News & Features
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Freedom of Conscience - Balancing Secularism With the Right to Worship Published: Monday, August 06, 2012 12:56:09 PM
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By Ted N. C. Wilson
On Sabbath, April 28, 2012, thousands of Seventh-day Adventists and
guests were blessed as church leaders and the youth of the Dominican Union led
out in the third annual Festival of Religious Liberty in Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic. During the past year Adventist youth and young adults
eagerly prepared a well-crafted program featuring biblical scenes from Genesis
to the New Testament church—all emphasizing religious liberty.
Religious liberty and freedom of conscience are
gifts from God—gifts centered in free choice. These gifts are important for
everyone in the world, and they are integral to our sharing the good news of
the ultimate gift of Jesus Himself.
Religious Freedom
in a Secular Society
Just days before the festival in Santo Domingo, I
joined nearly 800 others at the seventh International Religious Liberty
Association (IRLA) Congress in Punta Cana, where government officials,
religious leaders, and guests from around the world gathered to discuss and
promote a better understanding of religious liberty and freedom of conscience
in the context of a secular society. In a world in which certain regions are
growing increasingly secular, challenges to religious liberty are multiplying.
Dr. Ted Wilson
Seventh-day Adventists have always embraced
religious liberty as an integral part of their beliefs, history, and mission.
Religious liberty is in the very DNA of our church. Because we find the
imperative of religious liberty and freedom of conscience in the Bible, we feel
very close to the believers who stood for religious freedom during centuries of
religious restrictions and persecution.
Religious freedom is a fundamental freedom—a basic
human right.1 It preserves an appropriate focus on
personal, individual opportunities, yet it is also good for the well-being of
societies and countries. Wherever it is honored and protected, justice, peace,
and cultural progress inevitably increase.
But more than this, religious liberty and freedom
of conscience have biblical foundations. Freedom of conscience is a gift from
God, our Creator and Savior. He created us with the freedom to choose (see Gen.
2:16, 17). It’s an important part of our human dignity. It was an expression of
God’s great love, and there’s no true love without the freedom to love.
The Signature of God
Religious freedom bears the signature of a God of
love, and plays an integral part in the great conflict between God and Satan,
between good and evil. In the heart of the book of Revelation—Revelation 13 and
14—evil powers are described as oppressing, persecuting, and killing those who
refuse to worship them (Rev. 13:14-17). In contrast, the people of God proclaim
their faith in Jesus—but they don’t force anyone to worship Him. Christians
have always testified to Jesus as the truth. But no one should ever be forced
to accept that testimony. Jesus never imposed His teachings by using His power.
Even His closest disciples were free to leave Him (John 6:67).
Jesus prepared His disciples to face persecution,
but He never allowed them to persecute others, or to take revenge. Instead He
told them, “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another” (Matt.
10:23, NIV).2 Instead of using violence, Jesus
asked His disciples to love their enemies, a practice proclaimed again in 1
Corinthians 4:12, 13: “Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
being defamed, we entreat.”
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