Freedom

It was Franklin D Roosevelt who first spoke about ‘four freedoms’ in his State of the Union address in 1941.  These were freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.  These values ultimately became enshrined in the establishment of the United Nations.  In other words, we can say what we like, worship who or what we like, however we like, and eat what we like without a care in the world.  Is freedom really as simple as that?  I don’t think so; the EU, for example, has four other freedoms that it holds dear: the free movement of goods, capital, services and people.

So what is freedom all about?  In 1989, just days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, at a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in that city, the chorus changed the words of the Ode to Joy from Freude (joy) to Freiheit (freedom) in celebration of the freedom that East Berliners suddenly had from an oppressive Communist regime.  The people of Aleppo would welcome freedom right now from the constant bombing and destruction all around them.  Meanwhile, after months of dangerous travel, lots of refugees have found freedom of a kind in Europe, a freedom to begin a new life away from the dangers of their homelands.

Jesus said, “...the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31).  Those who heard Him protested that they were already free, inasmuch as they were no one’s slaves.  The freedom He referred to was a far greater one than they could imagine, a freedom offered by the truth He taught, one that we can know through His death and Resurrection, a freedom from all the trappings of this world.  St Paul also compared the trials and tribulations of life in this world to the glorious freedom of the world to come (Rom. 8:18-25). 

Paul taught the Corinthians about freedom’s responsibilities in the context of what other people see and think about its use (I Cor. 10:23-33), and both Peter and Paul cautioned against wrong ways to use freedom: as a cover-up for evil (I Peter 2:16) and in order to indulge the flesh (Gal. 5:13).

FDR’s list falls into two pairs.  In the same vein as the above examples, he lists two freedoms from things.  It is our right to be free from want and fear, but our exercise of these rights depends on other people recognising them too, and allowing them to us.  The other two are freedoms to do things.  While the ‘freedoms from something’ are dependent on other people,  the ‘freedoms to do’ carry with them responsibilities to other people.  Our freedom to do things – speak and worship are only two examples – should only be exercised in a way that doesn’t deny some freedom to other people.

Many years ago I lived in a terraced house with a ‘flying freehold’.  There was a passage between my house and the one next door, which gave access to our back doors.  I owned the rear half of the passage, over which was part of my bedroom, and my neighbour owned the front half, over which was part of his house.  According to the deeds, each of us had rights to use the passage under the other’s house.  In the original Victorian ‘legalese’, we had the right to ‘pass and re-pass with bicycles and handcarts’.  Though we had the right, if either of us were to spend the whole night passing and re-passing with a noisy handcart, especially one with metal tyres or a wobbly wheel, I think the other would have had strong words to say about it in the morning!  Our freedom of movement had to be exercised with consideration for the other’s right of freedom from aggression.

Let me end with a final thought about truth.  Suppose you are asked to give an explanation for something and, to gain a supposed advantage, you make up an impressive but fictitious story.  Next time, you will have to remember what it was you said; if you are asked further questions, you have to add another layer to what you concocted before.  Soon, there is so much to remember you won’t manage it and you’ll give yourself away, having been imprisoned by your own fabrication.  How much better to have told the truth from the very beginning.  It may not have been the way Jesus meant those words, but the truth can set you free from a self-made prison!