The thoughtful observer, as he looks out upon the political and religious world today, becomes deeply conscious of the fact that civil and religious liberty are in peril. There are decadent influences at work in every land that are permeating the social fabric and threatening to overthrow democratic forms of government and restore the absolutism of past centuries.
Our age, which in material development is the greatest in the history of the world, has been built upon the democratic principles of freedom and equality. But a thirst for power is menacing our civilization. Democracy and liberty are on trial today and are being betrayed in almost every land. The student of current history will recognize the fact that absolute autocracy is now established in over half of Europe and that it is threatening the older established democracies in both the Old World and the New.
If freeborn people are to defend themselves against the insolent and turbulent majorities who would establish themselves in power under some spectacular champion, then liberty must have a new birth, and lovers of freedom must recognize the danger and become propagandists for liberty, even as the liberals of a century or two ago fought the battle for freedom in their day.
Few of us realize the significance of the tremendous new forces that are stirring the world today. The foundations of the past are crumbling. New idealistic forms of social and political life are threatening to overthrow the present order, and if they succeed, our civil and religious liberties will be but a memory. These powerful influences are definitely opposed to liberty, democracy, and Christianity under whatever name they may be advocated. The new social idealism is especially appealing to the youth, and it is very definitely forming the outlook, molding the minds, and determining the attitude of the present generation more completely than all other influences combined. But when it succeeds, liberty will be forgotten and tyranny will hold sway.
Democracy and freedom are twin brothers, and they stand or fall together. Of all forms of government, democracy is that which requires in a people the highest moral and intellectual standards. Our present free institutions grew out of the great reformatory movements of the sixteenth century which resulted in a spiritual uplift of the masses and a general revival of learning. The World War, however, brought about a great lowering of the moral and intellectual standards, which is an explanation of the dictatorships that have followed in its wake.
If, therefore, our liberties are to be preserved and democracy is to survive, there must be a moral uplift of the people and a return to higher ideals, and the exercise of individual willpower over debasing influences. If a dictatorship works better than a ministry or a parliament, as is often claimed, it is an acknowledgment of the intellectual laziness and moral decadence of our age.
Freedom Cost Centuries of Effort
It should be remembered that the freedom which is our cherished heritage today cost centuries of conflict. The oppressed masses struggled long and hard to gain from the privileged classes a degree of civil and religious liberty. Only in our generation have we at last attained to a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” founded upon the definite principle of “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” Autocracy made a determined stand, but the ideals of a state in which the power is exercised by all the people for the benefit of all finally triumphed. Every man was at last granted the right to achieve his own aspiration to a larger and fuller life. Out of this freedom there grew into maturity the world’s greatest era of intellectual proficiency, scientific advance, colonial development, and moral progress that mankind has ever seen. The feudal chains of slavery, serfdom, and special privilege were broken link-by-link, until religious, civil, and personal liberty became not a vague hope but a glorious reality in nearly every land.
These democratic ideals have often been assailed but have as often triumphed. Probably the greatest assault against democracy was the World War. But the Allies in the war finally rallied their forces and led them on to victory under the slogan “Make the world safe for democracy.” Under this banner victory was won, ancient autocratic empires were dismembered, and several republics were established in their place. One of the immediate fruits of the war was the rebirth of the great ideals of liberty. Even Russia, the most reactionary autocrat of prewar times, proclaimed complete religious liberty and personal freedom under the early Soviet rule. Suffrage was extended in nearly every country, not only to men, but to women, until more people were voting at the polls than ever before in human history.
Failure of Democratic Principles
Since the war, democracy has been on the decline. The enthusiasm with which the newly founded countries of Europe welcomed democratic forms of government was short-lived. The real spirit of liberty had not been inculcated into the hearts of the people. Even in the older democratic countries there has been a marked decline in respect for liberty, and a definite curtailment of freedom itself. Few there are today who have the ardent devotion to the principles of liberty that marked the liberals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The tyranny of the majority is beginning to be left, and men everywhere are less tolerant of the views and rights of minorities. People are as never before swayed in masses. This mass psychology often causes them to forget principles and cherished rights and impose by force upon all objectors the theories of an untried demagogue. . . .
Democratic ideals have lost their appeal to the man in the street, and everywhere men are flirting with self-styled liberators who promise relief from some real or imaginary abuse in order to ride into power. There is danger that people may in a moment of hysteria renounce their blood-bought freedom in favor of some unknown demagogue who will lead them into slavery.
Can Liberty Triumph?
Republican (Loyalist) poster from the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39, featuring both Communist and Anarchist colors and emblems.
The principles of liberty can never wholly triumph until men have victory over their evil passions and greed, and until the Spirit of the Founder of liberty dwells in their hearts. What the world needs today is the rebirth of the recognition of the equality of all men, and a renewed love for true liberty, the seeds of which the Lord has planted in every heart. These are the God-given heritage of every race.
Despotic forces are stirring the world today. They are sometimes spoken of as anti-Jewish, but they are in reality anti-Christian and are opposed to all civil and religious liberty. Liberty is not a special favor for special classes. It is our right by birth, given us of God when He created the soul of man to be free and answerable to no one but the Creator. When the blessings of liberty are granted to a favored class alone, there is no guaranty of liberty at all, for the favored class of today may be persecuted tomorrow. Only when we recognize 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” can we enjoy the blessings of true civil and religious freedom.
Civil government, we believe, has been divinely ordained to protect men in the enjoyment of these natural rights and to rule in civil things. In this realm it is entitled to the respectful obedience of all. But there are certain rights, such as freedom to worship God, free press, free speech, peaceable assembly, and the right of petition, which we hold no government may lawfully withdraw or curtail. These are inherent rights, which man, because he was created a free moral agent, with the power to choose his own destiny, must of necessity exercise.
If and when these rights are withdrawn, man of necessity must fight against such restraints because of his inborn love of liberty which God planted in his heart in the beginning.
It was upon these fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty that democracy was established. They are God-given, and as long as they stand, we may look for and expect the approbation and blessing of the merciful Father upon our nation, and the extension of peace and prosperity to all.
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