By Zachary Bailes
“That is aimed, number one, at Sharia law,” Land said. “The imposition of Sharia law as an alternative at any level of the American legal system –- let me be clear about this -– violates the Constitution of the United States.”
Richard Land is at it again. The above quote comes from Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top public-policy expert from his weekly call-in show. Interestingly enough he was speaking about one of four resolutions passed at last week’s annual meeting. As ABP reported, “One titled “Religious Liberty in a Global Society” opposed among other things “the imposition of any system of jurisprudence by which people of different faiths do not enjoy the same legal rights.”
News flash to Richard Land: that includes making Christian convictions the law of the land.
Land goes on to say, “I would argue that stoning an adulterer, cutting off the hand of a thief, those are cruel and unusual punishments.” He makes a good point, but highly unoriginal. After all, if we were to govern by the Bible we would have to deal with contradictions between retributive justice and restorative justice. But I digress.
Land fails to see that much like the law of love found in the Christian New Testament or the mitzvot in the Jewish Scriptures, religions have laws that govern religious practice. If you ban Sharia law, you infringe upon are rights of people to freely practice their religions.
Land sneakily stands behind a double standard. Land advocates religious liberty, but only for Jews and Christians. The rest, well, their religious law must be unpatriotic or simply a guise for terrorism. Land earlier this year withdrew support from an interfaith coalition because, as the ABP reports, “Land said many Southern Baptists perceived his involvement as ‘crossing the line from defense of religious freedom to advocacy of, or promotion of, Islam itself.’”
John Leland spoke about this very issue in the 18th century. In the 1790 publication of Chronicle of His Time in Virginia Leland said, “The notion of a Christian commonwealth should be exploded forever…. Government should protect every man in thinking and speaking freely, and see that one does not abuse another. The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians.”
This history lesson for Richard Land is that you can advocate equal protection under the law for Muslims and not become a Muslim. Stoning people will not be tolerated because, as Leland says, government’s role is to “see that one does not abuse another.” It’s that simple. Even then, in 1790, Leland wanted protection for Muslims (“Turks”), too.
I could bemoan the fact that Land and the SBC are grossly ignoring history and skewing it for their own political gain. Instead I want to encourage those that believe in equal protection to keep speaking the truth in love. Our Baptist heritage can indeed inspire unity, but we must speak out.
John Leland was no top public-policy expert, but a Baptist minister with a conviction for humanity. He inspires, even now, digging deep into our heritage to unearth collective possibilities. The transformative love of God extends deep into the heart of humanity. When we start deciding which religions can tap into that well, we have displaced God as the criterion and inspiration of our faith. When we ignore the call of Jesus to welcome the stranger, we displace the Kingdom of God.
When we remain silent as our fellow travelers upon this earth are disparaged and discriminated against, our silence will be all that is remembered. Richard Land’s comments must be, and are not the last words on this issue. At stake is nothing less than our humanity, endowed by God and shared throughout the world.