Religious Freedom and the Baltimore cathedral

After a two-and-a-half year, $32 million restoration, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore is returning to its glory.  George Weigel has a really nice op-ed about the cathedral, its history and significance, and what it teaches us about religious freedom:

The recently completed restoration of the building offers more than a reminder of the genius of the past, however; Carroll's and Latrobe's work has a special resonance for the present and the future. For to enter the restored Baltimore Basilica — a great American shrine to the centrality of religious freedom in any serious scheme of “human rights” — is to be confronted with two of the most crucial items on the world agenda today: The first — how do things stand with religious freedom? — is a question of particular, although not exclusive, interest to people of faith. The second — how does the human race engage its deepest differences (which are religious differences) with civility, tolerance and respect? — is a question for everyone.

Although few of us recognize it, the 20th century was the greatest century of persecution of Christians in history, with tens of millions murdered “in hatred of the faith” by totalitarian ideologies. With the collapse of fascism, and then communism, a new springtime of religious freedom seemed on the historical horizon. Yet the dramatic exodus of Christians from the Holy Land, the genocide in the south of Sudan, and the entire arc of conflict between Christianity and jihadist Islam that spans the globe from the west coast of Senegal to the east coast of Timor reminds us that the 21st century could well be a century of martyrdom, too. To visit the restored basilica and reflect on the centuries of struggle for religious freedom that it has witnessed is to be reminded that freedom is never free. . . .

The basilica suggests a different lesson: that the most secure foundation for religious freedom is, as Father Richard John Neuhaus once put it, the conviction that “it is the will of God that we be tolerant of those who disagree with us about the will of God.” That conviction is at the root of America's success in maintaining the First Amendment commitments the Baltimore Basilica celebrates: Religious freedom in the USA is largely a religious accomplishment. . . .