A few days before the publication of this "Theology Thursday," on the Lord's day January 18, a gang of angry rioters broke into a worship service in Minnesota, forcing the cancellation of the service and scattering the worshipers.
All over our nation, incidents wherein our religious rights get trampled are increasing. The tramplers often invoke "separation of church and state" for their justification. It is good to be righteously angry about this, as was our Lord Jesus when such anger was appropriate (cf. Matthew 21:12,13; Mark 10:14.) Yet, let us not be surprised, for He said: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life." (Mark 10:29,30) So when the world's natural hostility (cf. Romans 8:7), always "simmering beneath the surface," breaks out in violence, lawfare, arrests and more, how should believers respond? 1. Remember Jesus told us to anticipate persecution. PRAY, be mentally prepared and be equipped according to Ephesians 6:11-18 and 1 Peter 1:13. 2. As the Lord gives opportunity, with respect and gentleness, ask opponents to listen to "your side of the story."3. Be familiar with the actual wording of the First Amendment of U.S. Constitution. Here it is:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (the pertinent portion of the first amendment is called the non-establishment clause)
4. Ask your opponent where the phrase "separation of church and state" appears in the first amendment or elsewhere in the U.S. Constitution. (It does not!)
5. Ask him (in a rhetorical, cordial way) if he believes that your peaceful, public activity is equivalent to the U.S. Congress making a law pertaining to religion. Affirm with boldness that per the first amendment, your rights include the unhindered public exercise of religion.
6. Also affirm that you believe in the concept of separation of church and state, rightly understood. That might open the door for you to...
7. Ask him if you can share what "separation of church and state" really means. If the answer is no, appeal again to Heaven, then to the next level of human authority. Stand up, stand up for Jesus! Remember how Moses, Daniel, Esther and other Biblical heroes stood strong, thereby bearing witness to worldly rulers.
If the answer is yes, prayerfully seek to reason with your opponent along these lines:
"America's 18th century founders, familiar with state backed churches, did not want the new federal government to support or favor any one Christian denomination over another. This is what is meant by "respecting an establishment of religion." No institutional church was to be specially sanctioned by the federal government, or to share in the authority that belongs to the sphere of civil government (Romans 13:1-7).
At the same time the very idea of civil government removing all references to God, Christ, or anything dealing with Christianity from all things touching the state would have been abhorrent to the founders, and was never intended by them. Hence they prohibited with equal fervor any hindrance to the free exercise of religion, in private or public, by ordinary citizen or by government official.
In fact, nine of the states which were among the original thirteen colonies had religious requirements for state officials. Here is an excerpt from Delaware's A.D. 1776 state constitution:
Officeholders must swear or affirm: I... do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.'
Amazing, right? So the founders did not want to remove the triune God of the Bible, the Gospel, and Biblical ethics from the fabric of America's culture nor from its civil government. No, they recognized them as the very foundation of our nation!
So please recognize that what I am doing is not related to the U.S. Congress, nor is it an effort to establish my church as part of our federal government. I respectfully request that you honor my God given and constitutionally protected right to practice my religion in full liberty, unhindered. Thank you."
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15)