WASHINGTON, D.C. (ABP) — Three Baptist organizations are teaming up to provide churches with the tools to celebrate American freedoms “without watering down their devotion to God with civil religion.”
The First Freedoms Project — led by Associated Baptist Press, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Baptists Today news journal — has developed resources for churches to use in worship, Sunday school and other settings to celebrate American freedoms, particularly those enshrined in the First Amendment, including religious liberty and freedom of the press.
The original resources include sermon ideas, illustrations, original hymn texts, Sunday school lessons, litanies and readings, historical vignettes and bulletin inserts. All the materials, focused on a theme of “Free to Worship, Free to Know,” are available free on a CD and on the group's Web site, www.firstfreedoms.com.
The organizers are encouraging churches to celebrate the first annual First Freedoms Day on Sunday, July 3.
Composer and performer Ken Medema of San Francisco recorded his song “I See America Through the Eyes of Love” especially for this year's celebration. It is paired with a Powerpoint multimedia presentation for use in worship.
The resources also include original hymn texts by David Burroughs, president of Passport Camps and a volunteer editor of the resources, and Daniel Day, pastor of First Baptist Church of Raleigh, N.C. — both written to support the First Freedoms theme. In addition to Sunday school lessons for youth and adults, the materials include a commissioned sermon by George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, and an address by church historian Walter Shurden of Mercer University.
According to organizers, the First Freedoms Project was developed to help churches that struggle with how to celebrate national holidays — particularly the Fourth of July — without blurring the line between patriotism and worship.
“The resources will help those who want to express their love of country without watering down their devotion to God with civil religion,” said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee. “The answer is to celebrate our God-given freedom, which America has done a good job of preserving for more than two centuries.”
Mickey Shearon, a Baptist layman from Granbury, Texas, said he was “excited” to learn about the First Freedoms Project and “to know that there are other Baptists out there who feel as I do.” Shearon said he is troubled that many Baptist congregations are headed toward a very “civil or nationalistic religion” and “a much-too-cozy relationship with the leaders of the extreme Religious Right.”
Shearon is encouraging Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, where he is a member and volunteer, to use the First Freedoms resources for its July 3 worship service.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship sent copies of the resource CD to 1,600 Baptist congregations in early June. “The First Freedoms initiative will be a wonderful opportunity for you to respond with clarity and integrity to the fragile freedoms of our faith and our nation,” Bo Prosser, CBF coordinator for congregational life, told the congregations in an accompanying letter.
The First Freedoms Project was announced in June 2004 and launched with a national conference in April in Washington, D.C.
All three sponsoring organizations are founded on First Amendment principles, which they say are embedded in Baptist history and crucial to the practice of a free faith. Those freedoms, particularly religious liberty and freedom of the press, “have been reinterpreted or misapplied by some, ignored or taken for granted by others,” they said.
“As a result, true religious liberty is often overwhelmed by a wave of civil religion or misdirected patriotism,” the group said in the resource materials.
John Pierce, editor of Baptists Today, said the resources have been well received by church leaders. He noted the First Freedoms Project is a “partnership” between the three sponsoring agencies and local congregations. “We are grateful for every church leader who joins us in reminding Baptists that the cherished freedoms to worship and to receive reliable information are crucial to everything we are called to do,” said Pierce.
Some of those congregations are also signing on to support the three autonomous organizations financially, either through budget gifts or special offerings, Pierce added.
One of them is Zebulon (N.C.) Baptist Church. Pastor Jack Glasgow said the congregation already feels a part of the First Freedoms Project, based on its past support of the three organizations. This year the congregation plans to add a gift for First Freedoms.
“We believe this is an important step at a crucial time for Baptist congregations to take,” Glasgow said.
— Greg Warner is executive editor of Associated Baptist Press.