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 of the main things that distinguishes us from the Nazis and the Communists is religious freedom. The Postal Service issued this stamp – with its telling subhead, “interfaith in action” – in 1948. The World War II period decisively changed America’s conception of religious pluralism. It was probably the moment when the universe gave us the “Rabbi, a Priest and Minister Walk Into a Bar” joke, and when the phrase Judeo-Christian became popular (as it was also when Jews got invited to the table).