Over the last several weeks, I have followed the case of Yousof Nadarkhani . He is the Iranian who has been sentenced to death because of his conversion to Christianity. Iranian officials deny this report and say he was convicted of being a Zionist and traitor to Iran. Nadarkhani became a Christian at age 19, having professed faith in no religion before that time. The case has attracted world attention with religious leaders seeking to intercede before the execution. Nadarkhani's lawyer believes the Iranian government will not carry out the death penalty.
All of this struck a chord with me this week as I was attending the Baptist Joint Committee board meeting. The question that comes to the front is, "How important is religious liberty?" The Baptist Joint Committee and the Texas Christian Life Commission work faithfully not only to answer that question, but also to safeguard religious liberty for all. They work hard to help Baptists and others understand the two-fold message of the first amendment. There is freedom of religion and religious expression, and there will be no established or government-sanctioned religion. That has been a cherished principle for Baptists since our beginnings. We call it the separation of church and state. It does not mean freedom from religion, for we are religious folk. But it never means the establishment of religion. The expression of religious faith should not be curtailed, even if we don't agree with that faith.
This often has made for some unusual positions for Baptists. You see, we are not interested in religious liberty only for Christians but for the freedom to exercise religion for all people. In the pledge of allegiance, we pledge to "one nation under God." But we also pledge "with liberty and justice for all."
Baptists always have been a freedom-loving people. We cherish and have fought for our religious liberty and for the religious liberty of every person. I am thankful to be a part of a faith expression that does that. I am thankful to be a part of a convention that supports that religious liberty through our organizations the Texas Christian Life Commission and the Baptist Joint Committee. I would wish for every person in every nation to have the cherished freedoms we have.
One quick update on Texas Baptists' annual meeting. Ron Hall will speak on the Wednesday morning of the meeting. Hall is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller,Same Kind of Different as Me. Denver Moore is the other author who was homeless in Fort Worth when Ron and his wife, Debbie, began to serve at Union Gospel Mission in east Fort Worth 13 years ago. His motto and that of his co-author basically says, "We're just sinners saved by grace with a mission to bring hope to all people." That is "Igniting Hope."
If you haven't already, make your plans to come to Amarillo. I look forward to seeing you there.
?Steve Vernon is associate executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.