We’re observing Religious Liberty Sunday on July 6. I struggle every year with how to handle it, and I am struggling more than usual this year.
I’m not sure why. It may be because this is a presidential election year, and I’m perhaps overly sensitive to the role that religion has played and will play in our national political dialogue.
As a Baptist who is aware of the role that Baptists played in securing the inclusion of the guarantee of religious liberty in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, I often use the opportunity afforded by Religious Liberty Sunday to emphasize the traditional Baptist emphasis on religious liberty and separation of church and state. When I come at it that way, I can be sure that I will get a few quizzical looks and even some questioning feedback.
Michael can take heart knowing that it was a Baptist movement that got the ball rolling for religious equality in the United States, with the letter from the Danbury Baptist Convention to Thomas Jefferson, asking his advice on their full participation in the state religious convention, since up to then they were excluded as they were not members of the State Church (Congregationalist).
Jefferson replied that the ‘wall of separation’ in the Constitution allowed their full participation in government regardless of their denominational affiliation.
Which is not the way it is interpreted today, sadly.