The Fifth Freedom

Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship,
Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear.

   On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his annual State of the Union message listed the Four Freedoms essential to people worldwide. It is now time to add a fifth: Freedom from Persecution.
   Many of the people who came to America in its early years did so to escape religious persecution. The Puritans came to Massachusetts, Catholics to Maryland and Quakers to Pennsylvania, among others.
   They did this not only in their search for freedom, but to escape an official ban on any of their members holding office, attending major universities or practicing medicine, among other professions. In fact, in England in the 18th Century, only members of the Established Church of England (Episcopal) were eligible to sit in Parliament or to attend either of the only two universities that trained physicians.
   Therefore, the diverse members of the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia decided, "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the United States." This remains in place in Article VI of the Constitution, adopted in 1789.
   In addition, the First Amendment stipulates that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
   Periodically in America, there are examples of bigotry and persecution against newcomers and minority groups who don't meet some standard that a few seek to impose on the many, and they try to shut the Golden Door mentioned on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
   "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," it says. But in the 19th Century, the call was, "Except no Irish." In the 1930s, the call was, "Except no Jews," and refugees from Nazi Germany were turned away. Currently, the call is, "Except no Muslims."

   Who's next?

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me."

--Martin Niemoller