• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. protests>

Freedom is part of our civic religion

F. Willis Johnson
https://twitter.com/fwillisjohnson?lang=en
May 18, 2021
Boston Tea Party

The American fight against oppression began with the Boston Tea Party and it continues today, writes Johnson.

www.goodfreephotos.com
Johnson is a United Methodist pastor, the author of "Holding Up Your Corner: Talking About Race in Your Community" (Abingdon Press, 2017) and vice president of the Bridge Alliance, which houses The Fulcrum.

Some months ago, I accepted the challenge posed by Eric Liu to wrestle with the question: "What does it mean to be an engaged American in today's divided political landscape, and how do we restore hope in our country?" Through Liu's Citizen University Civic Seminary I was introduced to civic sermons. These thoughtful proclamations weave together historical texts, current events, and reflections of democracy, patriotism, citizenship and love. This is one in a series of reflections on the evolving of the nation's "civic religion."

For many, who are other-ed, it is difficult to see ourselves in this nation's founding figures like Franklin, Jay, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison and Washington. We, who are other-ed, must strain to discern our voice and our respective stories in this nation's founding documents. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights speak of inalienable rights, shared socio-ethical principles and promise of liberation entitled to us all — such is "freedom." The suppression of one's inalienable nature or suspension of constitutional rights forfeits our humanity and is in effect "unfreedom."

Given our nation's current socio-political climate, the time invites each of us to reimagine our responsibility to freedom as choice, cause and covenant … because "it's our duty."

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Freedom is a choice that emanates from within.

Samuel Adams in 1776 affirmed, "Our unalterable resolution should be to be free."

Freedom is a condition in which people have the opportunity to speak, act and pursue happiness without unnecessary external restrictions. It means the possibility of contrary choices. Choices like to love or hate … vote or abstain ... agree or disagree vehemently. Freedoms such as to assemble or associate are not unconditional, rather they are conditioned by individual choice.

C. Wright Mills provides further elaboration: "Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them — and then, the opportunity to choose."

Our choices speak to our earnest commitments. They are in response and obedience to deepest values, greatest expectations and pressing demands revealing our individual and collective character. I concur with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said, "Fight for things you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

Freedom is a cause that gives rise to action — acts of commitment, defense and advocacy. While the gift of freedom is inalienable, the want of freedom is instinctive. Freedom requires each of us to do something … and when injustices exist that could mean fighting. We should fight not merely to be contentious or oppositional, but rather as an imperative to take part; to engage; and struggle with and for. Freedom oftentimes is not to be free, but it's what this country is about.

Of course freedom is at the forefront of the history of our country. The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred in December 1773 at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, where frustrated and angry American colonists felt justified in opposing their experienced oppression. Their protest and looting is revered as the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It gave rise to a greater cause of resistance against the threat of tyranny and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence.

And today the fight for freedom continues. Every injustice has awakened more people from their dream of "it's all okay." Each new death at the hand of system enforcers violates our social contract. These unjust fatalities incite a distinctly different visceral reaction. For some people, it was Trayvon Martin. For others Eric Garner or Sandra Bland. Or Charlottesville. Or Ahmaud Arbery. Or George Floyd. Or Bernie Taylor.

For me and countless others, it was Michael Brown. The streets of Ferguson, not unlike Boston, became our civic laboratory, our front lines and sanctuaries in the fight for freedom. Freedom as a cause lit up the minds and hands of founding figures, chattel slaves, abolitionists, suffragists, the civil rights and Black Power resistance fighters and activists, refugees, Dreamers and Black Lives Matter champions.

Current events remind us that democracy is fragile … a volatile experiment. Also, this electoral and legislative climate reveals a democratic hallmark — the vote — is neither fully free or accessible to all. Expressions of political protest signal that many persons and communities are continually disregarded, dehumanized and damned by systems and practices that espouse to protect and to perpetuate liberty; yet do the opposite. Civil rights leader Howard Thurman once directed: "Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." And that statement deserves to be followed by another Thurman quote. "Often, to be free means the ability to deal with realities of one's own situation so as not to be overcome by them." Freedom is a cause worth fighting for!

Freedom is a covenant, a binding promise of far-reaching importance to relations between individuals, groups and nations. It has social, legal, religious and other aspects. Freedom is a divine imperative and cornerstone of our social contract that draws each of us into reflection, service, and account with and for one another. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "We ought to access our own bias, partisan politics, systemic participation and privileged patronage that we often note in others." In other words, "Every issue that threatens freedom is not our fault, but they remain our fight!"

Freedom is a covenant that invites collective embodiment and agreement requiring mutual sacrifice. An understanding that it's each of our duties. "It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains."

From Your Site Articles
  • Playing the long game for a civically engaged democracy - The ... ›
  • The values that unite Americans - The Fulcrum ›
  • Amanda Gorman is a civic futurist - The Fulcrum ›
  • Candidates and officials need to embrace a civil religion - The Fulcrum ›
  • Patriotism, freedom: The most misused terms in U.S. politics - The Fulcrum ›
  • Take our Constitution Day quiz - The Fulcrum ›
  • The United States needs a new social contract - The Fulcrum ›
  • Happy 230th birthday, Bill of Rights - The Fulcrum ›
  • Podcast: when religion and Democracy collide - The Fulcrum ›
  • Religious freedom matters but so does public health - The Fulcrum ›
  • Podcast: what can Black History Month teach us about the legacy & future of civil rights? - The Fulcrum ›
  • Collage: The promise of Black History Month - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • American civil religion - Wikipedia ›
  • A Sermon in America's Civic Religion - The Atlantic ›
  • Can America's 'Civil Religion' Still Unite The Country? : NPR ›
protests

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Manhattan grand jury votes to indict Donald Trump, showing he, like all other presidents, is not an imperial king

Shannon Bow O'Brien
3h

Your Take: The federal investigation of former President Trump

Our Staff
8h

I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground

Ryan Bernsten
9h

COVID created an expanded social safety net; activists are now quietly working to bring it back

Davis Giangiulio
30 March

Banking, democracy & trust

Lawrence Goldstone
30 March

SVB’s newfangled failure fits a century-old pattern of bank runs, with a social media twist

Rodney Ramcharan
30 March
Videos

Video: What is it like to be Black in America? A first conversation about race starts here

Our Staff

Video: Can bipartisanship survive the rise of the independent voter?

Our Staff

Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Our Staff

Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Our Staff

Video: We asked conservatives at CPAC what woke means

Our Staff

Video: DeSantis, 18 states to push back against Biden ESG agenda

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: How women are showing up for justice & democracy

Our Staff
30 March

Podcast: Harnessing the power of juries

Our Staff
28 March

Podcast: Partial truths & corporate fables

Debilyn Molineaux
David Riordan
27 March

Podcast: Risky business: More bank collapses ahead?

Our Staff
27 March
Recommended
Manhattan grand jury votes to indict Donald Trump, showing he, like all other presidents, is not an imperial king

Manhattan grand jury votes to indict Donald Trump, showing he, like all other presidents, is not an imperial king

Threats to democracy
Your Take: The federal investigation of former President Trump

Your Take: The federal investigation of former President Trump

Your Take
I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground

I traveled to all 50 states to find solutions to America’s political division: Here’s what I learned on the ground

Big Picture
Video: What is it like to be Black in America? A first conversation about race starts here

Video: What is it like to be Black in America? A first conversation about race starts here

COVID created an expanded social safety net; activists are now quietly working to bring it back

COVID created an expanded social safety net; activists are now quietly working to bring it back

Government
Banking, democracy & trust

Banking, democracy & trust

Threats to democracy