November 18, 2002
Shine light on liberty, CLC director urges
___By John Hall
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Texas Baptists must fight for religious liberty as their denominational forefathers did, Strickland said. He cited Thomas Helwys and Roger Williams, founders of the first Baptist church and first Baptist church in the American colonies, respectively, as early proponents of religious liberty.
___"Our Baptist heroes are our heroes because of their stance on religious liberty," Strickland said.
___Today, fallacious materials that depict the founding fathers of the United States as wanting to create a singularly Christian nation besiege churches, Strickland warned. And some Baptists are supporting efforts that would blur the separation of church and state, he said.
___"Our churches are being overwhelmed with information with a revisionist slant," he said. "The funding to do that seems to be unlimited."
___The Christian Life Commission tries to combat the onslaught of misleading videos and brochures with informative materials of its own, Strickland said.
___Issues threatening religious liberty, Strickland said, include tax-funded vouchers for parochial schools, school-prayer initiatives and government funding of faith-based ministries.
___"We need light that understands faith cannot be bought or enforced," Strickland said. "It's a soul thing. It's a voluntary thing."
___Many Americans take religious liberty for granted, Strickland said. Yet every day, people in other nations die because of their faith. Governments spy on churches, censor them or even outlaw religion.
___Texas Baptists, he insisted, must protect religious liberty for all in order to ensure freedom of worship. "How little we recognize how precious this liberty is to all of us."
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