Interfaith Insight - 2023
Permanent link for Thanksgiving for our freedoms: Religion, press, and assembly by Douglas Kindschi, Sylvia and Richard Kaufman Founding Director, Kaufman Interfaith Institute, GVSU on November 28, 2023
During ArtPrize this year (2015) I walked by a large oil painting in the lobby of the AmwayGrand Plaza and stopped suddenly. I knew that person in the painting. And then I recognized a second and then a third person. They were an imam, a rabbi and a Catholic priest with whom we have worked in our interfaith efforts here in West Michigan. The artist was Sharon Lange and the painting was titled, “FREEDOM – Liberty Lighting our Way.”** Based on the First Amendment to our Constitution, it portrays our freedom of religion, as well as the freedom of speech, a free press and the right to free assembly. Adopted in 1791, it was one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights.
In this season of thanksgiving we in America have much for which to be thankful, especially these freedoms that our founders insured from the beginning of our nation. The First Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Early settlers of the colonies came from many different religious backgrounds. Puritans were strong in the New England colonies while Anglicans were dominant in the South. There were also Lutherans from Germany, Reformed from the Netherlands, and Presbyterians from Scotland, as well as Catholics, Quakers, Methodists, Baptists, and a few Jewish congregations. It should also be noted that many of the slaves brought to America were Muslim but were not permitted to practice their religion.
State-established religion was common in most European countries and the early settlers were aware of that pattern. In some cases they came here to avoid that practice but, on the other hand, many of the original colonies had their own established religions. Most of them required state officials to take a pledge supporting Christian doctrine, and in many cases it was specified that they had to be Protestant. In the Maryland colony as well as a number of the southern colonies, the Anglican Church was the established church and Catholics were not even allowed to vote. Thus the First Amendment was originally a restriction on Congress and did not apply to the states until much later.
Likewise in the Constitution, Article Six provides that "no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Again, for many years this applied only to federal offices.
Among our founders we have Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to especially thank for this affirmation of religious freedom. Jefferson was in Paris serving as our ambassador to France when the Constitution was being drafted. He wrote Madison with his concerns about a bill of rights and especially the inclusion of religious freedom. Madison is considered the main drafter of the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights and later became our fourth president. Jefferson not only wrote the Declaration of Independence but was also the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was passed in 1786 and was the model for the First Amendment. It is of interest that Jefferson requested that the authorship of these two documents, and the fact that he founded the University of Virginia, be the only things noted on his tombstone. Being our third president of the United States didn’t make the top three in his opinion.
Thanks to the freedom of religion championed by these two founders and presidents of our United States, we now enjoy an unprecedented diversity and freedom of expression in our religious communities. It has been pointed out that America is not only the most diverse country in terms of ethnic and religious backgrounds, but also the most devout when it comes to religion. I believe it is in large measure a result of the freedoms we have enjoyed for over two hundred years. This diverse nation of immigrants can be the model for a world that is becoming one very diverse community.
The artist whose work caught my attention describes her work as follows:
“In this allegorical scene, we see Lady Liberty, personified, her torch ablaze, lighting our way through the darkness; … She is an ‘ideal’ that we all look up to and hold dear. … We see her surrounded by all of us, representing the diverse fabric of our Nation.”
It is an affirmation of our diversity, seen as a strength, and built upon our freedoms, including the freedom to worship. In this Thanksgiving Season we have much to be thankful for. But let us not forget the blessing of our freedoms, the strength of our diversity, and our heritage of religious freedom.
** To see and learn more about Sharon Lange's painting, “FREEDOM – Liberty Lighting our Way,” check out the video below!
