FREEDOM
Mission Possible:
Educating the World
Educating the World
By D. Stephen Elliott
Probably not. In this country, most
individuals never give a second thought to their right to free
exercise of belief without interference from the government.
In the United States you can be assured that you will not
be beaten, tortured or even killed because of your beliefs.
About now, most people are probably nodding their heads
thinking, “I guess that’s true,” or even,
“Well, of course I can.” For the average American
who is born into freedom and exercises it daily, such questions
never come to mind. Well, maybe they should.
As Americans, we are permitted by law to
think freely — to believe in a higher being, or not; and
decide how and where and when to worship, or not. It is a right
guaranteed to us in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
It’s also a right that is misunderstood.
Religious freedom is an issue that Americans take for
granted because we have never been without it. It is all
too easy to forget that others are fighting (and dying) for the
right to practice their chosen beliefs in other parts of the
world.
Above, the Richmond skyline
including Shockhoe Slip where the site of the first statehouse
and location of the place where Thomas Jefferson’s
Statute for Religious Freedom was adopted. Lower left is
a parking lot where the old Capitol was.
Are you planning to go to your
house of worship this week? Or perhaps you do not
believe in a higher being, and would rather abstain from
religious practice. As you go about your day, do you ever
pause to think about the legal consequences of following your
conscience? Have you ever been concerned that your property may
be seized, your family may be punished, or that you may come to
harm because you want to practice a system of belief other than
the one prescribed by your government?
FREEDOM AT FIRST GLANCE
We are scheduled to break ground on the
First Freedom Center in 2005 for an opening in 2007. Its
30,000 square feet will feature interactive exhibits and an
auditorium that will host daily programming and periodic
symposia. The designers of the Museum of American Folk
Art in NYC, selected by World Architecture magazine as the
“best new building in the world” in 2001, have been
chosen to design the First Freedom Center, and the creators of
exhibits for the National Constitution Center, US Memorial
Holocaust Museum, the US Capitol Visitors Center and the
Newseum have been chosen to design the center’s exhibits.
For more information, please visit our website at
www.firstfreedom.org.
The author is the Executive
Director
of the Council for America's First Freedom.
of the Council for America's First Freedom.
