Expert: Rev. Andrew Smith - 6/1/2009

Question
Each religion believes within its organization that their god is the true god, whether it be the Christian God, the Muslim God, the Hebrew God, and etc. However, when dealing with issues outside their organization, they turn to their belief in their right to freedom of religion to defend their doctrines. Somewhat hypocritical, don't you think?
However, there is only One True God, as stated in the Bible. Where does the True God fit into the freedom of reliion belief? Is He above the belief in freedom of rights or below it?


Answer
  John,

  I am not sure why you think that it is hypocritical for a religious group to make an exclusivistic claim while claiming their own right to freedom of religion. Do you believe that any religious truth claim contains an inherent element of coercion? It seems to me that the claiming of freedom of worship for oneself can only become "hypocritical" when those claiming freedom simultaneously deny it to others. Unfortunately, church history is littered with examples of claims to this kind of freedom.

  Some religious traditions do, in fact, affirm freedom of religion in practice while failing to make a place for it in their official doctrines. On the other hand, other religious traditions tend to make a place for "freedom of conscience" within their own body of teaching.

  Baptists are one of these groups. Baptists have traditionally affirmed the real truth of their own theological claims (which are, for the most part, traditional Protestant claims about the Trinity, the Bible, and so forth). Within this body of claims, however, is usually included the claim that God works by persuasion and not by coercion, and that the church should, therefore, not exert itself through government coercion. When Baptists affirm freedom of religion, they are not simply exploiting an aspect of liberal democracy. They are, in fact, making a claim based upon their own conviction that any faith worth having must be procured through one's own soul searching, bible reading, and prayer. Real faith can't be imposed by government (or by a bishop or presbytery, for that matter). Baptists practice congregational autonomy because of this allergy to extra-congregational ecclesial authority, and they practice adult baptism because infant baptism is considered an imposition of religious alignment upon a person who has not yet had their own experience of grace.

  To answer your question more directly, then, while God can never be subject to human government, and is therefore "above" freedom of religion, God does not violate the freedom of the individual conscience. People are certainly accountable for the things that they do wrong (and that includes ALL of us), but that doesn't mean that it is the job of the government or the church to play the role of the religion police and make sure that everyone in society gets it right. Baptists, then, wait for God to judge, and refrain from doing the job themselves.

  I hope that this helps, and that I understood your question correctly. Since I am in the "Baptists" category, I presumed that you wanted an answer from that perspective. Let me know if this is not what you meant.

  Andrew