The opening of the 21st Century and 3rd millennium of the Christian calendar, witnessed an attempt to over throw the principles that are the foundation of the “American dream.” Both here and abroad the rights of mankind and ideal of government based on the principles of basic human rights have been and are being challenged by dogmatic, religious fundamentalism of all stripes.
America was not born with the principles of human rights in place. America was born with a set of flawed ideal but with a faith in humanity’s potential to learn through correcting its failings. America has been and is a great experiment. It is an experiment in human relations based on a simple idea of the value of the individual. The purpose of government is foster, protect and mediate individual interests to form an environment that enables everyone the opportunity to realize his or her potential.
These principles are set forth as a goal in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776:
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. …” http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
And later the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States adopted on September 17, 1787, affirmed them when it states.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
http:// www.usconstitution.net/const.html
More significant, the enlightened leadership that formed the United Nations after World War II enshrined these ideals in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights which were adopted by the General Assembly, 172 years later, on 10 December 1948. (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html).
Unfortunately, we have seen the raise of forces of fundamentalism in religions and ideologies that desire to overturn these rights. These rights have been achieved through a long struggle by people of conviction. Millions have fought, suffered and died to build a world that respects the rights of every human being. The time has come for everyone who values these principles of human rights to take a stand and oppose those with narrow sectarian agendas. The question is: “How can this be done without one becoming the enemy itself?”
Three hundred and twelve years earlier in 1636, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (the official name of “Little Rhody” was established with these principles in mind. Over the centuries, since 1636, when Roger Williams was forced to flee from the Massachusetts Bay Colony or face religious persecution, Rhode Island has been a haven for those who seek freedom of worship based on the principle of soul liberty. Williams recognized that the only way to achieve freedom of worship was to establish a government that was based on the separation of the spiritual world from the political world. He recognized the inherent tension between the sectarian and secular life. He set forth his ideas in his book: The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for the Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference Between Truth and Peace published in London in 1644. http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/31-wil.html
These principles were put into words and given authority when England's King Charles I issued Rhode Island's colonial charter to Roger Williams in 1663 and which states that the colony is established
"To hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in religious concernments."
Soul Liberty is the founding principle that establishes the Rhode Island Legacy. That legacy has played a prominent part of both Rhode Island’s and later the American experience. At the core of the concept of soul liberty is the ideal of separation of church and state, religion from politics. A simple concept that has been the basis of the longest running “lively experiment,” -- Rhode Island.
This Blog is dedicated to the discussion and evaluation of how this “living experiment' has evolved. It will explore the inherent conflicts between human ideals and human performance as seen through the lens of Rhode Island’s Legacy.
You, dear reader, are invited to join the discussion. Help to frame the questions. Help provide the answers.
And let us have a LIVELY EXPERIMENT.
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