The following is an excerpt from
An Advent for Religious Liberty: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel. Pastor Grant speaks in a sermon on religious liberty being under attack. Sound familiar?
“We heard from Moses
today in Deuteronomy. He noted that the Lord said, ‘I will raise up for them a
prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his
mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.’
“As this Advent soon
comes to a close on Christmas Eve, it serves us well to consider these, as well
as other commands from God, to speak out, in particular, to share His word.
“We have a responsibility
to spread the Gospel to all corners of the world.
“When it comes to
the political arena, though, I’m in the camp that pastors, church leaders and
entire denominations should be very careful when they venture out to take
stands on political issues.
“When no biblical or
moral imperative exists, churches should leave it to the freedom of the
Christian in their roles as citizens, acting according to a morally informed
conscience, to make the best decisions they can. Otherwise, when church leaders
take stands on these kinds of issues, it only creates further division within
the Church. There are seemingly countless issues in the political arena that we
can and do disagree on, and that does not diminish any of us as faithful
Christians.
“But, of course,
there are times when our faith requires that we take a stand. That is, if we do
not speak out, we are not doing what God asks of us. The most obvious are cases
of protecting innocent human life, from conception to death; protecting the
institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman as God has
proclaimed through both Holy Scripture and His natural law; and standing
against any kind of genocide and other glaring evils.
“While far from
perfect – indeed, the Church is not immune from man’s sinful nature – Christians
often have been and are voices for what is right and just.
“That being the
case, this is why I have been truly frightened by the recent efforts, as
manifested by New York City Mayor-elect Pritchett, to in effect silence
Christianity in the public arena. That was followed closely by the attempt to
label our fellow Christians in the Catholic Church as a hate group.
“In a land founded
in part on the promise of religious liberty, this often seems unbelievable.
With the very First Amendment to our Constitution beginning, ‘Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof,’ it is incomprehensible that we have gotten to this point.
“Yet here we are in
a position whereby we must declare this to be ‘An Advent for Religious
Liberty.’ It is a time in which we prepare and await a return to a proper civic
understanding, a proper constitutional understanding, and a proper respect for
religious liberty.
“As many of you
know, I’m not only your pastor, but something of a history buff as well. No
respected historian would ever say that the First Amendment was meant for there
to be a wall of separation between church and state so that the church should
be silent on matters involving the state, or silent in our broad public,
community life together. Quite the contrary, the First Amendment protects the
full and free exercise of religion.
“In fact, it’s
amazing how the meaning of Thomas Jefferson’s letter, from which the expression
‘a wall of separation between Church and State’ comes, has been turned on its
head. Jefferson was responding to and agreeing with a letter sent by the
Danbury Baptist Association. The point of the association’s letter was that
government should not infringe upon one’s religious beliefs.
“The association’s
letter said: ‘Our sentiments are uniformly on the side of religious liberty:
that Religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals,
that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his
religious opinions, [and] that the legitimate power of civil government extends
no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor.’
“Jefferson was
agreeing with these points. He clearly was not making a case for there being no
links or interaction between religion and government. In the end, the point of
the First Amendment was to make sure that government did not create an official
church, since so many who came here fled a state church, and that the state
could not limit the freedom of religion.
“But in various
ways over recent decades, many in politics have sought to limit religious
freedom through a gross misinterpretation of this phrase that does not appear
in our Constitution.
“Adam Pritchett’s
declaration and intentions on this front actually amount to nothing more than
the natural step forward for these forces. And yes, we have an obligation to
speak out against such a gross infringement of religious liberty. As someone
recently said to me: We would be negligent if we did not act.
“Later today, I
hope most of you will be joining us on the bus ride into the city as our own
Lutheran Church will lead tonight’s prayers during the ‘Advent of Religious
Liberty.’
“And let us pray
for our nation in these troubling times.”
