Thoughts on religious liberty, from First Freedom:
Man is made in God’s image; God is able to and does reveal himself to man; the individual is able to deal with God through the only mediator; the state has no ecclesiastical function and a church has no civil authority.
J. D. Hughey [developed] an ethic of religious liberty built on man’s creation in the image of God, the “fundamental Christian teaching of love,” and the Golden Rule.[i]
Philip Wogaman...provides three useful categories of religious freedom and then discusses briefly how the intersection of other rights might affect their exercise. “Absolute religious liberty” is the internal freedom to believe and worship as one pleases. “Qualified absolute religious liberty” is the freedom to profess or to express one’s faith verbally through social communication. He calls this a qualified liberty because “a case must be made for limiting speech which is not designed as communication of faith, knowledge, or opinion but as malicious slander or incitement to action of an illegal sort.” “Qualified religious liberty” is the freedom to act in accordance with one’s religious insights and values. He says this kind of liberty “raises problems” when it is made into an absolute. Issues like withholding medication for religious reasons, education of children, and activities that harm other people require that this liberty be restricted in some manner.[ii]
These are not only useful distinctions; they are reasonable. As we make our claims for religious liberty, and insist on them with zeal, we must keep in mind that humans are still fallen. Some people will abuse any liberty. When they do, government must step in to protect its citizens.
[ii] Philip Wogaman, Protestant Faith and Religious Liberty (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1967), pp. 182-190; cited in First Freedom: The Beginning and End of Religious Liberty, edited by Jason G. Duesing, Thomas White, Malcolm B. Yarnell, p. 107
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