DWIGHT N. HOPKINS

THE FREEDOM to profess and practice religion is widely ac-
knowledged to be a basic human right. That a just society
must recognize this right, along with others, is prominently
declared in documents such as the Constitution of the United
States (Amendment 1) and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (Articles 2 and 18). Although proclaimed by the signatories to such
documents, human rights do not become real except as the result of the
struggles of thousands, and indeed millions, of less well-known people.
Many such persons have been motivated to struggle for social justice by
religious convictions, and an increasing number of people, both religious
and secular, acknowledge that working for a just society is an integral
part of their spiritual lives. Nonreligious persons who have this spiritual
self-conception will be the topic of this chapter.

Regarding his French forebear, Emile Durkheim, the American sociol-
ogist Talcott Parsons said that his greatest insight about religion was not
so much that "religion is a social phenomenon" but that "society is a reli-
gious phenomenon." ¹ Modifying this thought in light of the conception of
the spiritual dimension of human life sketched in this volume's introduc-
tion, one can say that feeling oneself to be a part of a social community
can be a way in which people apprehend their world as an inclusive whole.
The effort and effect of transforming the society to which one belongs in
a holistic direction--toward peace, equality, and genuine democracy--can
also transform individuals. It can give them a more vital and creative sense
of well-being. This I think is the faith of persons who identify social justice
struggle as an integral part of their spiritual lives.

Succeeding generations of immigrants to the United States have faced
discrimination and exploitation at the hands of more established residents;
by necessity they have had to struggle for equal treatment, political power,

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