Freedom Under God

By Fulton J. Sheen Two extremes beset the modern world: a decaying liberalism which idolizes the individual and scorns society, and a triumphant totalitarianism which idolizes society and scorns the individual. In her wisdom, the Church firmly rejects both these extremes and upholds in their place, a “Truth which is inseparable from the purpose of man; namely, union with his final end, who is God.” In Freedom Under God, Fulton J. Sheen sets forth the Church’s program for man and society, applying the perennial principles of revelation and the Church’s wisdom on the true nature of liberty to modern problems regarding labor and ownership, the economic systems of communism and capitalism, governments and political free­dom, human dignity and the necessity of sacrifice and asceticism. At the time of its original publication in 1940, Sheen’s well-reasoned, persuasive presentation was welcomed as a tonic assurance of truth in the face of “dying lib­eralism and growing dictatorship.” With sub