by Bruce T. Gourley
Published July / August 2014
(Baptist Studies Bulletin Archives Index)
At the heart of the Baptist faith is the conviction that all persons are equally God’s creation and all believers are equal within the body of faith. Early Baptists lived out this conviction. Now, human rights are making great strides in our 21st century world. Nonetheless, the movement forward is passionately opposed by many evangelical Christians who demand, under the cloak of so-called “religious liberty,” the right to discriminate at will against persons deemed unworthy.
In 1611 Baptist co-founder Thomas Helwys wrote A Declaration of Faith of English People Remaining at Amsterdam in Holland, a short but groundbreaking and radical treatise arguing for freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all, including those with whom Baptists vividly disagreed. Like Baptists who were to follow in the decades and centuries to come, Helwys insisted that neither king nor pope had any power to interfere with individual freedom of conscience in matters of religion. The early Baptists, in short, strongly advocated for human rights to a degree theretofore unheard.
Fast forward to 21st century America and we find a world turned upside down on matters of freedom of conscience and religious liberty. Many Baptists, no longer of a persecuted minority sect but rather a majoritarian group, are quick to join hands with other privileged Christians to use their now-considerable political and cultural power to demand that other Americans conform to their personal religious convictions.
We see these appalling developments playing out over issues related to homosexuality, abortion, contraception, public schools, state-sanctioned prayer, minorities, immigration, Islam and more. For those with historical perspective, these times are not dissimilar to previous discriminatory practices by many white Baptists against blacks in the era of slavery, Jim Crow and segregation. The perpetrators of enslavement, discrimination, hatred, oppression and terrorism against blacks justified their sins by claiming the primacy of their biblical convictions over the beliefs and rights of black citizens. “Religious liberty,” in short, meant white superiority.
The current flash point of the crusade to force America and Americans to conform to fundamentalist theology is the recent Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision in which (ironically) five Roman Catholic men on the Court legalized corporate religious discrimination against employees. The early Baptists never anticipated that a business might forcefully exercise religious power over the consciences and actions of its employees, and would have been aghast that corporations could have such power and horrified that government would allow such an abuse of its citizenry.
In most Baptist congregations, the story of how early Baptists gave their all, in the face of bloody persecution at the hands of powerful Christians, to ensure equality within and without the church has long been forgotten. Many sitting in Baptist pews would be shocked to hear of their faith heritage of church state separation and freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all; some, perhaps most in many congregations, would simply refuse to believe the history of their own faith.
Against the backdrop of historical ignorance and/or disdain, freedom of conscience and religious liberty for all, as well as church state separation, are now increasingly under attack in America. Baptists appreciative of the freedom identity of their early forebears are a minority. Yet the convictions of early 17th century Baptists were crucial for their time, as are the same convictions of faithful Baptists of our time. Within our own bodies of faith, we must guard spiritual equality and freedom of individual conscience. Without our sanctuaries, we must demand human rights for all.
Forced conformity to the religious beliefs of kings, presidents, governors, mayors, religious leaders or corporate owners is neither religious liberty nor equality. Now is the time for Baptists who are faithful to their heritage to speak out against attempts by powerful persons, institutions and corporations to violate the freedom of conscience and human rights of citizens, members and employees.
In this commitment to equality and human rights that is centrally rooted in our Baptist identity, we find an ally in today’s younger generations who readily recognize the hypocrisy and danger of religiously-driven crusades against humanity. Ultimately, from this fusion of Baptist heritage and generational convictions lies a brighter future for all of humanity.