Until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus
Christ is Lord, the abuse of power will be a major cause of human
suffering. When the country of Chad in Africa became independent
in 1960 the Christian missionaries were delighted that the first
President was a Baptist. Tambolboye was converted by Baptist
missionaries and taught in a Baptist school, and now he is a political
leader of the land. It was a dream come true, but the dream soon
became a nightmare. He established dictatorial powers and
imprisoned his army commander. He began a systematic persecution
of the Baptist. He began to force his people to restore the old pagan
rights of sacrifice to ancestral spirits. He revived the secret
ceremonies of flogging, facial scaring and drugs. The Baptist refused
to cooperate, and so their homes were ransacked and their lives
threatened. Christian children were taken away to concentration
camps. One pastor who refused to let his child go was shot.
Many of the Baptist missionaries were arrested and expelled.
All Baptist churches and schools were closed. Other Christians were
left alone, but the Baptists were persecuted. Why? Tambolboye as a
young man had been a Baptist, and as a young man he was
disciplined for some unchristian behavior. Now he was in a position
of great power, and he was using his power to get revenge. You
might say he was a devil in disguise. That could very well be, but it
could also be that he was indeed a Christian. He organized a state
church called The Evangelical Church of Chad. He was not only a
professing Christian, but he was also an evangelical.
He made two pastors the two top officials in his government, and
they began to force all Christians to conform to the state church.
Many died resisting. Pastors were tortured and had their fingers
broken and some were even buried alive. It was a horrible time, but
finally in 1975 an army officer fed up with the violence stormed the
presidential palace and killed the first Christian President of Chad.
You may think it borders on blasphemy to even call such a monster a
Christian, but let me remind you that Christians all through history
have believed and practiced just what he did. They have believed it
is right for Christians in political power to use force to coerce other
Christians into conformity with their convictions. It was even
considered right to kill them if they would not comply.
It is true that the first Christians were persecuted by the Jews,
and Paul was one of the worst. He would use his authority to arrest
and kill Christians, and he was committed to use force to drive
Christians off the face of the earth. It is true that the non-Christian
Romans were the next great persecutors of the church, and in the
first 3 centuries they wrote some of the bloodiest chapters of church
history. But the fact is, the majority of the persecution of Christians
in history has been done by other Christians, who had political
power, and who abused that power by using force to make other
Christians conform.
We don't have time to go through history to illustrate this, but if
you have even a general knowledge of Church history you will be
aware that the official Catholic position has always been this: When
the Catholic church is in control of political power in a state, that
power should be used to force the citizens to conform to Catholic
doctrine. It is not only right, it is an obligation of the state to kill
those who refuse to conform, but remain heretics. If you know
history, you know that they practice what they preach, and many
thousands of Christians died because other Christians said they had
no right to be different from the Christians in control of state power.
Surprisingly the Protestant Reformation did not change this, and
Luther and Calvin followed the Catholic conviction. When the
church had power to coerce others into conformity, it was to use that
power. The result is that when Protestants gained power in the state
they got even with the Catholics. Now it was their turn, and they
persecuted the Catholics. They imprisoned and killed them for not
conforming to the Protestants. Luther spurred on state troops to kill
thousands of Anabaptists for their brand of Christianity. Calvin
even had a fellow theologian, by the name of Servetus, burned at the
stake because of theological differences. The reformers believed that
the state should punish people for wrong religious beliefs, and
anything was wrong that was not their belief.
When we come to the history of England it was more of the same.
It seemed like every Christian who got into power felt it was his or
her calling to destroy other Christians who would not conform to
their convictions. We all think of Henry VIII and his poor beheaded
wives, but seldom does anyone realize that his real pleasure
beheading Catholic and Anabaptist leaders. He was the head of the
Church of England. It was the state church, and so the power of the
state was used to force all into conformity with the religious beliefs of
those in power. In the mid 1500's the Purtain movement began to
cleanse the Church of England and to purify it of all its Catholic
traditions. It was a powerful back to the Bible movement, and it took
the church in the right direction. But what was their view of
religious freedom? It was the same old thing. If other Christians
would not conform they were to be imprisoned, banished or killed.
It seemed like Christians were doomed to be their own worst
enemies, and to go on perpetually fulfilling Paul's warning in verse
15: "If you keep on biting and devouring each other watch out, or
you will be destroyed by each other." From the New Testament
church up to the late 1500's the conviction and practice of the
majority of Christians had been to use force to make other
Christians bow to their ideas of what was right. Then something
happened that changed the course of history and led to you and I
having the privilege of living in a land where no leader of our
government can lift a finger to force us to conform to any religious
belief or practice. None can punish us when we refuse any
conformity to another's religious belief. Something happened that
led to Christians finally having the liberty of not needing to conform
to other Christians who happened to be in positions of power. A
Catholic, a Jew or a Protestant can be President of the United States,
but he has no power to compel any American to conform to his
beliefs.
What happened to bring this unique religious liberty into the
world? It was the idea of the separation of the church and state.
Robert Browne, the well educated Anabaptist announced in London
in the 1570's that Scripture alone should be followed in matters of
faith and Christian living, and that the church should be independent
of government control. This was heresy, and he had to flee Holland,
but his idea spread. John Smyth was a pastor in the Church of
England, and he studied this idea and concluded that it was right.
He withdrew from the Church of England and formed his own
independent church. Two of his members became very famous in
American history. William Brewster and William Bradford who
became leaders of the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower.
They settled in Plymouth and developed democracy that influenced
the history of our country.
John Smyth was forced to flee to Holland by King James in 1603,
but by 1611 some of his followers under the leadership of Thomas
Helwys came back to England. On the edge of London they founded
the first Baptist church on English soil. King James hated Baptists,
but the Bible named after him as the King James Version was
published that very year of 1611. By means of it the Baptists were
able to convince many that the King was not to have authority over
the church. The church was separate from the state, and only God's
Word can be the authority for the church. The state has no business
trying to regulate or control the people of God.
John Smyth wrote this before he died in 1612: "The magistrate,
by virtue of his office, is not to meddle with religion, or matters of
conscience, nor to compel men to this or that form of religion or
doctrine, but to leave the Christian religion to the free conscience of
every one, and to meddle only with political matters." This was the
beginning of that which made Baptists the most unique group of
Christians in history up to that point. They became the only
Christians in history who both preached and practiced religious
liberty and the separation of church and state.
Roger Williams was the young Englishman who was captivated
by this new idea. He became the tool God used to make America the
only nation in history to grant full religious freedom. As Americans
we love our nation and so we seldom look at its negative side. But the
facts are that America began with Christians acting just like most all
the Christians of history. They felt that religious freedom was a form
of evil. They felt they had a right to force all other Christians to
believe the same and worship the same. They felt is was an
obligation to arrest, banish or kill them if they would not conform.
If you think the early Christians of America like the idea of
freedom of worship, you are wrong. They despised the idea. When
Roger Williams came to the colonies with this Baptist nonsense of
religious liberty he was immediately hated by the Puritan leaders of
Massachusetts. They believed the Bible to be the Word of God, and
they loved this land, and they were brothers in Christ, but they held
to the same old thinking that those in power had the right and
obligation to use that power to force others to conform. Williams
made a lot of enemies by preaching the idea of separation of church
and state. He declared that the Puritans had no right to arrest and
imprison people who differed from them.
John Cotton was the most brilliant and prominent minister in
Massachusetts. He knew Roger Williams in England, and they were
brothers in Christ. But now in this new land they became bitter
opponents. Cotton was the defender of the Puritans controlling the
church and state. He and Roger Williams debated this issue in
letters for years, and we have all this debate on record. John Cotton
was a godly Christian pastor, but he could not be persuaded that
God ever intended men to have religious liberty. He was absolutely
convinced that Christians should persecute and kill those who would
not conform to the truth, as he and other Puritans understood it.
Roger Williams would not conform and give up the idea of
separation of church and state, and so Cotton and all the other
pastors brought him to the General Court in 1635 and banished him
from the colony. This only made Roger Williams all the more
convinced of the evil of linking the church and state. It was evil that
he as a child of God was banished because other children of God did
not like his ideas, and they had the civil power to kick him out and
shut him up. Williams could look at Gal. 5:1, which reads, "It is for
freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." He decided he
would be stubborn and fight for his conviction, and for the freedom
of all men to hold to their conviction.
He fled from Massachusetts and founded his own colony of
Rhode Island with Providence as its capital, for only by the
providence of God did he survive and have the strength to found this
colony. That small colony in this land of ours was the only place on
our planet where there was complete and total religious liberty. The
government did not try to control people's religious faith or form of
worship. That was the only government ever controlled by
Christians who did not use their power to make other Christians
conform to their convictions. Roger also founded there the First
Baptist Church in America, and that was the start of the Baptist
movement that slowly but surely influenced the whole of our nation
to come to the recognition of the value of separation of church and
state. It was a long hard battle, and many Baptists had to suffer
terrible persecution, but one by one the colonies began to grant
religious liberty.
When the Constitution was adopted the Baptist sent a delegation
to Madison and Washington to talk about the need for religious
liberty and protection from a strong central government. They knew
history and knew that noble intentions of even good and godly men
are not enough. Man's nature is corrupt, and he needs to be
controlled by power outside himself. John Leland, the Baptist
champion of freedom wrote, "Experience has informed us that the
fondness of magistrates to foster Christianity has done it more harm
than all the persecutions ever did."
The Baptists wanted assurance that American leaders would not
abuse their power and interfere with the church. Washington urged
congress to consider the Baptist concern, and the end result was the
First Amendment to the Constitution. It says, "Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof." By this sentence every American has a guarantee
of religious liberty, for this sentence builds a wall of separation
between the church and the state. We have what Christians all
through history never had, and that is the freedom to believe what
we are convinced is true regardless of what any other group of
Christians believes, and regardless of what any government official
believes. By means of the separation of church and state American
Christians became the first fully free Christians in history.
Many of the Christian groups that enjoyed power under the old
system still strive to regain that power. Any time you hear of a
Christian who preaches against the separation of church and state,
you will find if you check out his background that he likely comes out
of a church that once persecuted other Christians and forced them
into conformity. In churches where people are made Christian by
the authority of the church you will find the strong desire to control
the state. The Catholic Church makes Christians by baptism. It is
not a free choice of the individual, but a matter of authority. This
kind of theology leads to the view that if we can only control the state
we can make more Christians. Politics is always more important to
those Christian groups who hope to use it to force others to conform
to their views.
The Baptist Joint Committee On Public Affairs in Washington,
D.C. exists to watch for and fight any attempt of a Christian group to
gain the power to force any religious conviction on any other person
in America. Let us not be deceived, for the issue is not the good guys
against the bad guys on this matter. It is not Christians against
anti-Christian forces. The fight for religious liberty has always been,
and will always be, a fight for Christians to be free from the power of
other Christians to force them into conformity. Atheists don't care
much what you believe as long as you don't try to cram it down their
throat. It is Christians who want to make others believe as they do.
It is one of those traits of fallen human nature that does not go
away when people become Christians. It is like lust, and no matter
how good a Christian you are, you are still tempted to lust. And so
also, no matter how good a Christian you are, you are tempted to
abuse power. The separation of church and state is mandatory by
the first amendment because no body can be trusted to keep them
separate by good intentions alone. It has to be the law of the land, or
even the best of people can be a problem.
When John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall came
into Massachusetts in 1651 they stayed in a home not far from
Boston. There they began to share their Baptist faith to a handful of
people. Two constables came while John Clarke was speaking and
arrested the 3 of them and took them to Boston. When they asked
what law that had broken they were informed that denying the value
of infant baptism was a capital offense. The Governor, John
Endecott, came and told them they had violated the law of the state
and were worthy of death, but they would be find instead and made
to leave the colony. One of them was beaten first.
Persecutions of the Baptists were not done by unbelievers, but
were done by those among the finest, most intelligent and committed
of Christians. That is why they in mercy did not kill these helpless
men. Had they not been Christians they might have done so. All of
the Christian leaders agreed that it was right to kill those who taught
error, and error was whatever was not in agreement with their
understanding. Had the Baptists not won their battle for religious
liberty the prisons of this land would be filled, not with criminals
only, but with Christians who did not believe that infant baptism was
the key to salvation. America would not be the land of the free if
there was no separation of church and state.
Separation does not mean that the church and state do not
cooperate for the common good of the people. When they can
influence each other for the common good that is fine as long as there
is mutual agreement, and one does not interfere with the other.
Influence is okay, but interference is not. The wall that separates me
from my neighbor is for our mutual privacy and independence, but
we are free to cooperate in any way that is mutually beneficial. The
wall is for protection against abuse and not to prevent mutually
beneficial goals. The wall that separates men's and women's rooms
is also for mutual privacy and protection, but it does not mean that
men and women cannot cooperate in all ways that are mutually
beneficial.
Separation does not mean that Christian people are not to
participate in the state. Most of our Presidents were church going
people, and most politicians are. The church and the state are often
the same people, but their powers are separated. As church leaders
they have no power in the state, and as state leaders they have no
power in the church. They are separated, but they cannot help but
influence their roles in each area. Separation does not mean that
religious conviction cannot become a part of state policy. It was the
religious conviction about the depravity of man that led to a
Constitution that kept a careful balance of power to prevent tyranny.
Religious convictions should influence state policy. Chuck Colson
says that religious convictions in political arenas are the only hope
because politics without religion has no answer to man's problems.
Christians need to be in politics and be making a major difference in
political direction, but none of this involves making laws, which
establish religion or prohibit its free exercise.
What separation does mean is that all true religious faith is a
matter of free choice, and so no state power can ever be rightly used
to enforce faith or any religious conviction. Force is proper to
compel obedience to laws, but there can be no laws that force a
religious conviction on anyone. You might object that, "Thou shalt
not murder," is a religious conviction. But this is not a religious law,
for it is a universal natural and civil law. Even non-believers and
atheists do not want to be murdered. Secular people as well as
religious people want this law enforced, and so when a law is
universal it is not merely a religious conviction, and so it is a matter
for the state to enforce.
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy is not universal and
secular. It is a religious law, and so the state cannot make any laws
that compel anyone to obey it, or which prohibits anyone from
obeying it. That is why there can be no state sponsored prayers in
public schools. The public school is state operated, and so it cannot
compel any student to do anything that is religious. Prayer is
religious, and the state has no power to control anything that is
religious, for that is the realm of the church. However, any person
has the right to pray anywhere at any time without interference from
the state. Students can pray in public schools anytime they want,
and it is against the law to stop them. What is forbidden is for the
state to try and make anyone pray. That is what the separation of
church and state is all about.
Separation means that people in America are protected from
state sponsored indoctrination on religious subjects. Many
Christians believe the state should indoctrinate youth on religious
subjects. What they mean is what they have meant all through
history, and that is, let us use state power to get out convictions
imposed on others. If you child had a Jewish public school teacher
who taught them that Jesus was just a Jewish Rabbi, and not the Son
of God, you would be terribly upset. If he or she was a Mormon or
Buddhist teaching your child some of their religious ideas, you would
be horrified. But you are protected from this kind of thing because
state employees cannot indoctrinate your children in religion.
Many Christians would love it if they had the right to indoctrinate
all the public school children in the Christian faith. But why should
the Jewish parents be less upset if their children come home and say
they are being taught that Jesus is the Messiah? Yes it is true, but it
is not the state that is to teach that. If the church wants to use the
state to teach that, the church wants to destroy that which makes
America the land of liberty that it is. Destroy the wall of separation
between church and state and you plunge our nation back into the
Middle Ages, and you lose what it took centuries to achieve.
Christians do not see with historical eyes, but only with self-centered
eyes when they want to break down the wall of separation and use
the state to help them achieve their religious goals.
Baptists fear such people, for no matter how godly and how
much they love the Lord and His Word, Christians who gain state
power to enforce their convictions are always the most dangerous
people on earth for other Christians who have differing ideas. That
is why Baptists fought for the First Amendment wall of separation.
Christians with state power have always been primary cause of
suffering in the body of Christ. We have a land where we are
protected from such Christians. The result is that we have escaped
the enormous suffering that millions of Christians have had to
endure at the hands of brothers in Christ.
I shudder to think what I would do if I had the political power to
force everybody in America to conform to my religious convictions. I
do not doubt that I abuse that power, and like most Christians of the
past bring suffering upon those who refused to cooperate. Thank
God that I cannot get such power, nor can any other Christian in
America, and because of this we are the freest Christians who have
ever lived.
Hitler was an anti-Christ, but remember that all the suffering he
caused for Jews and Christians was not just because he was evil. It
took the cooperation of millions of Christians to get him the power he
needed to do his evil. Hitler needed a church that would be one with
the state, and be an obedient tool of the state. It was part of German
history that the state and church be linked, and that state power be
used to enforce religious convictions. Luther and Calvin both
supported this link. The idea of a free church was not a part of
German thinking. When Hitler wanted all the churches to be united,
many Christian leaders saw the chance for unity and power for the
church in Germany. They went along with Hitler and formed the
German Evangelical Church. The motive of Christian leaders was
power for the church. They wanted power to make Germany more
Christian.
The use of political force to bring people into subjection was a
part of the Christian heritage of Luther and Calvin. Hitler wanted to
help the church, and his willingness to use power to do this did not
bother Christians who felt this was legitimate when you are trying to
promote the truth of God. Being anti-Semitic and killing Jews was
not Christian, but it was for the sake of Christian and national
purity, and so Christians went along. If Christians kill other
Christians for the sake of power, why not kill Jews for the same
reason? We are aghast that Christians could cooperate in such
terrible evil, and yet theses are the facts of life.
If it was not for the First Amendment in the Constitution there is
no reason to believe that Christians would not be arresting and
killing Jews in America, or if not Jews, then those of some other faith
or religion. There is not a Christian alive who can say he would not
abuse power if he had the power to force others into conformity. We
are only safe from the oppression of other Christians because of the
wall of separation. If that wall falls nobody is safe in their religious
convictions. Everything that is most precious about America is
protected by the wall of separation. Thank God for the separation of
church and state. Based on Gal. 5:1-15
