Two Tales of Freedom

“Our present circumstances in the law and politics of religious liberty can be traced to a common forgetting of the true origins and principles of religious freedom…”

Baptists and Religious Liberty

“Although leaders like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison derived religious freedom from Enlightenment principles of toleration, rank-and-file Baptists learned the value of religious liberty the hard way. They suffered persecution under the state-sponsored, “established” churches of the colonies.”

John Leland on the Proper Line between Church and State, Religion and Politic

“John Leland (1754-1841) fervently fought for religious liberty and became a key player in what is known as the Virginia experience. Leland found a strategic ally in Thomas Jefferson. It was an unlikely alliance because Jefferson was a skeptic of  Christianity and Leland was a fervent evangelical Baptist intent on uncompromising preaching the Gospel. Yet Leland and Jefferson shared a passionate belief in freedom of religion. Jefferson’s influence is evident in Leland’s writings but they go beyond Jefferson because they are explicitly Christ-centered.”