This is a quick gathering and posting of some
quotes from early church fathers related the topic of religious liberty.[i]
It would have been done much better by those more familiar with the “fathers”. Some
quotes are posted twice (from different translations). Many think that the
Christian vision of religious liberty is a modern construct, but these quotes
demonstrate contrariwise.
Justin Martyr (ca. 100 – 165 AD): For the coming
into being at first was not in our own power; and in order that we may follow
those things which please Him, choosing them by means of the rational faculties
He has Himself endowed us with, He both persuades us and leads us to faith. And
we think it for the advantage of all men that they are not restrained from
learning these things, but are even urged thereto. For the restraint which
human laws could not effect, the Word, inasmuch as He is divine, would have
effected, had not the wicked demons, taking as their ally the lust of
wickedness which is in every man, and which draws variously to all manner of
vice, scattered many false and profane accusations, none of which attach to us.
(The First
Apology, Chapter 10, translated by Marcus Dods and George Reith)
Tertullian (ca. 160 – ca. 240 AD): “Let one man
worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the heavens,
another to the altar of Fides; let one – if you choose to take this view of it –
count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one consecrate
his own life to his God, and another that of a goat. For see that you do not
give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking away religious
liberty, and forbidding free choice of deity, so that I may no longer worship
according to my inclination, but am compelled to worship against it. Not even a
human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him.” (Apology, Chapter
24, Translated by S. Thelwall)
Tertullian: “We are worshippers of one God, of
whose existence and character Nature teaches all men; at whose lightnings and
thunders you tremble, whose benefits minister to your happiness. You think that
others, too, are gods, whom we know to be devils. However, it is a fundamental
human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to
his own convictions: one man's religion neither harms nor helps another man. It
is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion – to which free-will and
not force should lead us – the sacrificial victims even being required of a
willing mind.” (Ad
Scapulam, Chapter 2, Translated by S. Thelwall.)
Tertullian: “It is a fundamental human right, a
privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own
convictions. One man’s religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is not
the nature of religion to compel religion. Religion ought to be adopted
voluntarily and not by force.” (Ad
Scapulam Chapter 2, Translator unknown)
Tertullian: “It is the law of mankind and the
natural right of each individual to worship what he thinks proper, nor does the
religion of one man either harm or help another. But, it is not proper for
religion to compel men to religion, which should be accepted of one’s own
accord, not by force, since sacrifices also are required of a willing mind. So,
even if you compel us to sacrifice, you will render no service to your gods.” (Ad Scapulam , Chapter 2, translated by
Arbesmann, Daly, and Quain, as quoted in Religious Liberty and the Early Church)
Tertullian: “Moreover, the injustice of forcing
men of free will to offer sacrifice against their will is readily apparent,
for, under all other circumstances, a willing mind is required for discharging
one’s religious obligations. It certainly would be considered absurd were one
man compelled by another to honor gods whom he ought to honor of his own accord
and for his own sake." (Apology, Chapter
28; translated by Emily J. Daly and Edwin A. Quain, as quoted in Religious Liberty and the Early Church)
Tertullian: “But you had best see to it whether
this does not concur to the making up of another article of irreligion against
you—namely, to deprive men of the liberty of worshipping after their own way,
and to interdict them the option of their deity; so that I must not worship the
god I would, but am forced to worship the god I would not; and yet it is agreed
upon on all hands, that forced or unwilling services are not grateful either to
God or man; and for this reason even the Egyptians are tolerated in their superstition,
which is the very vanity of vanities : they are permitted to make gods of birds
and beasts, and to make it capital to be the death of any of these kinds of
deities.” (Apology, Chapter 24,
translated and annotated by William Reeve, The
Ancient and Modern Library of Theological Literature, Vol. 31, 1889)
Melito of Sardis (d. ca. 180 AD): “But this
request alone we present to you, that you would yourself first examine the
authors of such strife, and justly judge whether they be worthy of death and
punishment, or of safety and quiet. But if, on the other hand, this counsel and
this new decree, which is not fit to be executed even against barbarian
enemies, be not from you, much more do we beseech you not to leave us exposed
to such lawless plundering by the populace.” (Apology to the Emperor, in Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, 26:6, translated by Arthur Cushman
McGiffert)
Origen (ca. 185 – 254 AD): “For Christians could
not slay their enemies, or condemn to be burned or stoned, as Moses commands,
those who had broken the law, and were therefore condemned as deserving of
these punishments...” (Contra Celsus,
Book VII, Chapter 26, translated by Frederick Crombie)
Cyprian (ca. 200 – 258 AD): “What is this
insatiable madness for torture, what this interminable lust for cruelty?...why
do you apply tortures to me...Why, when I pronounce myself a Christian in a
crowded place with people standing all around, and confound you and your gods
by a clear and public pronouncement, why do you concern yourself with the
weakness of the body, why do you contend with the feebleness of earthly flesh?
Attack the vigor of the mind, break the strength of the mind, destroy faith;
conquer, if you can, by discussion, conquer by reason. (Chapter 13) “Indeed, if
your gods have any divinity and power, let them themselves rise to their vindication,
let them themselves defend themselves by their own majesty...You should be
ashamed to worship those whom you yourself defend; you should be ashamed to
hope for protection from those whom you protect.” (Chapter 14) (Treatises,
Ad Demetrian, Chapters 13-14 in Treatises,
The Fathers of the Church, Volume 36)
Lactantius (ca. 250 – ca. 320 AD): “Religion being
a matter of the will, it cannot be forced on anyone. In this matter it is
better to employ words than blows…Religion is the one field in which freedom
has pitched her tent, for religion is, first and foremost, a matter of free
will, and no man can be forced under compulsion to adore what he has no will to
adore...Of what use is cruelty? What has the rack to do with piety?... For
nothing is so intrinsically a matter of free will as religion”. (Divine
Institutes 5, translator unknown)
Lactantius: “Who is so insolent, so lofty as to
forbid me to raise my eyes to heaven, to impose on me the necessity either of
worshiping what I do not want to or of not worshiping what I wish?” (Divine
Institutes 5.14, translated by Mary F. McDonald)
Lactantius: “For who is so arrogant, who so lifted
up, as to forbid me to raise my eyes to heaven? Who can impose upon me the
necessity either of worshipping that which I am unwilling to worship, or of
abstaining from the worship of that which I wish to worship?” (Divine
Institutes 5.14, translated by William Fletcher)
Lactantius: “And nothing can be more true than
this, if it is referred to those who refuse no tortures, no kind of death, that
they may not turn aside from faith and justice; who do not tremble at the commands
of tyrants nor the swords of rulers, so as not to maintain true and solid
liberty with constancy of mind, which wisdom is to be observed in this alone.
For who is so arrogant, who so lifted up, as to forbid me to raise my eyes to
heaven? Who can impose upon me the necessity either of worshipping that which I
am unwilling to worship, or of abstaining from the worship of that which I wish
to worship? What further will now be left to us, if even this, which must be
done of one's own will, shall be extorted from me by the caprice of another? No
one will effect this, if we have any courage to despise death and pain.” (Divine
Institutes 5.14, translated by William Fletcher, in Ante-Nicene
Fathers, Vol. 7)
Lactantius: “There is no occasion for violence and
injury, for religion cannot be imposed by force; the matter must be carried on
by words rather than by blows, that the will may be affected. Let them unsheath
the weapon of their intellect; if their system is true, let it be asserted. We
are prepared to hear, if they teach; while they are silent, we certainly pay no
credit to them, as we do not yield to them even in their rage. Let them imitate
us in setting forth the system of the whole matter: for we do not entice, as
they say; but we teach, we prove, we show. And thus no one is detained by us
against his will, for he is unserviceable to God who is destitute of faith and
devotedness; and yet no one departs from us, since the truth itself detains
him. Let them teach in this manner, if they have any confidence in the truth;
let them speak, let them give utterance; let them venture, I say, to discuss
with us something of this nature; and then assuredly their error and folly will
be ridiculed by the old women, whom they despise, and by our boys.” (Divine
Institutes 5.20, translated by William Fletcher, in Ante-Nicene
Fathers, Vol. 7)
[i] These quotes do not imply
endorsement of all posited by these authors, but demonstrate the concept of
religious liberty was on their minds. For example, written sometime before 180
AD, Melito’s statement to the emperor demonstrate that he did not believe
either pagans or Christians should be persecuted.
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