Rev. Forrest Church
Forrest Church Presented With Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award
May 12, 2008
Rev. Forrest Church, Minister of Public Theology at All Souls Church Unitarian in New York City, was presented with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal, conferred by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, on April 9, 2008.
Church, the author of more than twenty-five books including The American Creed, was honored for having “spent a lifetime tending to the frailties, strengths and miracles of the human condition. Passionate about your faith and your country, you have authored or edited more than two dozen books that speak to a people and a nation struggling to find truth in what you have called the twin traditions of “sacred liberty” and “divine order.”
The Four Freedoms Awards honor those qualities that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed, in January 1941, were essential to a flourishing democracy:
- freedom of speech and expression
- freedom of worship
- freedom from want
- freedom from fear
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medals are presented each year individuals whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to these principles. Among the award recipients are Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Carter and Clinton; Coretta Scott King; Elie Wiesel; Thomas P. O’Neill; Robert J. Dole; Katharine Graham; Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall; and international recipients have included Helmut Schmidt; Vaclav Havel; the Dalai Lama; Desmond Tutu; Shimon Peres; and Nelson Mandela.
The citation to Church said, in part, “Through your ministry and your writing you have inspired us to see ourselves as we truly are—lovers of reason, justice and equality who crave spiritual guidance and sense something divine in the “self evident” truths bestowed on each of us to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Upon receiving the award, Church said, “Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are lifelong heroes of mine. To receive the Four Freedoms Medal was as meaningful as it was delightful.”
Citation of the Roosevelt Freedom Award Presented to Forrest Church
On January 6, 1941, in the midst of the most difficult and barbaric war the world had ever seen, Franklin Roosevelt issued a clarion call to humanity. Turning away from the fear that inspired the bigotry and hatred of the fascists, FDR chose instead to appeal the better nature of man by asking all those who would listen to embrace a world based on Four Essential Human Freedoms—Freedom of Speech and Expression, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.
On this ninth day of April 2008, in recognition of his dedication to the principles contained in these simple, yet eloquent ideals, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Freedom Medal is awarded to
(Rev.) Forrest Church
Senior Minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in Manhattan for more than three decades, and today, Minister of Public Theology at the same Institution, you have spent a lifetime tending to the frailties, strengths and miracles of the human condition. Passionate about your faith and your country, you have authored or edited more than two dozen books that speak to a people and a nation struggling to find truth in what you have called the twin traditions of “sacred liberty” and “divine order.” Through your ministry and your writing you have inspired us to see ourselves as we truly are—lovers of reason, justice and equality who crave spiritual guidance and sense something divine in the “self evident” truths bestowed on each of us to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
These qualities—and the on-going tensions between them—you have identified as the American Creed. That curious impulse to live in a nation born out of the secular wisdom of the Enlightenment, with liberty and justice for all, but guided by a higher authority that demands respect for a moral order. In your monumental work, So Help Me God, you explore how these creative tensions shaped the character of American in the early days of our republic—and shape us still—as we struggle to maintain the balance between faith and reason.
Your father—the “conscience of the Senate”—would no doubt concur with your observation that these twin traditions have served us well. Together they have helped create a nation that has become a model for the world, a place where peoples of different religious traditions—or lack thereof, can live together in harmony.
Thomas Jefferson once said that it “is in our deeds and not in our words that our religion must be read.” Today, we are here to reflect on a man whose words, deeds and life reveal a profound dedication to the four basic human freedoms that each of cherish so dearly. His kindness, forgiveness, generosity, enthusiasm, empathy, and above all love, given and received, has been and remains a treasure to each and every one of us.
Last updated on Monday, May 12, 2008.
