But there are some
distinctives, and some important emphases, that I want to maintain and stress.
The events of the last
couple of weeks have brought to my mind the significance of 2, very different
Baptist ministers... they lived 400 years apart, in different parts of the
world – but their legacy has never been so relevant.
2 weeks ago terrorists
burst into the offices of a French satirical magazine and shot dead as many of
its staff as they could. As well as a
personal and national tragedy this was seen as a full on assault on free speech
and, in particular, the freedom to criticise, mock and offend against the
sensitivities of religion. Since then
debate has raged over what that means, how far that freedom really runs, and
where might its boundaries lie. Also, what sort of culture is best placed to
protect these freedoms? French
secularism has loudly pronounced itself as a principle contender. Historically very different from its British
and American counterpart, this version has its own, clearly enunciated, truth
claims and is keen to dominate the public square, insisting that religion, all
religion, restrict itself to the private. As an answer to the issues raised,
let alone as a means toward future public harmony, it’s struggling.
Just over 400 years ago in
1612, the last person in England was executed for heresy – his name was Edward
Wightman and he was a Baptist. That same
year another, more well known, Baptist minister called Thomas Helwys published
a book called’ ‘The Mystery of Iniquity’, remarkably it included the line...
“...the king has no more power over (Catholic) consciences
than over ours, and that is none at all.... for men’s religion to God is
between God and themselves. The king shall not answer for it. Let them be
heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever, it appertains not to the earthly power to
punish them in the least measure.”
It was
the first ever appeal, in English, for universal freedom of religion, well
before the enlightenment, based not on secular rationalism but on free church
conviction that real freedom can only ever be found in radical commitment to
God.
351
years later, another Baptist minister stood in front of 250,000 people and began his sermon ...
“I am happy to join with you today in what will
go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of
our nation.”
16
minutes later he concluded by saying...
“... when we allow
freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from
every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men
and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to
join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at
last”
Martin
Luther King is, of course, world famous and widely revered. He won the Nobel peace prize, and is even up
for an Oscar next month. But he was
simply expressing the truth of his commitment, his faith, often obscured in
Christian history yet powerfully significant today – freedom is not a human
inevitability but a God given gift to everyone.
