The
outrage of the Political Left over passage of the Indiana religious freedom law
demonstrates that with them it is no longer about tolerance, but tyranny, i.e., running roughshod over the
consciences and religious convictions of others. This attitude is completely
out of sync with the principals of liberty and values of tolerance on which
this nation was founded.
The Indiana law,
which does not authorize discrimination against anyone, was designed to offer
protection for people of faith, such as Baronelle Stutzman, the Washington grandmother
and long-time florist who has been ordered by a judge to provide a centerpiece floral
arrangement for a same-sex wedding even though it violates her conscience and
is at odds with her religious convictions.
That is tyranny!
When a government thinks it has the right to compel its citizenry to think and
act in ways that violate their consciences and ignores their religious
convictions it has become tyrannical.
Religious liberty
and freedom of conscience have been hallmarks of American liberty since its
inception. Many of America’s Founders knew by experience the awful tyranny of
an overreaching government that seeks to control the thinking and actions of
its citizenry.
William Penn,
who founded Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, spent time in prison,
not for any crime, but because his religious beliefs conflicted with those
established by the state and the state church. For one thing he refused to pay tithes
to the state church, which he could not do with a clear conscience since he
believed it was a corrupt religious system.
In 17th
century England, individual freedom of conscience and religious liberty were in
short supply and many good people suffered for their faith. When Penn,
therefore, opened Pennsylvania he invited all those persecuted sects to come
and guaranteed the freedom for each to worship and live according to the
dictates of their conscience so long as their actions did not harm others.
Many others came
to America to escape tyrannical governments that sought to control how they
lived out their Christian faith. These included the Pilgrims of Massachusetts,
Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Dutch Reformed and others.
From the very
beginning individual freedom of conscience in matters of faith has been
paramount in America. This was the context of the First Amendment guaranteeing that "Congress will make no law concerning the establishment of religion, nor
hindering the free exercise thereof."
Jefferson’s
letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in which he mentions a wall of separation
between church and state, was written to reassure these Baptists that they
would have the freedom to live out their faith in the newly formed nation. Baptists
had been one of the most persecuted groups in the Old World and Jefferson, an
Anglican, wrote to assure them that the First Amendment provided a wall of
separation to keep the new American government from meddling with how they
lived out their faith in God.
Jefferson’s wall
of separation was unidirectional, put in place to keep the government out of
the lives of people of faith. This is why he also warned, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is
for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
I am thankful
that some politicians are seeing the need to reign in an increasingly voracious
government that would run roughshod over the consciences and religious
convictions of its citizenry. However, it will take more than new laws to preserve
the freedoms that so many have fought and died for. Only another great
Spiritual awakening, directing this nation’s attention back to God, will
preserve these rights and liberties for the another generation.
This is what
John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and our second president,
had in mind when he said;
We have no
government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions,
unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and
licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale
goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious
people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
If you believe this,
join me in praying for another Great Awakening in our land!Dr. Eddie Hyat is an author, historian and ordained minister. He is the founder of The Revive America Project that is committed to reclaiming the vision and restoring the hope for another Great Awakening in our land. To learn more about his ministry and to check out the books he has written, visit his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.
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