Freedom to Worship

The Four Freedoms

Freedom of Worship

Second in a series

Almost every American would recognize Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom of Worship.” The painting depicts people of different races and different religions expressing their devotion to their respective deities. Eyes are closed in contemplation or raised in supplication or awe. Hands are folded. Each person worships in his/her own way while standing with a community of worshippers.

 Rockwell was inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech given in January 1941 when much of Europe was in turmoil and many in the United States feared being drawn into the war. FDR listed four freedoms. 

“The first is the freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world. The second is freedom for every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.” Roosevelt recognized that these freedoms, which were enjoyed by citizens of the United States, should be universal.

When FDR made his speech, the United States was maintaining an isolationist policy. Rockwell’s illustrations were published in The Saturday Evening Post after the U.S had entered WWII following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Will Durant, historian and philosopher author of an 11-volume series, The Story of Civilization, wrote an essay which accompanied the painting for “Freedom of Worship." 

Durant wrote that, “Man differs from the animal in two things: He laughs and he prays.” Durant remembers watching workers in the village of his youth, coming in from the fields to a little church in the valley. These usually reticent men came to worship in their own fashion, “… because religion, like music, lives in a world beyond words, or thoughts, or things. They have felt the mystery of consciousness within themselves…” which they share with “the stars, and found in them a majestic order so harmoniously regular that our ears would hear its music were it not eternal.”

Durant says that this freedom to worship is “the first and final symbol of America.” The Pilgrims came to this nation “to win freedom for their souls, to think and speak and worship as they would.” The freedom to worship is a founding principal of the nation. 

Durant then poses a question: What is the finest thing about the worshippers he watches at the little chapel? “It is that they do not demand that others should worship as they do, or even that others should worship at all…. these worshippers understand that faith takes many forms and that men name with diverse words the hope that in their hearts is one.” 

Roosevelt recognized that the freedom to worship is an international human right. Durant wrote that, “the privilege of winning for all peoples the most precious gifts in the orbit of life — freedom of body and soul, of movement and enterprise, of thought and utterance, of faith and worship, of hope and charity, of humane fellowship with all men,” should be the guiding moral compass for our nation. 

A combined chorus of diverse worshippers, seeking the majestic and harmonious music of the stars, will guide our nation to a “humane fellowship” with all. 

(FDR’s full speech (voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu), Rockwell’s paintings, and Durant’s essay (www.saturdayeveningpost.com) are available online. I encourage you to find them.)