> If you believe society today is less free than it was in the past, just remember that until the 80s, most Americans lived in small towns. Nothing I see people today complaining about compares to the essential small-town experience of your church community (i. e. "the town") ostracising you for wearing white after Labor day, or having disabled child, or being too friendly to <anyone they don't like>.

If you didn't like it, you could move to a different small-town. As I understand it, that was a strong motivator for many people to move to the new world, that they could live in a different way that they wanted to.

But you can't move out of the global village.