Liberty of conscience
Baptist churches first emerged in the early seventeenth century in response to desires for religious reform of the Roman Catholic church and the conviction that existing Protestant reform was insufficient and not in keeping with the teaching of scripture. In England, the Baptist emphasis was on the necessity of believer's baptism, which presupposed a regenerate church membership, and the authority of scripture over ecclesiastical tradition and credal statements.
The issue of the relationship between church and state quickly arose as Baptist Christians began to suffer severe persecution from the state church in England, and, to a lesser degree, from Puritans and Separatists.
The insistence of English Baptists on the principle of religious liberty put them at odds with the crown which sought to maintain uniformity and control of a state church. Baptists joined Separatists and Anabaptists in calling for the separation of church and state. However, during the 'Commonwealth Period,' many Baptists gained the respect of their Puritan compatriots by fighting against the king in the Civil War; they saw this as a fight for both civil and religious liberty.
The oppressive Clarendon Code implemented by Charles II resulted in intense persecution and social marginalisation for Baptists, but was followed by the Act of Toleration in 1689 securing basic human rights to worship, preach and print religious literature.
In North America the situation was vastly different. These colonies were largely settled by displaced dissenters seeking political and religious freedom, and, although persecution continued from Anglicans and Puritans, their migration resulted in radically different historical developments and the incorporation of the principle of religious liberty into the American Constitution in 1791.
That tradition of liberty bears fruit in our own century. For example, at proceedings of the first Congress of the Baptist World Alliance in 1905, the Alliance stated that "the world must not be permitted to forget what the Baptist doctrine of soul liberty, broadening into the conception of personal liberty and finding expression in the ordinances of civil liberty, has wrought for the political emancipation of mankind."
This is a profound statement, indicating the degree of influence that the Baptist emphasis of religious liberty has had on the world of ideas. More recently Australian Baptist Athol Gill argued that religious liberty should be widened to acknowledge and respect general human rights: "The social and the economic, the political and the religious dimensions of human existence are all involved."
As well as liberty from state control and interference, Baptists have of course asserted the independence of the local church from similar controls imposed by other churches or a denomination. Religious liberty, then, is a central and powerful principle in Baptist history, although Baptists are not alone in advocating or fighting for it.
More in the next post....
Rod Benson is a NSW Baptist minister and ethicist. He attends Dural Baptist Church.
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Is this really really really a Baptist Distinctive?
I wonder about liberty of conscience as a Baptist distinctive for a number of reasons:
(1) I am not sure if we are all talking about the same thing when we talk about the Baptist stance towards 'liberty of conscience'.
(2) The origins of the Baptist stance towards church and state relations can be seen quite clearly among the Separatist and Independent movement, and it is probable that they had at least as much or more to do with the shaping of the concept in 17th century England.
(3) Liberty of conscience as a social/political idea was really forged by a much much broader coalition than a group of baptists and in the battles between 1662 and 1829 baptists were generally small fry.
(4) Another more radical version of liberty of conscience seems to have arisen in the late 18th and early 19th century within English speaking Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Baptist circles which is ultimately antithetical to theological conviction and coherence. In this version not even a church could require of its members that they maintain the faith and life of the church.
Certainly the 'free church' distinctive is another necessary but insufficient condition of being Baptist. But I doubt that the 'every man doing what is right in his own eyes' distinctive is at all a Baptist distinctive other than as maybe a historical accident.
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