This weekend was the 25th anniversary of world-renown human rights activist and Jewish hero, Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky’s release from the Soviet Union. In a fascinating interview with Jerusalem Post editor, David Horovitz, Sharansky speaks not only about his own struggles against totalitarianism, but also about important parallels between those struggles and those faced by freedom movements in Egypt, Tunisia and other Arab countries.
Sharansky, in speaking about the historic moment in which we live raises the point that “maybe this is the moment to put our trust in freedom”. Powerful words indeed — especially in the context of any religious community, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or otherwise.
Do we really trust freedom? Does our fear of the unknown which freedom unleashes, of the inherent fluidity of freedom, undermine our ability to trust it? Does religion play a role in undermining that trust, one which is ultimately about trusting human beings and our capacity to ultimately do good and do well?
Sharansky’s proposition about the moment in which we live – one in which we need to put our trust in freedom, cuts to the heart of how faith works in our lives. People of faith and faith leaders especially, really need to ask about the nature of our faith. Does it trust freedom or undermine it? Do we use our traditions to empower others and build trust among people, or do we deploy it to do the reverse. And most importantly, do the faiths we follow us teach us to trust ourselves and our own exercise of freedom?
I don’t know if Sharansky is right or not in terms of the current political winds blowing through the Middle East, but I do know that these are the questions which all faith communities must address, and that being on the wrong side of freedom has typically been something which all people come to regret.