In a White House ceremony celebrating this stamp, President Harry Truman declared, “The greatest sermon that ever was preached is right here on this stamp.” It refers to an incident in which two ministers, a priest and rabbi gave up their life preservers as the U.S. Dorchester sank after being hit by a German torpedo in 1942. The story of their heroism hit a nerve in part because it fit a new message from the U.S. government – that one…
Eleven months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt became convinced that Europe would be overrun if we didn’t help Britain right away. Many Americans opposed getting involved in the European war, so to mobilize support for aiding Britain, Roosevelt explained that the efforts were needed to preserve four essential freedoms. Rather than reciting the Bill of Rights, Roosevelt came up with his own list: freedom of speech and expression; freedom from want; freedom from fear—and the “freedom of every…
World War II was a turning point in the history of religious liberty. It was during this period that politicians started talking less about the importance of religion and more about the importance of religious freedom. The key: it provided a stark contrast with the Nazis and later the Communists. Roosevelt listed religious liberty as one of the Four Freedoms. Around this same time, interfaith groups of clergy – a rabbi, a minister and a priest – fanned out across…