The United States of America was founded on the idea that “all men are created equal,” a concept that has evolved over time to include people of color and women. Human equality is a guiding principle that continues to evolve our society. The checks and balances of our three branches of government—judicial, legislative and executive—ensure our democracy, and the Articles of the Constitution guarantee freedom.
George Washington believed in freedom of religion as an inherent natural right of human beings. He maintained that it was up to an individual—not a government—to decide what they believed in. When Washington wrote to the members of the Newport Hebrew Congregation, he proclaimed the government of the United States “…gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance….” Reassuring the Jewish members of the oldest synagogue in America that intolerance and antisemitism were not acceptable in the United States, Washington let them know they would not be oppressed because of their faith.
Three centuries later, our democracy continues to preserve Washington’s belief in religious freedom as we guard against extremist and exclusionary ideologies that endanger this core principle.
In contrast, the totalitarian government established by the Nazi party when they ruled Germany (1933-1945) controlled the public and private lives of its citizens and gave all power to its leader, Adolf Hitler (pictured above). It based its laws on the false belief in an “Aryan” master race. “Aryan” referred to non-Jewish and non-Roma (Gypsy) Caucasians. Northern Europeans with "Nordic" features (blonde hair and blue eyes) were considered by so-called race pseudoscientists to be members of a "master race." Non-Aryan people were ranked in a rigid hierarchy that denied them their humanity. Jews and other non-Aryans were viewed as less than human and measures were enacted to deprive them of their rights.