By Mary Morrell | Correspondent
During a recent visit to the Aquinas Institute, Princeton, to view an enlightening exhibit, The Printed Word: Faith Aspirations of a Young Nation, I was particularly interested in a display of Jewish religious texts and artifacts. Incorporated into the display’s description were the words from President George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I. The letter was a response to a congratulatory letter penned by Moses Seixas, a prominent leader of the Touro Synagogue of Newport who thanked the new president and applauded the young nation as “a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance – but generously affording to All liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental Machine.”
Washington’s response, 226 years ago, seemed to step out of history and speak again to a 21st century nation, founded on the fundamental principles of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, whose people still include those fleeing from religious or political persecution, seeking safety, freedom of worship and economic opportunity: “The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
“It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
“…May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
And yet, here we are in 2016, afraid not only of terror from outsiders, but from a seething cauldron of bigotry, racism, prejudice and persecution, that threatens to spill over and make our fellow Americans our greatest fear.
And I have to wonder, will our country ever be a place where “everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree” – a phrase from the Old Testament that Washington references some 50 times in various correspondence during his lifetime. Obviously, it was a goal he valued for the new nation that he was to govern. Is it a goal we continue to value, and one we are willing to work toward, as well?
When it comes to being the “good citizens” to whom President Washington refers, it is not enough to be armchair activists. We need be informed and educated in our history and the workings of American government. We need to put our hands and feet to work, as well as our mouths.
We need to be reflective. Will the United States of America continue to be a beacon of hope to the oppressed, and to its own citizens? Will the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty be erased, figuratively or literally or both? What needs to be done to ensure that the values of our founding fathers and colonists – who were all immigrants – continue to shape who we are as a country?
For people of faith we need to be prayerful, and vigilant against the cancer of hatred that is erupting across the nation; a cancer that will be our downfall.
Another of our presidents, President Lincoln, warned us, but we are not heeding his wisdom: “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.”
Morrell is a freelance writer, editor, syndicated columnist, blogger and religion consultant at Wellspring Communications and the former managing editor of The Monitor. She can be reached at mary.wellspring@ yahoo.com or Twitter @mreginam6.