Justice Sunday III: Hijacking the Liberty Bell
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Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 03:12:03 AM EST
The Liberty Bell is hoisted on a crane for a nationwide tour in 1915. Image hosted by Photobucket.com.
Dominionist leaders who organized "Justice Sunday III" in Philadelphia on January 8, 2006 -- the eve of confirmation hearings on Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr.'s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court -- revealed an ignorance of the Bible, and a disrespect for American history, by attempting to hijack the Liberty Bell as the symbol for their partisan political rally. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, which organized and cosponsored the event in the state where Alito sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, made clear that the event's tagline, "Proclaiming Liberty Throughout the Land," is based on a quote from Leviticus 25:10. Perkins pointed out that part of this Old Testament verse appears on the Liberty Bell. And another featured speaker, Dr. Alveda C. King, cited the same verse in support of "the expression of religious freedom." She added, "The lives of all people, including the lives of the unborn, are caught up in the battle for religious freedom with us." As she spoke, an additional citation of Leviticus 25:10 crawled across the screen, echoing that the passage is "inscribed [sic] on the Liberty Bell."

However, this use of Leviticus does not ring true. In fact, the Old Testament text, which is cast in raised letters (not inscribed) on the Liberty Bell does not speak of religious liberty, nor does it endorse the imposition of one's private religious beliefs on a democratic society. Rather, Leviticus 25 presents a code of conduct that prohibits followers of God from depleting natural resources and oppressing the poor.

So this passage is not speaking of the unrestrained "freedom" to impose one's narrow biblical interpretation on other citizens, but of a duty to preserve the land as a natural resource, and of freedom from economic oppression by fellow people of faith. The "liberty" that is being proclaimed in Leviticus 25:10 refers to a Year of Jubilee, a period of rest for the land and release for the people who live on it, including the emancipation of Israelites who were bonded servants. During this year, the land was to lie fallow, and Israelites were to release each other from unpayable debts, so that they could all return to their ancestral lands.

A native Israelite, if sold into bondage due to an inability to pay off a debt, was to serve only six years, and to be released on the seventh year (or sabbatical year) by cancellation of debt. (See Deuteronomy 15:1-2) The Year of Jubilee was to be observed every 50 years, on the year following each seventh sabbatical year (1 sabbatical year every 7 years x 7 sabbatical years = 49 years; and 49 years +1 year = 1 Year of Jubilee every 50 years.)

"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.
Of course, no one wants to sandblast the Leviticus text from the Liberty Bell. To the contrary, it is Perkins who would efface the bell's history. A reclamation of the bell's history must include the fact that it was created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Penn's Charter, which rejects theocracy. -- JH



Display:
If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
...
It's the bell of freedom


If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)
-- words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger


by jhutson on Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 03:31:13 AM EST

From a theological perspective, it would be more consistent to cite Leviticus 25:10 to question Judge Alito's commitment to preserving the environment and affirming the rights of the working poor and injury victims to hold wealthy and irresponsible corporations accountable. Proclaiming liberty in this biblical text is not about religious freedom; it's about treating the land -- and each other -- with respect. It's about the duty that people of faith have to fight economic oppression and the depletion of our natural resources. That's a true "Liberty Bell theology."

by jhutson on Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 04:16:41 AM EST

Jonathan, you capture well how the Christian Right both misreads American history and the Bible to advance their narrow agenda.

by Carlos on Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 11:04:44 AM EST

Thank you for pointing out both the historical revisionism practiced by the dominionists and also another common trait of their movement--"scripture twisting", the misquoting or misuse of scripture outside of context.

(Dominionist churches, especially the pente dominionist groups (which often cross the line to being outright spiritually abusive groups, and whose "bad habits" even more "mainstream" dominionist groups like the Southern Baptists are starting to acquire) are downright infamous for the use of scripture-twisting, especially to stifle dissent or criticism.  This has explicitly extended to criticism of dominionism or promotion of dominionist movements in these churches.)

by dogemperor on Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 12:43:49 PM EST


Thought it would be worth displaying the complete section and Thomas Jefferson on Religious Freedom

FIRST
BECAUSE no People can be truly happy, though under the greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if abridged of the Freedom of their Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship: And Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of Lights and Spirits; and the Author as well as Object of all divine Knowledge, Faith and Worship, who only doth enlighten the Minds, and persuade and convince the Understandings of people, I do hereby grant and declare, That no Person or Persons, inhabiting in this Province or Territories, who shall confess and acknowledge One almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World; and profess him or themselves obliged 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.

AND that all Persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, shall be capable (notwithstanding their other Persuasions and Practices in Point of Conscience and Religion) to serve this Government in any Capacity, [bolding mine] both legislatively and executively, he or they solemnly promising, when lawfully required, Allegiance to the King as Sovereign, and Fidelity to the Proprietary and Governor, and taking the Attests as now established by the Law made at New-Castle, in the Year One Thousand and Seven Hundred, entitled, An Act directing the Attests of several Officers and Ministers, as now amended and confirmed this present Assembly.

Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the words of "The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom":


 "...our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry [the sciences, my words]...and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them".



by Vaclav on Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 05:03:27 PM EST

It is a great error to imagine that either

  1. the majorioty of Christo-Republicans know their Bible

  2. that the text of said, in general, favors their positions.


by JoshNarins on Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 06:43:29 PM EST


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