On February 11, First Baptist Greenville (FBG) will host Amanda Tyler, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) and author of How to End Christian Nationalism. The BJC is a longstanding FBG ministry partner. Supported by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists, the BJC works to protect religious freedom for all and uphold every American’s right to follow their spiritual beliefs.

Baptists have long championed the separation of church and state and advocated for religious liberty. This commitment grew out of our spiritual ancestors’ own experiences of persecution—first in England, where the first Baptist church was established, and later in colonial America. In colonial Virginia, where the Church of England was the official church, dissenters were discriminated against; Baptists were whipped, jailed and fined for their beliefs. In a 10-year period, 42 Baptist ministers were imprisoned simply for preaching the gospel! In the 1600s, Baptist leader Roger Williams was expelled from Massachusetts for his controversial beliefs about religious freedom. In response, he founded the colony of Rhode Island, a haven that embraced religious liberty. This new colony allowed people to worship according to their conscience without interference from the state. Williams’ ideas had a lasting impact, and his writings later influenced policy in the United States, including his assertion that there should be a “hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.” After the Revolutionary War, as the United States debated what kind of nation we would become, Baptist pastor John Leland played a pivotal role in securing the First Amendment. A close friend of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Leland strongly urged them to champion the cause of religious liberty. Through fiery sermons, he passionately argued for the separation of religion and government, condemning state-sponsored churches as “spiritual tyranny.” Leland’s relentless advocacy, alongside the efforts of others, ultimately paid off. In 1785, the passage of the Bill of Rights ensured protections for religious freedom, culminating in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The First Amendment declares, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” With this amendment, two complementary protections were established:

1. The Establishment Clause: This ensures that the government does not favor religion over non-religion or give preference to one faith over others. It prohibits the establishment of an official religion in the United States.

2. The Free Exercise Clause: This guarantees the right to believe and practice one’s faith—or not—without government interference.
Baptists helped secure these rights! Our Baptists ancestors championed the idea that faith must be a matter of personal conviction, grounded in the understanding that love and worship of God can never be coerced; it must come freely from the heart.

Today, the greatest threat to religious liberty in America is Christian Nationalism. This cultural framework seeks to merge Christianity with American civic life, promoting the idea that the United States has always been—and should remain—a distinctively “Christian” nation. Christian Nationalists believe it is the government’s role to ensure this vision is upheld. While those who promote Christian Nationalist ideas may not always identify with that label or operate under a unified strategy, their policies consistently reveal their agenda. They advocate for things like reinstating prayer in public schools and revising school curricula to include Biblical education. They also push for displaying Christian symbols, such as the Ten Commandments or crosses, on public property. Additionally, they are promoting the hiring of Christian chaplains for public schools and advocating for school voucher programs that divert public funds to religious schools. These policies may seem harmless or even positive to Christians at first glance, but they threaten religious freedom. By giving preferential treatment to one faith over others, it creates an environment where people of other religions–or no religion at all–are marginalized. True religious freedom means that all people, regardless of their beliefs, have to right to follow their conscience without fear of discrimination or coercion. If you’re interested in learning more about Christian Nationalism and how we can honor the legacy of our spiritual ancestors who fought for religious liberty for all, we invite you to join us for a special evening with Amanda Tyler. This event promises to be an enlightening and meaningful opportunity to explore these important topics. For more information, please visit firstbaptistgreenville.com/amanda-tyler. You may also visit the BJC website: bjconline.org.

—Carol

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