Are we talking about separation of Church and State or what exactly

 

Okay I admit I am not the most prolific reader, nor writer, but I do read occasionally. I also write this blog, but what you call the amount of writing I do here is waiting on a description.

Anyway I am reading four books right now, yet again do not consider me a prolific reader. I am barely covering twenty pages a week in two of them and less in the other two, however I ran across this quote and it got me to thinking:

“For see that you do not give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking away religious liberty, and forbidding free choice of deity, so that I may no longer worship according to my inclination, but am compelled to worship against it. Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him.”

The argument behind this quote is that true devotion must come from free will. The author is a Roman legal scholar who converted to Christianity and wrote Apologeticus or Apology around 197 AD. Tertullianus or Tertullian converted to Christianity and became a theological writer. Previously he was a legal scholar. If you are a religious scholar you probably know much about him, for us lay people it is quite a surprise to realize how much he influenced the early church. It is important to note though unlike many of the early writers he is not a saint and later in life he took up with or was heavily influenced by a sect called “Montanists” which took him away from the Church. His main works though are important pieces of early theology, highly regarded and are highly quoted.

So to get back to the title of this post, what on God’s green earth are we talking about here. When I read the quote for some reason I started thinking about Christian Nationalism. I do not think there is a direct correlation here, however, the rise of Christian Nationalism seems to fall into the lines of the arguments Tertullian was making against the Romans who were persecuting Christians.

You need to remember that the Roman government at times forced people to worship the Roman Gods. Actually it was required throughout the Empire, however there were times when certain leaders would issue new edicts and create times of extreme persecutions of Christians.  Tertullian was alive during one of these times and witnessed Christians being martyred. He was arguing against the Roman State and these persecutions.

Now I am not saying the Christian Nationalists are martyring people right now, but their philosophy leads to the same problem the Romans developed for themselves. By forcing a religion upon people, the people will respond against that very same religion especially if there is a choice or that phrase many Christians struggle with, free will.

 Of course at the time Christianity was a new religion, yet they were different in the way they acted and believed. In 2023 it is hard for us to understand what it meant to be a Christian in 200 AD. Most of their belief life was shrouded in secrecy yet they still tended to the basic fundamentals of Christianity. They helped each other, they lived a life free of the excesses of the Romans, they married for life, they worshipped in houses, they were being taught by apostolic teaching which meant they were taught directly from people who could follow a line back to the original apostles and this was just a few generations removed from the actual apostles.

The Christian Nationalist movement is breaking away from the true teachings of Christianity so they are breaking away from Christianity as it is historically taught. They pollute the very word, but this is not a modern theological argument.

Going back to the original quote, it is more a realization of irony that Tertullian used the argument that the State or government cannot force their religion upon people, in this case Christians, because it is less likely to have people believe in that religion. The Christian Nationalists may want to make note of that thought.

And also there is the fact our Constitution allows for the free choice of religion and that the State or government or Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. This essentially bans a national church. Another point the Christian Nationalists seem to miss, yet they are trying hard to change this fact. And another fun point the Constitution doesn’t exactly say separation of church and state, but the above sentence that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.  The phrase separation of church and state came a few years later.

And I do not think there is a direct correlation from Tertullian to our founding fathers in the creation of the infamous separation of church and state, yet even early Christian theologians understood that it is faith and living the life of a Christian which brought more people to Christianity than how a government tried to force people to believe in their gods.

And with true free will most people do not choose the excessive secular liberalism or the extreme religious zealot who wants to dictate their version of their religion over the actual living and teachings of faith. It is the old phrase, lead by example and that changes more hearts than threats, spears and demagoguery.