Throughout his life, St. Thomas More was a constant advocate for his belief in Catholic doctrine; Consequently, he was rather steadfast in his defense of religious freedom in the face of tyranny and in light of worldly opposition. Having said this, this brief summary will discuss the significance of More's belief in religious freedom, as highlighted in his book Utopia. Furthermore, once I have effectively established his moral position, I will turn to focus on how these teachings might correspond with American society today.
To begin then, let us first consider how Thomas More viewed the topic of religious freedom in his book Utopia. Thus, to mention his widespread beliefs, as posed in his Utopia, More considers an ideal society in describing the Utopian's beliefs concerning religious freedom: "At the first constitution of their government, Utopus, having understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants had been engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which they were so divided amongst themselves, that he found it an easy thing to conquer them, since, instead of uniting their forces against him, every different party in religion fought by themselves. After he had subdued them, he made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might endeavor to draw others to it by the force of argument and by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against those of other opinions."[1] Now, this statement is of course rather extensive; However, from it, we can conclude some very important things about Thomas More's beliefs concerning religious freedom. Firstly, he highlights that in dividing people in heated opposition to one another, according to intolerance of opposing religion, the people of society are not only significantly more unhappy individually, but are altogether weaker as a whole. Additionally, in an ideal society, religious freedom should surpass mere personal practice, but should allow for friendly discussion amongst religions on the relevancy of their respective beliefs.
Now, having established these rather common themes in respect to the beliefs of St. Thomas More, we are left to question the state of the American people of the modern world, in comparison to those people highlighted in More's ideal society. Additionally, I find it important to highlight that I can speak only on a subjective basis from this point forward; I have no factual data by which I might consider the extent of our current divide. This being said, one could argue that religion is frowned upon to some extent in modern America. Although diversity in private practice in relatively encouraged, we find ourselves at a point in history where many expect religion to be limited to one's private devotion alone. In an article posted by the New York Times titled: Opinion: We Are Taking Religious Freedom Too Far, the Times briefly discusses this balance of private practice and the right to share one's beliefs. Now, although the article in many ways highlights the importance of preventing discrimination against others by imposing one's beliefs on another, I believe the article rides dangerously close to suggesting that the sharing of one's beliefs should be disavowed in the public setting. In light of the work of Thomas More, as is posed above, I encourage anyone who is interested in reading the article for themselves should do so. I will attach it in a link below.
[1] More, Thomas, Utopia, (Originally published in 1516), Apple Store Online Version, 152
Opinion | We Are Taking Religious Freedom Too Far - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment