Freedom and liberation

The words "free" and "freedom" are widely used, not only in patriotic songs and speeches, but in ordinary discourse. However, we seldom think of the origin and real meaning of freedom. In Old English the word "free" meant "dear" or "loved" as it applied to the non-slave and non-animal members of a household. It came from the word freon - to love. The word "friend" comes from the same root.

There is in this concept of freedom the idea of rights belonging to human beings because they are not considered as tools. Anyone whom we genuinely love or respect must be free to realize selfhood or to pursue her or his potentiality to the fullest. Love is the affirmation rather than the possession of another.

Freedom really means belonging to the beloved community. In ancient Greece freedom was associated with citizenship in the community or city-state. Slaves and barbarians were human beings but not held in the same esteem as citizens. In the United States the lack of freedom which minority groups experience, in spite of their citizenship, is derived from the fact that many whites do not think of African Americans or Native Americans or Latin Americans or Asian Americans as actual or potential friends. They are to all practical purposes considered outside the community.

Those whites or people in other groups who think in terms of exclusivity need to be liberated in order to be genuinely free from prejudice and, therefore, not confined to a limited circle of friends.

"Liberation" means being set free from whatever it is that enslaves, confines, threatens, or oppresses us. The purpose of liberation is to include everyone in the beloved community, so that there are no slaves or second-class citizens. In the case of minorities, this does not mean integration into a white world and its values, but into a community where black values and experience, as well as those of other groups, play an important role.

Liberation is not a new concept. It is the central theme of Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The most important event in Jewish history was their liberation from slavery in Egypt. It is celebrated thousands of years later and to this day in the Passover. It is a theme repeated throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. One illustration is the first labor legislation: "Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath ... in it you shall do no work," and that included everyone, including aliens, ox, ass, cattle. It was not initially a ceremonial occasion but a day of liberation. Subsequently, there were provisions for liberation of servants, liberation from debt and from poverty.

In the Christian Scriptures Jesus is known as the redeemer, the one who sets persons free from whatever it is that harms or oppresses them. One of his great acts of liberation was to set people free from theocracy or religious legalism: "Man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man."

He refused to identify the Kingdom of God with any state or law, and rejected the idea of religion as dominance or control by defining his own mission as one of servanthood.

He emphasized the supreme importance of each person, however low in the social scale, and, in effect, provided the basis for equality.

The goal of liberation today is not only evident in freedom and free persons, but in the concept of equality for all persons.

Women, for example, must be treated as equal to men. They must be as fully in control of their own bodies as are men. They are not equal or free if any government or law tells them that when they engage in sexual intercourse, they are not as free as men; instead, that intercourse is a contract for pregnancy and once pregnant they are compelled to remain pregnant without regard to their health, their education or their family responsibilities. In other words, women do not exist to fulfill church doctrines or church law. Religion, as well as law, must exist for the liberation of women from whatever it is that enslaves them or curbs their freedom.

Copyright The Human Quest Jul/Aug 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved