Mark Twain once remarked that Americans of the nineteenth century were fortunate to have “freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, and the prudence never to practice either of them!” I have a hunch that his wry comment is not limited to folks of the nineteenth century.  Freedom is not really freedom unless it is exercised.   Still, most of us believe ourselves to be free beings, freely able to make choices and to decide our own destinies.  There is an old story of a Methodist preacher and a Calvinist preacher who had made arrangements to exchange pulpits in the early frontier days of our country.  As they passed on horseback halfway between the two churches, the Calvinist, believing firmly in predestination, said to his Methodist brother (who did not so believe), “You know, brother, God f…