The Four Freedoms
Discuss the Biblical religiousity that is presented in Roosevelt's speech, The Four Freedoms.
Consider the following questions in your response: What Biblical reference does Roosevelt quote? Does Roosevelt's speech reflect Christian thought and spirituality? If so, how? Are the freedoms that Roosevelt talks about reflected in Scripture and Christian tradition? Should a Christian agree with Roosevelt's claims?
Consider the following questions in your response: What Biblical reference does Roosevelt quote? Does Roosevelt's speech reflect Christian thought and spirituality? If so, how? Are the freedoms that Roosevelt talks about reflected in Scripture and Christian tradition? Should a Christian agree with Roosevelt's claims?
posted by Mark Killian | 12:07 PM
12 Comments:
For most of what roosevelt says i believe that christians can agree with him. His third point is very Christian based. it basicaly says to fight for those who are weak. Freedom is not gained by taking other peoples freedom away. Which is a thing that Jesus constantly does in the Bible. He helps the weak the crippled and the sick. In this speech he also talks about how a free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups. Which is again another christian law. Treat others as you would have them treat you sorta thing. I completely agree with katie when she talks about that first line talking about Americans freedoms of expression. How our religion is an expression we should be allowed to be free to have.
I agree with both Katie and Amelia when they say that the freedom Roosevelt lists for speech and expression is Christian based. Like they said, it is not necessarily stated in the Bible but God does obviously want us to talk about Him and express how we feel about Him to others so they can experience that too. I'd add that this isn't exactly what Roosevelt was referring to most likely, but it is extremely applicable. The freedom of speech and expression is needed to share with others about God.
The second freedom, that everyone can worship God in his own way, is clearly Christian based. Christians worship God in all different ways that are unique to groups and even down to the individual themselves. Being allowed to worship in that unique way allows the relationships Christians have with God to truly grow.
Freedom from want is more difficultly applied, but Christian meaning can still be found. People need to be free from wanting things they don't need, but also things they do. God is that freedom. God can take away the want that people have for things that are unnecessary. He can also fulfill the wants people have for their needs.
The last freedom, from fear, can be applied to Christianity in a way similar to the freedom from want. God should be our freedom from fear. When we are afraid He should be who we turn to. Yet, the Bible also tells us that we should fear God. We should fear Him because He is so powerful, but at the same time we should know He loves us.
The ideas which Roosevelt presents in this speech are not entirely new to this country. The Declaration of Independence itself was constructed upon the idea that the "Inalienable Rights" of man had been breached by British tyranny and therefore it was their "Right" to act out against that government and overthrow it. Later, the Constitution sets forth pages and pages of human rights that cannot be taken without proper punishment. All these rights that Roosevelt claims to be securing just so happen to be an integral part of the very foundation on which our country exists. His fellow congressmen knew this. They also lived with great admiration and respect for the founding fathers of this country. I believe that through playing on the emotions and conscience of the men of congress, Roosevelt was able to deliver such an influential and moving speech. Aside from this point, there is a few significant spiritual elements in this speech that also need to be considered. I believe that Roosevelt used religious concepts in the formation of his address.
Firstly, the opening line of this speech makes it clear that the purpose of his countries’ actions following the address is to preserve and defend the "essential human freedoms" of man. This is remarkably similar to the Declaration of Independence when it states, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it". The men of the Declaration also believed it their duty to defend these rights. The men based the article on Christian Principles. In fact, they believed that the whole reason that any rights even exist in the first place was because of God. They write, "that they (all men) are endowed, by their Creator (God [capitalized]), with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." To them, Roosevelt's concept of these rights origionated from the founding fathers that came before him who attributed them to God. Therefore, Roosevelt's concept of rights came from God. Secondly, each individual right which is mentioned by Roosevelt in his speech can be directly paralleled with the Bible, thus proving that it's roots are in Christianity. However, though I am only the fifth person to post, this seems to have been done in detail by three different people. I will, instead, comment. To Amelelia, I would say that the Freedom from Want is not speaking of a Freedom from Desire. In this case they are very different. Roosevelt is speaking from an economic standpoint. When a government does not provide for it's people and does not take care of the economy, it falls into disrepair. Without a healthy economy, the people run out of the necessisitites of life, such as food, water, shelter, medical health, etc. Roosevelt is saying that it is the "right of man" to not have to endure this. He means that all governments must "secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants." I have to go to school... Guten Tag
When i read through the four freddoms i looked at it in a way that humans give themself there own power. Speech and expression is a human right given to all humans upon birth. Want is another freedom, but the only way you can look at want from a christian view point it looks selfish, and takes away from god. Fear however can relate to god because a human can fear hell, and death. When i look at Katie's response i feel as if she bases all of these freedoms off of coming from god, which makes sense, but god would not want someone to want something and what about non-christians how would they fall into the four freedoms if they were all based off of god. i think Katie is right that christianity can agree with the four freedoms, but god cannot be the basis of the four freedoms.
I highly agree with what John had to say and had he interpreted the Four Freedoms speech. I have a question though, how can one earn freedom without taking the freedom of someone else? When the pilgrims and the European empire started to explore the New World it started of at peace with the Native Americans. Once the coast was not enough for the people of the New World they started to push. They started to take land and push the Native Americans out of their lands, isn’t that taking away their freedom of owning land? Yes freedom can be earned without taking freedom, but in history it sounds like it was hard to do. Still I think Roosevelt’s speech does reflect Christian thought and spirituality.
I agree with Kaci that all the freedoms relate back to Christianity. Some people have argued that the freedom from want is not Christian related. I disagree b/c if we God then we shouldnt want/need anything else. The other three freedoms obviously relate to God, speech and expression and freedom to worship freely obviously relate to Christianity b/c these freedoms allow us to worship freely. The freedom from fear relates to Christianity b/c we have nothing to fear b/c we will have eternal life and that our sins are forgiven.
i meant Josh, not John
To add to my earlier statement i disagree with what john is saying about the third point saying that you are suppose to fight for the weak. i do not think that is what roosevelt was trying to say. i think he was trying to say that the strong will always beat the weak. I also still disagree with his statement of agreeing with Katie's statement that he talks aboutfreedom of expression and how it relates to god, because it is a human right for all men.
The Christian religion values all people of the world, for the people of the world are made in God's image from His creation. Christianity is all about honesty, love, compassion, empathy, and selfless service to those in need. It is a religon of modesty, spirituality, acceptance, growth through struggles, and growth through experience and struggles along the "Christian path" where Christians live out daily lives in order to connect with God and spirituality. Here I will tell you how Christianity can be closely related with Roosevelt's speech, The Four Freedoms.
Roosevelt clearly states in his speech, The Four Freedoms, that freedom of expression should be embraced throughout the world. This connects to the Biblical belief that we are all created in God's image.
I think that the second freedom is often look down upon by close-minded Christians because it may lead to skepticism by others on the Christian religion, and also may prevent it from spreading as much as Christians would like. But the way I look at it is that "a forced religion is a false religion", and a true Christian should value and learn from the beliefs of others as long as those beliefs aren't inflicting harmful effects upon others emotionally, mentally, spiritually or physically. I think that this should be an obvious to all Christians because if they really believe as the Bible states that we are "made in God's image" ("we" meaning "we the people of the *world*"), then they might also consider the fact that Christianity is not the only major world religion out there, therefore other religions have just as much of a chance of holding absolute truth. If we are all uniquely made in God's image and if God wants us to express our own uniquity, then we need to embrace the differences of others.
The third freedom in Roosevelt's speech is Freedom of want. This is a pretty self-explanitory Biblical reference since Christianity, as I recently learned and got to test myself on in Christian Thought class, strongly values simplicity and selflessness.
The fourth freedom is freedom from fear. I think that this can be related to this idea of a peaceful eternity with God, because it represents all people from all nations finally coming together instead of producing damage and war through fear of imperialism or poverty.
Roosevelt states,
"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 quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society."
Along with this discription about how society, culture and politics keeps going through different shifts and phases, I can also relate this to shifts in Christianity. We are actually going through quite a contreversial shift at this very moment. As the generation shifts from "x" to "y", we see a shift from Modernism to Post-Modernism. Post-Modernism is very acceptant of others, and also very open minded. Post-Modernism values expression and truth, challenging one's beliefs, and encouraging people to chose a religion that suits them best. I think that The Four Freedoms holds a lot of post-modern Christian values, but then again also Modern values since modenism values the self. I love this speech because it not only condones the Modernistic value of the self, but the Post-modernistic value of community; a worldly community.
I see what John is saying when he says that we are supposed to fight for the weak, because it is the idea of selflessness and service to God's people that the Bible condones. At the same time, I agree with Brittani's disagreement toward John's statement because I think that instead of using the word "fight", we should use the words suchas "help" because the more negativity is generated, the more it spreads.
The peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country -- when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."
Carl Shurz
Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism
Dorothy Thompson
As I read The Four Freedoms speech it is obvious that God is a big influence in this period of war. Not only God, but more specifically Jesus. As you look at the freedoms these are all things we would love to have. The first freedom is freedom of speech and expression. The second freedom is the freedom to worship God in your own way. The third freedom is to be freef rom want and establish healthy economic relations with other countries. The last freedom is simply the reducing of armaments so that their can be a low chance of agression so that peace can be achieved. These are all freedoms that Jesus died for us to have. This is like a puzzle Jesus is the missing piece that provides the freedoms that we can enjoy today. The part that really sparked my attention is that he wanted these freedoms for everyone and not just the US. This says alot about his character. This is what Jesus strived for the peace and equality of everyone and thats all he strived for with his life on earth. Especially in this period til now the US has been blessed not to have another country take over and tell them how they should think or what they should do. God has made us a big enough threat that we may get attacked sometimes, but the people who attack us soon fall at our knees and leave us alone because of the power we possess. To go on one of the lines in the speech Roosevelt says, "and it's faith in freedom under the guidance of God". This line screams out christian thought. Roosevelt is saying that without our faith and without God's guidance we are just a defenseless little pawn in a chess game that will soon get destroyed. Since we have God's protection that will not happen to us. I believe that just the mention of the name God triggers that their is spirituality in Roosevelts life and the life of the american people. It is obvious nowadays because on our coins it says in God we trust.
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1
In Isaiah it talks about the Lord lifting up the downtrodden and freeing the captives and binding the broken hearted. This verse gives you as sense that if our freedoms that God granted us are threatened that God will step in and fight for our freedoms because He loves us. I believe it depends on the chrisitan whether the should agree or not with Roosevelt. I agree with him in the religuous aspect and in what he is saying in general because he is giving the public a reason for why we are fighting and that is to maintain out God given freedoms.
I disagree with Amelia in her statement that freedom three does not correlate with the bible. I say this because I believe freedom three is saying that their will not be a need for status because everyone will be treated equally in the fact that their want be fighting over money because a standard will be established that tells what we need to do in order to accomplish this standard.
Roosevelt's four freedoms reflect those rights given to all american citizens. Since America was a strongly Christian country when the constitution was first written, it makes sense that these rights reflect Christian traditional values. Christianity accepts gentiles who may worship God with their own twist on the religion. With God Christians can feel comfortable to say or express what is in their hearts. Christians are promised happiness under the protection of God, just like Roosevelt calls for peace, freedom from fear, and freedom from want for all nations. Of course a Christian would agree with these claims, they are fair and optimistic at the same time. How wouldn't wish to accept sich rights. His qoute, " those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety", Roosevelt scorns those who satisfy the Nazi's.
I agree with what Greg said, the country is based on Christian principles, which Roosevelt reflect in his speech
In Roosevelt's speech of "The Four Freedoms" he makes some biblical connections and relates his points to God. In many ways Roosevelts views and opinoins can be concidered christian and repeatly in his speech he talks of trying to find the truth in situations and to be truthful himself. His devotion was to the people and to make sure that their saftey was first. "We Americans are vitally caoncerned in your defense of freedom." In his speech americans are reminded that he was a man of the people for the people. He believed in freedom of speech and freedom to be an individual which included freedom of religon. Roosvelt was a man who wanted equality for all men wheather they were young or old. He tells us that we have renewed our faith and have strengthened our defense, which is what americans shoud be like.
Post a Comment
<< Home