Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

By Fulton J. Sheen Liberty, equality, fraternity: slogan of the French Revolution and, in the words of R. H. Tawney, “motto of a new world.” In that new world three major systems bristle, each selecting its cornerstone from that motto. Liberalism, with its economic partner of capitalism, takes liberty; communism, equality; and Christianity, fraternity. The paradox of human affairs is that only Christianity, with its bonds of fraternal charity, makes societies truly free. With his customary logic and compelling imagery, Fulton J. Sheen makes the case that justice and charity—twin treasures safeguarded by the Church—are the cure for the evils of the liberal capitalist and communist systems: the one, with its abuse of concentrated wealth and privilege and its subjection of millions to the lot of insecure wage-slavery, and the other, with its class-hatred and revolutionary technique of resentment. First published in 1938 in response to clamorous calls for social order, Liberty, Equality, F