1888
THE AMERICAN IDEA OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
by Philip Schaff
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
The American Idea of Religious Freedom
WHAT is the distinctive character of American Christianity in
its organized social aspect and its relation to the national life,
as compared with the Christianity of Europe?
It is a free church in a free state, or a self-supporting and
self-governing Christianity in independent but friendly relation to
the civil government.
This relationship of church and state marks an epoch. It is a
new chapter in the history, of Christianity, and the most important
one which America has so far contributed. It lies at the base of
our religious institutions and operations, and they cannot be
understood without it....
The relationship of church and state in the United States
secures full liberty of religious thought, speech, and action,
within the limits of the public peace and order. It makes
persecution impossible.
Religion and liberty are inseparable. Religion is voluntary,
and cannot and ought not to be forced.
This is a fundamental article of the American creed, without
distinction of sect or party. Liberty, both civil and religious, is
an American instinct. All natives suck it in with the mother's
milk; all immigrants accept it as a happy boon, especially those
who flee from oppression and persecution abroad. Even those who
reject the modern theory of liberty enjoy the practice, and would
defend it in their own interest against any attempt to overthrow
it.
Such liberty is impossible on the basis of a union of church
and state, where the one of necessity restricts or controls the
other. It requires a friendly separation, where each power is
entirely independent in its own sphere. The church, as such, has
nothing to do with the state except to obey its laws and to
strengthen its moral foundations; the state has nothing to do with
the church except to protect her in her property and liberty; and
the state must be equally just to all forms of belief and unbelief
which do not endanger the public safety.
The family, the church, and the state are divine institutions
demanding alike our obedience, in their proper sphere of
jurisdiction. The family is the oldest institution, and the source
of church and state. The patriarchs were priests and kings of their
households. Church and state are equally necessary, and as
inseparable as soul and body, and yet as distinct as soul and body.
The church is instituted for the religious interests and eternal
welfare of man; the state for his secular interests and temporal
welfare. The one looks to heaven as the final home of immortal
spirits, the other upon our mother earth. The church is the reign
of love; the state is the reign of justice. The former is governed
by the gospel, the latter by the law. The church exhorts, and uses
moral suasion; the state commands, and enforces obedience. The
church punishes by rebuke, suspension, and excommunication; the
state by fines, imprisonment, and death. Both meet on questions of
public morals, and both together constitute civilized human Society
and ensure its prosperity.
The root of this theory we find in the New Testament.
In the ancient world religion and politics were blended. Among
the Jews religion ruled the state, which was a theocracy. Among the
heathen the state ruled religion; the Roman emperor was the supreme
pontiff (pontifex maximus), the gods were national, and the priests
were servants of the state.
Christianity had at first no official connection with the
state....
For three hundred years the Christian church kept aloof from
politics, and, while obeying the civil laws and paying tribute,
maintained at the same time the higher law of conscience in
refusing to comply with idolatrous customs and in professing the
faith in the face of death. The early Apologists-Justin Martyr,
Tertullian, Lactantius- boldly claimed the freedom of religion as a
natural right.
The American System Compared with Other Systems
The American relationship of church and state differs from all
previous relationships in Europe and in the colonial period of our
history; and yet it rests upon them and reaps the benefit of them
all. For history is an organic unit, and American history has its
roots in Europe.
1. The American system differs from the ante-Nicene or pre-
Constantinian separation of church and state, when the church was
indeed, as with us, self-supporting and self-governing, and so far
free within, but under persecution from without, being treated as
a forbidden religion by the then heathen state. In America the
government protects the church in her property and rights without
interfering with her internal affairs. By the power of truth and
the moral heroism of martyrdom the church converted the Roman
Empire and became the mother of Christian states.
2. The American system differs from the hierarchical control
of the church over the state, or from priest government, which
prevailed in the Middle Ages down to the Reformation, and reached
its culmination in the Papacy. It confines the church to her proper
spiritual vocation, and leaves the state independent in all the
temporal affairs of the nation. The hierarchical theory was suited
to the times after the fall of the Roman Empire and the ancient
civilization, when the state was a rude military despotism, when
the church was the refuge of the people, when the Christian
priesthood was in sole possession of learning and had to civilize
as well as to evangelize the barbarians of northern and western
Europe. By her influence over legislation the church abolished bad
laws and customs, introduced benevolent institutions, and created
a Christian state controlled by the spirit of justice and humanity,
and fit for self-government.
3. The American system differs from the Erastian or C'saro-
Papal control of the state over the church, which obtained in the
old Byzantine Empire, and prevails in modern Russia, and in the
Protestant states of Europe, where the civil government protects
and supports the church, but at the expense of her dignity and
independence, and deprives her of the power of self-government. The
Erastian system was based on the assumption that all citizens are
also Christians of one creed, but is abnormal in the mixed
character of government and people in the modern state. In America,
the state has no right whatever to interfere with the affairs of
the church, her doctrine, discipline, and worship, and the
appointment of ministers. It would be a great calamity if religion
were to become subject to our ever-changing politics.
4. The American system differs from the system of toleration,
which began in Germany with the Westphalia Treaty, 1648; in England
with the Act of Toleration, 1689, and which now prevails over
nearly all Europe; of late years, nominally at least, even in Roman
Catholic countries, to the very gates of the Vatican, in spite of
the protest of the Pope. Toleration exists where the government
supports one or more churches, and permits other religious
communities under the name of sects (as on the continent), or
dissenters and nonconformists (as in England), under certain
conditions. In America there are no such distinctions, but only
churches or denominations on a footing of perfect equality before
the law. To talk about any particular denomination as the church,
or the American church, has no meaning, and betrays ignorance or
conceit. Such exclusiveness is natural and logical in Romanism, but
unnatural, illogical, and contemptible in any other church. The
American laws know no such institution as 'the church,' but only
separate and independent organizations.
Toleration is an important step from state-churchism to free-
churchism. But it is only a step. There is a very great difference
between toleration and liberty. Toleration is a concession, which
may be withdrawn; it implies a preference for the ruling form of
faith and worship, and a practical disapproval of all other forms.
It may be coupled with many restrictions and disabilities. We
tolerate what we dislike but cannot alter; we tolerate even a
nuisance, if we must. Acts of toleration are wrung from a
government by the force of circumstances and the power of a
minority too influential to be disregarded.
In our country we ask no toleration for religion and its free
exercise, but we claim it as an inalienable right. 'It is not
toleration,' says Judge Cooley, 'which is established in our
system, but religious equality.' Freedom of religion is one of the
greatest gifts of God to man, without distinction of race and
color. He is the author and lord of conscience, and no power on
earth has a right to stand between God and the conscience. A
violation of this divine law written in the heart is an assault
upon the majesty of God and the image of God in man. Granting the
freedom of conscience, we must, by logical necessity, also grant
the freedom of its manifestation and exercise in public worship. To
concede the first and to deny the second, after the manner of
despotic governments, is to imprison the conscience. To be just,
the state must either support all or none of the religions of its
citizens. Our government supports none, but protects all.
5. Finally- and this we would emphasize as especially important
in our time,- the American system differs radically and
fundamentally from the infidel and red-republican theory of
religious freedom. The word freedom is one of the most abused words
in the vocabulary. True liberty, is a positive force, regulated by
law; false liberty is a negative force, a release from restraint.
True liberty is the moral power of self-government; the liberty of
infidels and anarchists is carnal licentiousness. The American
separation of church and state rests on respect for the church; the
infidel separation, on indifference and hatred of the church, and
of religion itself.
The infidel theory was tried and failed in the first
Revolution of France. It began with toleration, and ended with the
abolition of Christianity, and with the reign of terror, which in
turn prepared the way for military despotism as the only means of
saving society from anarchy and ruin. Our infidels and anarchists
would renact this tragedy if they should ever get the power. They
openly profess their hatred and contempt of our Sunday-laws, our
Sabbaths, our churches, and all our religious institutions and
societies. Let us beware of them! The American system grants
freedom also to irreligion and infidelity, but only within the
limits of the order and safety of society. The destruction of
religion would be the destruction of morality and the ruin of the
state. Civil liberty requires for its support religious liberty,
and cannot prosper without it. Religious liberty is not an empty
Sound, but an orderly exercise of religious duties and enjoyment of
all its privileges. It is freedom in religion, not freedom from
religion; as true civil liberty is freedom in law, and not freedom
from law. Says Goethe:
'In der Beschrnkung erst zeigt sich der Meister,
Und das Gesetz nur kann dir Freiheit geben.'
Republican institutions in the hands of a virtuous and God-
fearing nation are the very best in the world, but in the hands of
a corrupt and irreligious people they are the very worst, and the
most effective weapons of destruction. An indignant people may rise
in rebellion against a cruel tyrant; but who will rise against the
tyranny of the people in possession of the ballot-box and the whole
machinery of government? Here lies our great danger, and it is
increasing every year.
Destroy our churches, close our Sunday-schools, abolish the
Lord's Day, and our republic would become an empty shell, and our
people would tend to heathenism and barbarism. Christianity is the
most powerful factor in our society and the pillar of our
institutions. It regulates the family; it enjoins private and
public virtue; it builds up moral character; it teaches us to love
God supremely, and our neighbor as ourselves; it makes good men and
useful citizens; it denounces every vice; it encourages every
virtue; it promotes and serves the public welfare; it upholds peace
and order. Christianity is the only possible religion for the
American people, and with Christianity are bound up all our hopes
for the future.
This was strongly felt by Washington, the father of his
country, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen'; and no passage in his immortal Farewell Address is
more truthful, wise, and worthy of constant remembrance by every
American statesman and citizen than that in which he affirms the
inseparable connection of religion with morality and national
prosperity.
THE END
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