Freedom of Worship

January 15th, 1791 was a big date for religion, for it is on this day that the first amendment to the United States constitution was ratified. Now I know that 4th of July is the holiday that we are celebration, and that our basis for this celebration is the remembrance of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But we truly do not achieve a sense of the history of religious tolerance and freedom until fifteen years later. Here is the actual text of the first amendment to the United States constitution.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.[1] Freedom of religion is considered by many people and nations to be a fundamental human right.[2] Thomas Jefferson said (1807) "among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that ...of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; ..."[3] In a country with a state religion, freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths.
Now here is your history lesson:
The modern legal concept of religious freedom as the union of freedom of belief and freedom of worship with the absence of any state-sponsored religion, originated in the United States of America[citation needed].
Most of the early colonies, which were in part founded as a result of religious persecution, were generallly not tolerant of dissident forms of worship with Maryland being the only exception. For example, Roger Williams found it necessary to found a new colony in Rhode Island to escape persecution in the theocratically dominated colony of Massachusetts.
Freedom of religion was first applied as a principle of government in the founding of the colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore, in 1634.[18] Fifteen years later (1649) the Maryland Toleration Act, drafted by Lord Baltimore, provided: "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof." Doesn’t this make you proud to be part of this great state?
Thomas Jefferson, proclaimed:
"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

And now, with this little bit of background, here is your sermon. It would appear that we have 3 distinct venues of freedom of religion that most of us take for granted: the freedom to worship in any place, the freedom to worship with any body of believers, and the freedom to express our beliefs without fear of being persecuted.
The first freedom allows us to meet in the open, in any type of church, and I use this word very loosely. It can be a cathedral, like St John the Divine in New York city, or a modust suburban 1940’s church with an education wing, like St. Mark’s, a preaching barn like the many large fundamentalist contemporary congregations use, a simple storefront location or even a network of house churches, like the UCC has started in Delaware.

The church that my husband and I helped to start in North Caroline first met in a business office then in a roller rink, and finally in a warehouse. There are as many venues as we need and we do not need to travel to these places incognito. The churches can advertise in the yellow pages, put up billboards and erect signs in the front yard. Nothing needs to be done in secret.

Years ago, the earliest of Christ’s followers met in secret. Some of you may be familiar with the Christian symbol of the fish or icthyus. When two people would meet, one would draw a half circle in the dirt on the street. If the other person completed the circle, then both knew it was safe and both knew they were Christians.

The second religious freedom is to worship however we choose. We can be Baptists, Methodist, Episcopalians, Grrek Orthodox or the United Church of Christ. We can choose our beliefs and our creeds, and if we don’t like the church we attend, we can turn around and go to another. Worldwide there are – now hold onto your seats, there are an astonishing 38,000 denominations. Surely with such an extensive variety, there’s a denomination for everyone.

One of my old pastors told this wonderful story about a church that was in the process of building a new sanctuary. It was a dream come true after a period of an intense capital campaign to raise funds. But two weeks before the new building was to be dedicated and opened for the first service, half the congregation left and went down to the church around the corner. Why? They wanted to sod for the lawn around the new church building and disagreed vehemently with those who wanted to lay down grass seeds.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of doctrine or creeds or even the personality of the pastor. Here, in the US, we can choose our congregations base on any religious criteria that we think is important, even the color of the carpet..

The third religious freedom we enjoy is the right to publically express our faith. We can place statues of Saint Francis in our gardens, put “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers on the back of our cars, hang crosses around our necks or wear a tee-shirt that declare the passage from John 3:16. There’s probably someone out there who has the face of Christ tattooed on his or her arm. Go to any Christian store today and you will find accessories galore, from the pens that were given out to the men on Father’s Day to religious candy called Testamints.

This is not true for other countries. When my seminary class traveled to Turkey and Lebanon in 2006, we were told by the professors that no religious jewelry or clothing were to be worn, since the country is 98% Muslim, with the state religion being Islam.
Lastly, albeit sadly, we have the ultimate. According to ex-president Bill Clinton:“We have the most religious freedom of any country in the world, including the freedom not to believe.” Even that is important, because it means that we cannot force our religious on anyone. And now we have come full circle to the reasons that America was founded as a land of freedom from religious persecution.

We have come a long way since 1776, and are blessed beyond belief by the religious freedoms that we enjoy.
May we always remember what has been truly given to us.