Religious Commitment and Freedom
Keywords:
Religious, Commitment, FreedomAbstract
The human soul IS ever thrilled by the prospects of freedom. When Rousseau wrote, in The Social Contract that "man is born free; and every- where he is in Chains," he became a champion of human freedom. A little over a century ago, communists came up with their version of the ideal of freedom, a freedom in the economic sphere. The Manifesto of the Communist Party declares: "here it becomes evident, that the bourgeosie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an over-riding law. It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within its slavery ... " "Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win."
References
J.J. Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses, (London: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1952), p.3. 2.
George Novack (ed.), Existentialism Versus Marxism, (New York Dell Pub. Co., 1966,) p.166
George Novack (ed.), opcit , p 166. 7. cf. A. Fagothey, Right and Reason (SI. Louis: C.V. Morby Co, 1963),p. 119
Cf. Ian T. Ramsey, Religious Language: An Empirical Placing of Theological Phrases (London: SCM Press, 1957), pp. 16-17.
Erikson, "Identity and the Life Cycle". p. 120.
Arthur J. D.l Jong , Making it to Adulthood; Emerging Self (The Westminster Press,
Philadelphia, 1972), p, 11.
Ruth N. Anslem (ed.) Freedom, lis Meaning (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1940),
pp. 671-72
