What about religious liberty? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
This chapter was surprising. In all fairness, the Bible doesn’t say much about religious liberty. In the Old Testament, Israelites were expected to be loyal to YHWH as part of the covenant people and within a nation, that was the way it lived. You didn’t want to be a part of the covenant people? Clear out of dodge. Don’t go trying to be a pagan in Israel.
Do you want to come to Israel? Sure, but you are not allowed to set up Bob’s House of Idols while you’re there. You enter the land of Israel and you play by the rules of Israel.
When we get to the New Testament, we are never given a system of governance on how people are to be led. Christians are expected to be loyal to King Jesus. It is not until we get to the Fathers struggling in a pagan culture that we first see arguments for religious liberty. Robert Wilken says this started with Tertullian.
In fairness to Longman, Wilken’s book came out just months before Longman’s so it’s likely he didn’t have time to get it for that perspective. Book writing can be a lengthy process. Had there been a few years difference between the books, there would be an issue, but I urge Longman to read Wilkens’s book.
Longman does rightly go to the first amendment and says that it is most likely this did not mean no religious voices in the public square. It just meant there wouldn’t be a national religion mandated by the government. That is correct, but at the time the founders still held to blasphemy laws. Government funds were used to support missionary endeavors.
Longman then brings up conflicts the church has with the LGBTQ community in the area of law. Indeed, this is part of the problem that many of us saw when the State decided that somehow, the founders thought that two men could declare themselves married. When you try to redefine marriage, you have to defend that redefinition by going after anyone who disagrees with it.
However, there is one paragraph I will quote in full here since I was so dumbfounded by it.
We should begin by remembering that Christianity was birthed in a culture that had virtually no religious liberty (at least toward the new Christian religion). Religious liberty, in short, is not a biblical principle. p. 70
I’m sorry. What?
I even asked some professors here if I was misreading that to make sure. Nope. They thought it said the same thing.
So let’s see if we can rephrase this:
We should begin by remembering that Christianity was birthed in a culture that had virtually no faithful monogamy. Faithful monogamy, in short, is not a biblical principle.
We should begin by remembering that Christianity was birthed in a culture that had virtually no value for female children. Value for female children, in short, is not a biblical principle.
Does any of this make sense?
Now Longman does believe we should value our liberty, but we should not demand it. I am not sure what he means by this. Should a preacher being told to marry a same-sex attracted couple or else not stand up? It’s unclear.
Longman does refer to C.S. Lewis talking about the criminalization of homosexual behavior and Lewis asking what business of the State is that. To this, I suggest we keep in mind that when it comes to behavior, the state can do one of three things. It can permit, promote, or prohibit. This should also not be dependent on if a religious tradition says so or not.
For instance, is there any secularist who would like to have the laws against murder repealed because the Ten Commandments also have a law against murder? Doubtful. If murder is wrong, it is wrong regardless of what any religion says about it.
So looking at same-sex behavior as Lewis was concerned about, he did not want it prohibited, probably in the sense of breaking into peoples’ bedrooms. In this case, it is permitted. Going out in public and doing it would be a different matter just as much as if a heterosexual couple did that. Our society has now gone the route of promote, such as the Biden White House having pride flags on it. I suspect Lewis would say the same thing. “What business of that is the State’s?”
So in the end, I think Longman’s chapter has the big flaw in saying that religious liberty is not a biblical principle because the Roman Empire didn’t practice it. Even if the conclusion was correct, he has given a horrible reason for thinking it. We should not expect the Bible to give us a model on how to run a multicultural government. That is not its place.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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