June 25, 2020 COVID-19 Faith Reflection—Religious Freedom Week
Franklin Roosevelt gave his 1941 State of the Union address while much of Europe had surrendered to the German Army and Great Britain was barely holding its own. Although the mood of Americans was to stay out of the European war, President Roosevelt made the case to support Britain. In helping Britain, the United States was fighting for the universal freedoms that all people possessed. His address became known as the “Four Freedoms Speech.” The second of the four freedoms he named worth fighting for was the freedom of worship.
The war against Nazism was won by the Allied Powers but the battle for the freedom of religion continues worldwide. China has corralled more than a million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in indoctrination camps because they were Muslims. The Pew Research Center reports that 52 governments in 2017– including some in very populous countries like China, Indonesia and Russia, as well as the Middle East – impose either “high” or “very high” levels of restrictions on religion, up from 40 in 2007.
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Our own country has its own kind of battle for religious freedom. Archbishop Wenski, acting chair of the US bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, stated, “Even in our Western liberal democracies, discrimination against religion in general and Catholic Christianity, in particular, is growing — albeit in perhaps more sophisticated and less violent ways.”
One way that freedom of religion is under stress in the United States is that freedom of religion is more and more understood to mean tolerance of religion. Religion is seen as a source of social and personal conflict rather than a unifying good. Religion is circumscribed as an individual choice, such as support for a sports team, that does not have social consequence.
“Yet, just as freedom of speech depends not only on one’s right to say what’s on one’s mind but also on the existence of institutions like newspapers, universities, libraries, political parties and other associations that make up what we call ‘civil society,’ so too freedom of religion ‘for the good of all’ must also encompass protecting those institutions that nourish the individual’s free exercise of religion.”
Religious Freedom Week began on Monday, June 22, the Feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, who were martyred for religious freedom. Religious Freedom Week runs through June 29, the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. The theme chosen for this year is “For the Good of All.”
Archbishop Wenski concluded, “The right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person. Religious freedom is the human right that guarantees all other rights — peace and creative living together will only be possible if freedom of religion is fully respected.”
http://www.usccb.org/news/20-100.cfm
Pope Francis, in his 2015 visit to the United States, said that religious freedom "remains one of America's most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”
In Christ,
Father David