Shall We Dance?

Echoing the sentiments of Protestants Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, in 1965

the Roman Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council produced a document known as

Dignitatus Humanae, a universal declaration on human rights. This document emphasized

the right of every human being to express the spiritual side of her/his nature by having the

freedom to choose any avenue of religious practice s/he may find suitable. There is a long

tradition in human history where the rights of others have been denied, or denigrated, and it

was time to right this wrong. Whether it is by forced conversion at the hands of militant

violent actors, missionary zeal, or the subtle expression of anti-Muslim or antisemitic

attitudes, the result is a dehumanizing abridgment of the fundamental human right of

religious freedom. Unfortunately, violation of this basic human right continues with alarming

regularity in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. And also, here in the

United States.