Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

Freely chosen

OpinionSam Chaise  |  August 20, 2014

By Sam Chaise

Should people be free to choose their own religion?

Yes.

This, to me, seems like such an obvious answer that I am flabbergasted that in much of the world, the de facto reality on the ground is “No.” Even in cases where on paper there is religious freedom (e.g., enshrined in a constitution), there are significant social, economic and political consequences of swimming upstream against the cultural tide.

I often think of Baptists as being the wild-eyed radicals of the Reformation. The Reformation started out relatively innocuously — 95 theses being nailed to a church door in Wittenberg. Luther and Calvin and other magisterial reformers, despite their reforming impulses, still thought in terms of a state church that was a reformed version of the existing church. In other words, there would still be an official church, with government sanction and support, and the norm would be that everyone in that country would belong to that church.

Crazy, eh? Maybe understandable for the time, but still, what a dramatic proscribing of the freedom that a human person should have.

In contrast, Baptists, those wild-eyed radicals, along with Anabaptists and some other groups, believed that one’s faith in God was a deeply personal matter that had to be willingly and wilfully entered into. The person chose, not the state. Rather than reforming the church, they just started over.

The mind-bending (at the time) part of this belief was that this also meant that others were free to choose a different pathway than what you chose. You didn’t have to agree with the other person, and you were free to seek to convince them that your pathway was better (as they were free to seek to convince you), but no coercive or societal pressure was to be exerted on what was the free choice of a human being who was made in the image of God. This was the beginning of what we call “religious freedom” — the freedom to choose.

Sadly, religious freedom is on the decrease in most of the world. In North America and Western Europe, we are shifting away from pluralism, which cradles a diversity of faiths, and toward secularism, which values the lack of religion over the presence of religion. The valuing of non-religion over religion is not freedom, but privileges a type of worldview which is assumed to be neutral but is anything but.

In parts of the Middle East and Asia there are groups which seek to make Islam the state religion of their country. In July I was at a global gathering of Baptist leaders and heard stories of forced conversions in Nigeria by radical Islamist groups. Most Muslims don’t advocate for this but some do, sometimes with guns. There are countries which are historically Orthodox or Catholic where evangelicals are opposed by the historic or state church, because the assumption is that an officially sanctioned religion is what everyone should hold to.

If we human beings are going to have a future that is inclined toward peace we surely need to learn to coexist with one another, even with our differing beliefs. I am not at all saying that all beliefs lead to the same end or lead to God or that all beliefs are equally good: sincerity does not equal goodness. Adolf Hitler was sincere, and acted on his beliefs. Beliefs matter. Which is why we need to value the freedom that allows us to seek to persuade one another of the efficacy and truth of our beliefs.

But as a species we need to learn not to coerce belief or impose it. What we need to do is cultivate spaces of conversation and exploration that allow people to discover the God who is there. I, obviously, believe that this God is most fully revealed in Jesus, and that the closer someone is to Jesus and the Jesus-way the closer they are to fulfilling God’s intentions for them. If someone disagrees with me, I will try to convince them, and they will try to convince me. But we will do so as free people, able to make free choices, who acknowledge the dignity and freedom of people who make different choices.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Sam ChaiseReligious LibertyCommentaries
More by
Sam Chaise
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • What are the most ‘conservative’ colleges and universities in America?

      News

    • Now Robert Jeffress says the Ten Commandments are important

      Opinion

    • Experiences of female clergy are often overlooked in accounts of the SBC schism, professor says

      News

    • Let’s talk about those clergy resume ‘gaps’ for mothers

      Opinion


    Curated

    • Jews spitting on the ground beside Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land sparks outrage

      Jews spitting on the ground beside Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land sparks outrage

    • Indigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists

      Indigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists

    • Faith-based health organizations defend at-risk AIDS initiative from Republicans

      Faith-based health organizations defend at-risk AIDS initiative from Republicans

    • Liberty University failed to disclose crime data and warn of threats for years, report says

      Liberty University failed to disclose crime data and warn of threats for years, report says

    Read Next:

    Should Christians curse?

    OpinionAlan Bean

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Middle schoolers are cooler than you think — and other reasons to volunteer in your church’s youth group

      OpinionGrace Sosa

    • BWIM’s 40th anniversary gathering features new documentary

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • My argument in Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Baptist Women in Ministry was founded as a ‘justice movement,’ seminary president tells 40th anniversary gathering 

      NewsPat Cole

    • Why some retired clergy lose faith and leave church

      AnalysisMartin Thielen

    • Evangelical group teaches churches to prioritize politics

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • What are the most ‘conservative’ colleges and universities in America?

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Let’s talk about those clergy resume ‘gaps’ for mothers

      OpinionLaura Stephens-Reed

    • Experiences of female clergy are often overlooked in accounts of the SBC schism, professor says

      NewsPat Cole

    • Now Robert Jeffress says the Ten Commandments are important

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Dialogue with religious conservatives could help nonbinary awareness, Ladin says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • ‘Reaffiliation’ policy seeks to welcome home exited UMC churches

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • What does Shannon Harris think now?

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • Why we must go there

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Amy Butler hopes to give other pastors courage to tell their stories

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Should Christians curse?

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • First Fresh Expressions United Methodist gathering won’t go to Florida

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • 50 years later, Celebrate Life still is the wind we soar on

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom allegedly ‘manufactured’ wedding cases to battle gay rights

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Never say never: The Now and Forever Windows at the National Cathedral

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • LBJ’s Great Society hurt Blacks more than slavery, Tim Scott declares

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • For the Bible tells me so: The Bible and the Civil Rights movement

      OpinionKaitlyn Schiess

    • Candidates seek to increase LGBTQ representation in public office

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Templeton Foundation funds first-of-its-kind research into the religious ‘nones’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Listen to the woman: Cassidy Hutchinson

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • BWIM’s 40th anniversary gathering features new documentary

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Baptist Women in Ministry was founded as a ‘justice movement,’ seminary president tells 40th anniversary gathering 

      NewsPat Cole

    • Evangelical group teaches churches to prioritize politics

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • What are the most ‘conservative’ colleges and universities in America?

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Experiences of female clergy are often overlooked in accounts of the SBC schism, professor says

      NewsPat Cole

    • Dialogue with religious conservatives could help nonbinary awareness, Ladin says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • ‘Reaffiliation’ policy seeks to welcome home exited UMC churches

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • Amy Butler hopes to give other pastors courage to tell their stories

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • First Fresh Expressions United Methodist gathering won’t go to Florida

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • 50 years later, Celebrate Life still is the wind we soar on

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom allegedly ‘manufactured’ wedding cases to battle gay rights

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • LBJ’s Great Society hurt Blacks more than slavery, Tim Scott declares

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Candidates seek to increase LGBTQ representation in public office

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Templeton Foundation funds first-of-its-kind research into the religious ‘nones’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Hispanic students report highest levels of discrimination in some educational institutions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Conspiracy theories link Jesus, JFK and Trump

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • U.S. immigration policies are harming persecuted Christians, evangelical leaders warn

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • SoConCon links Focus on the Family with secular politics of Heritage Foundation and Koch groups

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Together for Hope names Appalachia director

      NewsBNG staff

    • Remembering BNG columnist Terry Austin

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Are Americans ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious’ or both or neither?

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Chi Alpha campus ministry leaders indicted in Texas

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • This week’s BNG webinar: Amy Butler

      NewsBNG staff

    • A former victim of Boko Haram terrorism finds love in America; meanwhile, others remain in captivity 

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Middle schoolers are cooler than you think — and other reasons to volunteer in your church’s youth group

      OpinionGrace Sosa

    • My argument in Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Let’s talk about those clergy resume ‘gaps’ for mothers

      OpinionLaura Stephens-Reed

    • Now Robert Jeffress says the Ten Commandments are important

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Why we must go there

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Should Christians curse?

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • Never say never: The Now and Forever Windows at the National Cathedral

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • For the Bible tells me so: The Bible and the Civil Rights movement

      OpinionKaitlyn Schiess

    • Listen to the woman: Cassidy Hutchinson

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • Cats and dogs at Bubba-Doo’s

      OpinionCharles Qualls

    • Idolatry is alive and well today

      OpinionNapoleon Harris

    • First they came for them, then they came for us

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Don’t call it burn-out

      OpinionTodd Thomason

    • Why potluck and Wednesday night dinners are important

      OpinionMaina Mwaura

    • American idols: Andrew Whitehead on American faith and Christian nationalism

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Creating inner peace

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • ‘Nobody wants to be an addict’

      OpinionTambi Brown Swiney

    • Men and congregational singing: The rest of the story

      OpinionCharlie Fuller

    • Things Christians need to know, for our own sake, about Yom Kippur, Judaism’s Day of Atonement

      OpinionKen Sehested

    • The real religious crisis in America

      OpinionMartin Thielen

    • Fear of dancing and the courage to be serious

      OpinionGreg Jarrell

    • Ken and Angela Paxton do a little sidestep — while quoting Bible verses

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • This is why people are leaving the church

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • Criticism of Andy Stanley is rooted in father wounds

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • What do we mean by ‘affirming’?

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • Jews spitting on the ground beside Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land sparks outrage

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Indigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Faith-based health organizations defend at-risk AIDS initiative from Republicans

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Liberty University failed to disclose crime data and warn of threats for years, report says

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageNancy Carol Hastings Sehested

    • What ‘Mother Teresa & Me’ Gets Wrong About Faith And Doubt

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Uncovering the (white) Christian roots of slavery, Native American genocide, and ongoing efforts to erase history

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • An Arizona school board member was told to stop quoting the Bible. Now she’s suing.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pope Francis creates 21 new cardinals who will help him to reform the church and cement his legacy

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A green card processing change means US could lose thousands of faith leaders from abroad

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • German Homeschoolers Face Deportation After 15 Years in the US

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Biden expands Civil Rights Act protections at 8 cabinet departments to include antisemitism

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • 9th Circuit agrees with panel, orders California school district to recognize Fellowship of Christian Athletes club

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • As psychedelic-assisted therapy grows, so does interest from a new group: chaplains

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Victims march to Rome to demand ‘zero tolerance’ on church abuse

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • AI Has No Place in the Pulpit

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • This Christian text you’ve never heard of, The Shepherd of Hermas, barely mentions Jesus − but it was a favorite of early Christians far and wide

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Greek court: Orthodox students cannot be exempted from religion classes

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why separating fact from fiction is critical in teaching US slavery

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Everything is political, oh my! Why churches should build better capacity for political dialogue

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pastors Wonder About Church Members Who Never Came Back Post-Pandemic

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Meeting between Jewish leaders and Benjamin Netanyahu broaches judicial overhaul — and gets personal

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • West Side Story: Diverse NY Church Represents 5 Continents

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • National Cathedral windows shift from themes of Confederacy to racial justice

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Culture War Is Not Spiritual Warfare

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • AI won’t be replacing your priest, minister, rabbi or imam any time soon

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS