular place and time. Obviously there are elements of our contemporary culture opposed to what we consider Christian values. For that reason and to that extent we must be countercultural.
One of the greatest of human values is individual freedom. History provides multiple examples of people willing to sacrifice everything, even life itself, in defense of that value. Like any value, however, freedom can be misunderstood or distorted.
For the Christian human freedom is limited, subordinated to God’s will. For liberal secular culture individual freedom is the supreme value. Anything opposed to that freedom is to be resisted or eliminated. That would include many elements of what the Christian considers revealed religion.
Also rejected would be what is known as natural law theory, which is invoked as the rational foundation of much of the Church’s moral teaching. Natural law theory is based on the rational premise that things have a determined nature and that nature has an end. Whatever is contrary to that nature and its end is wrong/sin.
In contrast modern natural right theory is based on the will. It holds that nothing limits man except what he wills. Things, being without ends in themselves, have only the purposes we choose for them. As a consequence, we give them whatever names we desire. The purpose of language is no longer to describe things as they are, but to transform them into what we want them to be.
In that view liberty does not mean choosing what is right. It does not mean conforming oneself to what is good, but making up what is good. There is little that could not be justified by such a process. The axiom “truth will make you free” is inverted. ”Your freedom will make your truth.”
Such a solipsistic view of reality has reached high places. In a ruling in 1922, Planned Parenthood vs Casey, The Supreme Court opined that “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” How can that be? The universe is already here. It has already been defined for us. Otherwise it would not exist. Our choice is not to make up the meaning of the universe but to discern its meaning and either conform ourselves to it or revolt against it.
For the Christian, as indeed, for everyone, the challenge is not to try to make reality conform to our desires but to discover God’s will and to conform our lives to it.