The Struggle for Religious Freedom In the earliest days of the Christian movement, government and religious officials severely persecuted Christians. Throughout the Middle Ages and the era of the Protestant Reformation, religious freedom was practically nonexistent. A union of church and state existed. Both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches enlisted the aid of governments to persecute those who disagreed with their doctrines. The nature of the union of church and state varied through the centuries but one thing remained constant—all forms of religious expression except the “official” one were persecuted. People who believed in freedom of religion, such as Baptists, were regarded as traitors by governments and as heretics by the government-supported churches. The use of the power of the state to enforce religion sapped the spiritual vitality of the established state churches and added a host of unsaved people to the churches. Furthermore, efforts by governments to protect the established religion of a country resulted in wars and civil strife that undermined the governments. Thus, the union of church and state was and is harmful to both. Baptists suffered severely under the union of church and state. They campaigned vigorously for religious freedom, not just for themselves but for all people. Their goal was freedom, not mere toleration. They believed that the only way full religious freedom could be achieved was through a friendly separation of church and state. Concerning church-state separation, George W. Truett declared, “‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s’ is one of the most revolutionary and history-making utterances that ever fell from those lips divine. That utterance, once and for all, marked the divorcement of church and state.” Baptists and Religious Freedom through Separation of Church and State The record of the Baptist struggle for religious freedom and the separation of church and state is a story of courage and persistence. A host of brave people stayed with their convictions in the face of stiff resistance from both religious and government authorities. They did so because they believed that they were being true to the teachings of the Bible. For example, Thomas Helwys(c. 1556-1616), a Baptist pastor in England in the early 1600s, publicly advocated religious freedom. In England, the king was not only head of the government but also of the Church of England. Helwys insisted that the king had no authority over the spiritual dimensions of life. The king put Helwys in a terrible prison, where he died because he would not abandon his convictions. His wife, Joan Ashmore Helwys, also suffered imprisonment. John Bunyan(b. 1628 - d. 1688), author of Pilgrim’s Progress, suffered in an English jail for many years because as a Baptist pastor hewould not accept limits on religious freedom. His wife Elizabeth’s pleas to the authorities for his release were rebuffed although she was destitute, caring for their children, including a blind daughter. BUNYAN LELAND
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