But even white males who are in the majority have not been free to be themselves. They have been constrained by cultural definitions of masculinity. Unlike persons of color, women, and lesbians, gays, and trans-gender folks, their \u201clack of freedom\u201d has not diminished their lives.<\/p>\n
Freedom. This is a topic that resides in both geo-political and religious spheres. It would seem it shouldn\u2019t matter to which arena one refers \u2013 that freedom is freedom. But the devil is in the details, and the prepositions. There is \u201cfreedom from\u201d and \u201cfreedom to.\u201d When we speak out of the political sphere, my sense is that we most often refer to whatever it is \u201cfrom\u201d which we hope be free. When I was growing up this was \u201ccommunism\u201d for most folks. Nowadays I more often hear \u201cbig government\u201d or \u201cterrorism.\u201d \u201cFreedom from\u201d has to do with what is \u201cout there\u201d that impinges on my life.<\/p>\n
But \u201cfreedom to\u2026\u201d \u2013 that is about me, about my personal and unique desires or perceived needs. \u201cFreedom to\u201d can be thought of in terms of \u201crights\u201d \u2013 my \u201crights.\u201d And in contemporary Christian thinking the freedom God desires for humanity is often confused with this \u201cfreedom to\u201d or with \u201crights.\u201d When we look at the paradigmatic story of freedom in Biblical scriptures, the Exodus story, we quickly notice that it has nothing to do with individual rights. Moses\u2019 and the Israelites\u2019 delivery from slavery is a political story of \u201cfreedom from\u201d \u2013 in this case, oppression.<\/p>\n
Walking alongside individuals who are being oppressed, who have no voice, who are not \u201cfree to\u201d be themselves is where you and I will clearly see the confluence of \u201cfreedom from\u201d and \u201cfreedom to.\u201d These are persons whose hopes and aspirations are that they will be free from everything that forces them into corners of silence and diminishment and fear. But as society, it is We The People who are challenged to address the structures that limit and silence them. They are our sisters and brothers. It is We The People who alone can break down the walls that imprison them so that they can be both free \u201cfrom\u201d and free \u201cto.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simple concept of human decency may challenge some of us to do this work. Others of us may respond to the reasonableness of creating an equitable world for everyone. But those of us who are Christian must respond to Jesus\u2019 mandate to love our neighbors as ourselves and become creators of justice. It is only out of the fertile soil of justice that true freedom will ever grow. Because as Martin Luther King said, quoting Emma Lazarus, \u201cUntil we are all free, we are none of us free.\u201d<\/p>\n