Religious Freedom Is for Non-Christians Too
Russell Moore / July 1, 2017
Does religious liberty apply to non-Christian religions?
Someone told me he had seen a Baptist writer question whether Muslim Americans qualify for religious liberty “benefits.” Hearing that was honestly surprising, since it represents a direct contradiction of our confessional document and all of its predecessors.
But beyond this there’s a broader question that’s important to consider: Must a person who believes Jesus is the only way to God defend religious freedom for Christians and non-Christians alike?
One thing we need to be very clear about is that religious liberty is not a government “benefit,” but a natural and inalienable right granted by God. Often at issue is whether or not the civil state has the power to zone mosques or Islamic cemeteries or synagogues or other houses of worship out of existence because of what those groups believe. When someone makes such a claim, they are not standing up for Jesus and his gospel, but standing against them. To empower the state to command or to forbid worship is not fidelity to the Bible. ...
Like other freedoms, there are limits to how our freedoms can be exercised, and government has an obligation to protect its citizens from violence and harm. It should carry out this obligation faithfully. But again, the state also has an obligation to protect citizens from the state itself. And stripping a religious community of civil liberties is an act of aggression by the state against its citizens.
Moreover, the idea that religious freedom should apply only to Christians, or only to religious groups that aren’t unpopular, is not only morally wrong; it’s self-defeating. A government that can tell you a mosque or synagogue cannot be built because it is a mosque or a synagogue is a government that, in the fullness of time, will tell an evangelical church it cannot be constructed because of our claims to the exclusivity of Christ. Those voices (though a distinct minority) that claim to be Christian but seek to restrict religious freedom for others are, perhaps unknowingly, on a campaign to destroy religious freedom for all. ...
Some perspective from a Baptist, published at
Gospel Coalition. Russell Moore is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
