Thankful for freedom

Rockwell's Four Freedoms

Thankful for freedom
Thursday November 25, 2004

This thanksgiving I am grateful for America’s great artist, Norman Rockwell. Rockwell painted four of his most famous paintings, “the Four Freedoms” in response to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address:



In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we
look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression --everywhere in the world.

Think about the First Amendment.:

“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 the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.”


FDR’s hope was that these freedoms would be extended throughout the world.
Rockwell remembered how Arlington, Vermont neighbor, Jim Edgerton had stood
up during a town meeting to voice a particularly unpopular opinion.
Rockwell’s 1943 painting shows Edgerton, dressed in work clothes, surrounded
by skeptical onlookers in decidedly white-collar clothes.

Maybe I identify with the guy in this painting. There are times when my opinions may
not be broadly shared or well-liked, but there are times when I feel passionately enough that I have to share them. Thank God, we live in a country I can. And so can you. More than ever before, we can call in to radio shows or email in to Travis Justice on Channel 3, or write in to the NEWSpaper.

If there are impediment to this freedom, it’s not government censorship. One market forces. When essentially three or four corporations own our major media outlets, what makes the agenda will be what sells, or what doesn’t offend advertisers- not what needs to be said. The
other is peer pressure. People won’t speak up or disagree if they’re made to feel inferior or intimidated socially.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--
everywhere in the world.

Christians in Sudan are sold into slavery. Churches are bombed in Iraq. Religious organizations must register and be closely regulated and scrutinized in China. But if we are going to protect this freedom for ourselves and make it appealing to others, we need to be careful to remember our own history. Sure, the Puritan Pilgrims we remember on Thanksgiving were fleeing England to find religious freedom, because they were being persecuted, but who was persecuting them. Christians were disagreeing with Christians. The Puritans felt persecuted by King James (as in King James Bible).

It didn’t take the Pilgrims long to deny religious freedom to others. Rhode Island was founded by people kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony because they let women participate in home Bible studies. I’m a Christian who opposes mandatory prayer in public schools because as a Lutheran-Christian, I don’t want my children forced to participate in Mormon or Scientologist rituals. Surely Baptists, Methodists, and Catholics would agree with me on that.

Thank God that He allows Muslims, Hindus, and even Satanists to reject Him. He doesn’t FORCE anyone to love Him or believe in Him, and thank God, neither does the United States of America. God wants everyone to know the truth about Him and He continues
to love them even if they deny that truth, but they reject Him, not the other way around. Rockwell’s painting features contrasting skin tones in the multi-ethnic figures, a daring thing to do in the 1940’s. “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.”

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means
economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime
life for its inhabitants --everywhere in the world.

Did you know that if the entire world were only 100 people, 59% of
the entire world's wealth would belong to only 6 people and all 6 would be citizens of the United
States?! How lucky, how blessed, how fortunate, how spoiled? I love Thanksgiving, I love turkey, I love eating, but I have to tell you, that this statistic does make me eat my pumpkin pie with a scoop of guilt.

Be that as it may, this is one of the most beautiful, warm, joyful paintings by Norman Rockwell ever. It’s the one with Grandma and Grandpa hosting Thanksgiving dinner, serving up the picture-perfect bird on a platter to the family gathered around the holiday table.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a
world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression
against any neighbor --anywhere in the world.

This painting shows a mom and dad tucking their kids into bed at night. The dad has a newspaper with headlines announcing WWII bombings in Europe. I know that Charter Oak isn’t immune to crime or violence. I know that Iowa probably isn’t immune to terrorism, but I love living here. I love our traditional values, our rural common sense, knowing our neighbors, being able to walk to church. Outsiders might accuse us Midwesterners of being sheltered or unrealistic, but I don’t care. That’s exactly why I left LA to raise my family here, so that we can be the family in this painting. Tucking our girls in at night and helping them say their prayers. Thank God for our safety.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind
of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the
very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek
to create with the crash of a bomb. To that new order we oppose the greater
conception --the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world
domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a
perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts of its millions of
free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

Thank God for the goals and hopes of FDR and the WWII generation