"Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan." Leviticus 25:10

An excerpt of Leviticus 25:10 ("Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X") appears on the Liberty Bell specifically because this particular verse points to a special celebration that occurs once every 50 years. And the Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned the bell in 1751 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges. Originally, the text from Leviticus was viewed as particularly apt because the passage speaks of a special 50th-year celebration, and because the bell commemorated the 50th anniversary of the charter, which was Pennsylvania's original constitution. Only later, in the 19th Century, did the bell become known as the Liberty Bell, when abolitionists quoted the passage as justification for the liberation of slaves.

Note this passage, "The Bell as Icon," from the official web site of the Liberty Bell:

The Bell achieved an iconic status when abolitionists adopted the Bell as a symbol for the movement. It was first used in this association as a frontispiece to an 1837 edition of Liberty, published by the New York Anti-Slavery Society. In retrospect, it is a remarkably apt metaphor for a country literally cracked and freedom fissured for its black inhabitants. William Lloyd Garrison's anti-slavery publication The Liberator reprinted a Boston abolitionist pamphlet containing a poem about the Bell, entitled, The Liberty Bell, which represents the first documented use of the name, "Liberty Bell."

Back in 1751, then, people didn't call the Liberty Bell by that name, and they certainly did not associate it with theocracy; if anything, they thought of it is the bell that marked the 50th anniversary of Penn's charter, which takes aim at the oppressive notion of theocracy.

Yet one of the Justice Sunday III speakers, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), appears to be confused about the contents of Penn's charter. Senator Santorum joined the roster of Justice Sunday III speakers at the Greater Exodus Baptist Church, and he cited Penn's charter, but does not appear to have read it or understood it.

"William Penn, more than any other American, planted the seed for religious freedom," Santorum noted. "But that freedom is at risk today because of the actions of liberal activist judges on the Supreme Court." The location and timing of the political rally in support of Judge Alito and against reproductive freedom suggested that by "liberal activist" judges, Senator Santorum meant those judges, whether appointed by Democrats or Republicans, who uphold the separation of church and state.

At a press conference prior to the event, Perkins had stated, "The demand by judges that a Christian check his or her faith at the door before entering the public realm is a tyrannical use of judicial power, and it must cease."

The attacks by Santorum and Perkins were straw man arguments, because the Constitution does not prohibit anyone from practicing his or her faith, and judges who uphold the constitutional separation of church and state are neither liberal activists nor tyrants. Rather, they prevent one sectarian religion from exclusively dominating the public square and imposing its narrow interpretation of the Bible on all others in a free and democratic society.

Nevertheless, Santorum, in his address, blamed judges for "destroying traditional morality, creating a new moral code and prohibiting any dissent." And he asserted,  "The only way to restore the republic that our founders envisioned is to elevate honorable jurists like Samuel Alito." Yet the government envisioned by William Penn did not tolerate theocracy, but instead insisted on an individual's freedom of conscience. And Santorum failed to note that, if confirmed, Alito would replace conservative Republican Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, a Reagan appointee who is no "liberal activist." He ended with a whine: "Are we going to stand by and watch the destruction of Penn's great experiment?"

For defenders of democracy who actually read and understand Penn's charter, there is much to love, including its forward-thinking ideas on religious freedom -- namely, liberty to exercise one's individual conscience, and the freedom not to have one sect's private religious beliefs imposed on all other people in a democratic society.

Penn stated that "no People can be truly happy... if abridged of the Freedom of their Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship." And he declared that no individual or group who believes in God, and who also professes an obligation "to live quietly under the Civil Government, shall be in any Case molested or prejudiced, in his or their Person or Estate, because of his or their conscientious Persuasion or Practice, nor be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious Worship, Place or Ministry, contrary to his or their Mind, or to do or super any other Act or Thing, contrary to their religious Persuasion."

Penn was wielding a two-edged sword, in the name of freedom of conscience, to protect both freedom of religion and freedom from religion. That is, Penn's charter safeguards the freedom from being "compelled" to conform to sectarian religious beliefs and practices that are "contrary to" one's own personal judgment. Penn knew the meaning of religious freedom in 1701, and the Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned a bell in 1751 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Penn's charter because his defense of individual liberty and freedom of conscience stood the test of time. Our American democracy, and our vision of justice, will stand the test of time, too, but only if we refuse to let dominionists hijack our Bibles, our history books, and our national symbols of liberty.

[editor's note, by Jonathan Hutson] After posting this piece, I saw that Tony Perkins had posted the following call to arms on the web site of his Family Research Council on December 5, 2005:

"Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land" is the theme of this Justice Sunday III event. Those stirring words are engraved [sic] on the base of our nation's Liberty Bell. We are appealing to pastors to become involved before militant atheists and their judicial activist allies sandblast those words from Leviticus from the bell itself.