FDR AND THE FOUR FREEDOMS.........

Writing on Freedom in my July 4 blog column started me thinking about the topic of freedom in our American history. And that reflection led me to the consideration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's January 6, 1941, "Four Freedoms" speech. On a cold winter's night, eleven months before the United States entered World War II, before a joint session of the 77th Congress, President Roosevelt proclaimed : 1.) Freedom of Speech and Expression; 2.) Freedom of Religion and Worship; 3.) Freedom from Want; 4.) Freedom from Fear. Freedom of Speech and Expression is one of the hallmark rights of the American Experience. It is our individual and collective right as a free people unfettered by a monarch or a dictator, to speak our opinions openly and honestly, knowing with the courage of our convictions that we will not be imprisoned or penalized for what we say. Freedom of Religion and Worship are ingrained in the American Experience from the very founding of the 13 Colonies. The right to believe in God, or not belief, and the opportunity to worship freely, or choose not to participate, is a right of freedom we as Americans cherish. Freedom from Want is a principle of the American Experience that closely parallels the Gospel value of providing for the needs of all in the community. The economic reality of this freedom challenges us to balance our free market philosophy with Christian charity, so that we do not become enslaved to capitalism run amok. Freedom from Fear is another principle of the American Experience that reflects the Judeo-Christian experience of God's Word. Our ability to be free from fear is grounded in the most repeated words found in the Bible, "Be Not Afraid", "Fear Not". President Roosevelt's words on the Four Freedoms have stood the test of time and are as true today, nearly seventy years later as they were when he first proclaimed them. America and the World have every reason to reaffirm and sustain these Four Freedoms and to live these Four Freedoms with gratitude and an unconditional commitment to keeping them a viable possibility for all peoples.........Fr. Troy