There’s a lot of good sense in that piece, but there is one point I would take issue with. You quote W as saying “The desire for freedom resides in every human heart”, and then disagree with him. I think he’s right. Human nature does include a desire for freedom. People have other desires, too, and sometimes those come out on top, and more often if they are from cultures that don’t value freedom so much as other things.
But we are made in God’s image. As Dorothy Sayers said, an important part of that image is that we are creators, too, just as He is a Creator. And you cannot create without freedom, at least freedom of the mind.
Your point is well taken, Nigel. I think it all depends on how you define “freedom.” Everyone wants freedom for himself, his friends, and his family. General freedom, including that of one’s personal enemies and those one looks down on, is not a universal value. I’m told Gandhi’s first hunger strike was undertaken to protest a law that would have increased the civil rights of the Untouchable caste.
There’s a lot of good sense in that piece, but there is one point I would take issue with. You quote W as saying “The desire for freedom resides in every human heart”, and then disagree with him. I think he’s right. Human nature does include a desire for freedom. People have other desires, too, and sometimes those come out on top, and more often if they are from cultures that don’t value freedom so much as other things.
But we are made in God’s image. As Dorothy Sayers said, an important part of that image is that we are creators, too, just as He is a Creator. And you cannot create without freedom, at least freedom of the mind.
Your point is well taken, Nigel. I think it all depends on how you define “freedom.” Everyone wants freedom for himself, his friends, and his family. General freedom, including that of one’s personal enemies and those one looks down on, is not a universal value. I’m told Gandhi’s first hunger strike was undertaken to protest a law that would have increased the civil rights of the Untouchable caste.