Religious freedom is responsibility of everyone

Dr. James Tonkowich, a nationally known author and longtime head of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a Washington think tank, spoke in Cheyenne last Friday. He was the keynote speaker at the sixth gathering of the Wyoming Pastors Network. His remarks are worth digesting for a larger audience.

Tonkowich spoke of religious freedom through the centuries and drew thoughtful discussion from dozens present, including two Wyoming state representatives from both parties, and one senator. You can listen to the remarks yourself.

Dr. James Tonkowich,
Wyoming Catholic College

During the course of the day Tonkowich organized 2,000 years of western history under three general headings: 1) from the dawn of Christianity to the middle ages, 2) from the Reformation through America’s Constitutional Convention, 3) from the 1800s and to the present.

It is an oft-forgotten fact that religious liberty was entirely unknown in the pre-Christian world. Deities were local; and worship was mandatory. In Rome the emperor was styled “pontifex maximus” (highest priest). Sincerity and heart-felt devotion were irrelevant to the Roman mind, but refusal to participate in the public rituals was not to be tolerated.

Christians who confessed Jesus as the only true God, and refused to worship the Roman deities, lived under constant threat of punishment. From time to time, their neighbors would report them to authorities who would give them a choice: either offer a pinch of incense to the emperor or die a shameful death.

Roman citizens would be beheaded. But non-citizens could be burned alive, fed to wild beasts, crucified or killed in many other horrible ways. The Roman empire was not alone. Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks all did the same.

Tertullian, a Christian teacher from north Africa, was the first to articulate the principle of religious freedom. He wrote: “It is only just and a privilege inherent in human nature, that every person should be able to worship according to his own convictions. For one person’s religion neither harms nor hurts another.”

He wrote this not to convince his fellow believers, but to convince the emperor who ruled in the year 200 A.D. Therefore, he did not use the Bible to support his claim. Rather, he argued from the commonly known nature of religion, of divinity, and of humankind.

Human beings are, by nature, rational creatures. They have an internal sense of right and wrong that can be persuaded by logical argument, but cannot be moved by coercion, torture or death. Governments that punish a person for living out his understanding of the truth, are violating an inherent human right.

Religion, by its very definition, is voluntary. It is borne of a willingness to conform oneself to the known truth. One’s understanding of the truth may change as more information becomes available, but the willingness to follow truth is constant. Since true religion can only arise from a free heart, religious coercion is the very opposite of true religion.

Similarly, the divinity, by definition, is the source of every good. Here, Tertullian argued from a shared sense of goodness that no god worthy of that title could desire harm to people.

Tertullian’s arguments powerfully influenced the Roman world. Just over a century after they were first heard, Licinius and Constantine jointly issued the Edict of Milan (313). While Constantine was sympathetic to Christians, Licinius was not. Nevertheless, they both agreed on one of the most remarkable statements ever heard.

It read, in part, “[A]mongst those things that are profitable to mankind in general, the reverence paid to the Divinity merited our first and chief attention, [snip] …we judged it a salutary measure, and one highly consonant to right reason, that no man should be denied leave of attaching himself to the rites of the Christians, or to whatever other religion his mind directed him.”

Notice, especially, that this remarkable edict did not simply give religious freedom to Christians. From its first appearance in history, religious freedom has been for every single human being. They went on to say, “it befits a well-ordered state and the tranquility of our times.”

That two politicians—a pagan and a Christian sympathizer—jointly saw that religious liberty is good for the state (not only for the Church), is remarkable. They further saw that it is a necessary ingredient in keeping the peace (tranquility).

Sadly, this edict was violated almost as soon as the ink dried. While the first one to violate it was the pagan emperor Licinius, later Christian emperors would also not be without blame.

This observation became a theme that came up again and again during the course of Tonkowich’s presentation. Humankind’s will to dominate is a vice that inheres in every citizen and every politician who ever lived. It was never unique to only one side of a contention.

Time and time again, those who gained power thought that they could violate religious liberty for the good of the state or society. Time and time again, these violations led to the destruction of economies, societies, families and countless human lives.

It doesn’t matter who violates these freedoms, the result is always the same. Whether they be pagans or Christians, Roman Catholics or Protestants, Puritans or Progressives—no matter who uses government power to advance their religion, the peace is breached and warfare is not far behind.

Today, America stands at another turning point. New religious ideas are gaining political power. Ideas that deny the existence of God are as religious as those that affirm him. But every single person still carries the same impulse to dominate all others. Secularists are tempted to use the powers of government to impose new religious ideas just, as many other groups have tried, and failed in the past.

As a warning against this abuse of power, the Edict of Milan still has relevance. “[Religious freedom] befits a well-ordered state and the tranquility of our times.” It is not a value that benefits only one side of the debate. It benefits everyone equally.

This is a principle, however, that can only govern from within. By definition, those without the power to stop violations of religious freedom can only hope that those in power stop themselves. Political, economic and social power can always be used to violate religious freedom and repeat the evils of past orthodoxies.

The only people capable of preventing these evils are those who wield these powers. They must learn from history that every group that ever tried to curtail religious liberty for the good of mankind failed miserably. They only unleashed senseless death and destruction.

Melissa Klein, fined into bankruptcy
for declining to bake a cake.

Good intentions do not matter any more than bad intentions. Human nature is what it is. This is the basic truth that requires self-governance. Self-governance is not the mere ability to elect one’s own external rulers. It is the hard work of governing one’s own internal desires.

Every human being is infected with the desire to dominate. The stronger one becomes, the more power he has to act on this evil desire. That means the only real protection against it is a conscience that declines to act on it. That’s self-governance.

Neither laws, nor constitutions, nor social pressures can accomplish the granting of religious freedom. Only the human being who understands the danger of violating it can stand to protect others. God grant us such people in our time.