LET RELIGIOUS LIBERTY RING!

Fifty years ago I stood beside my grandmother in the beautiful rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial. After studying the imposing statue of the "Gentleman Farmer from Virginia," she pointed to the words inscribed on the walls. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …" And then she showed her young grandson the words that she considered to be just as important, "Almighty God hath created the mind free … all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."

"We are free to worship the way we feel led," she told me. "We are free to be Baptists. There are many people in the world who don't have this freedom."

It seemed so simple back then. My preacher would speak often of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. He would tell us stories of Baptist ministers who were arrested just for preaching. The authorities would come into the church and drag them out of the pulpit. They would be whipped and thrown into prison.

Often, as he preached, I imagined the local police coming into our church and ordering him to stop. I could see my preacher raising his Bible and proclaiming that he must obey God rather than men. Then as he continued to preach the policemen would drag him out of the pulpit as he waved his Bible, urging us never to give up. I pictured my grandmother and the ladies in her mission circle meeting to pray for the preacher and bake brownies to send him in jail.

Sometimes I would see myself, a little boy, bravely ascending the pulpit and saying something like, "They can silence the messenger but they cannot silence the message!" As I became a teenager I would picture myself being dragged out of the church while all the teenage girls wept and proclaimed me a hero while I sat in prison sharing brownies with my preacher.

Yes, it seemed so simple back then. My understanding of religious freedom was that the authorities would not interfere with my preacher. He was free to say whatever God led him to say, and he could say it for as long as he desired (and he usually did!). No one could stop him — not the Methodists, or the Presbyterians, and certainly not the Catholics.

We had just elected the first Catholic president, but even JFK was on record stating that there is "absolute separation of church and state." He stated that no Catholic prelate would dictate how a Catholic president should govern any more than a Protestant minister would tell his congregation how to vote (not that any Protestant minister would ever think about telling his church how to vote).

I never even considered the possibility of religious freedom protecting someone of a different faith. My childhood was very provincial. We didn't even have a Catholic church in our town, much less a synagogue. A mosque? I don't think I knew what one was. What if an atheist wanted to preach at the depot square? No one had any problem with the street preachers who stood on their soapboxes there — but an atheist? Well, that's different. I thought religious liberty simply protected the Baptists.

Religious liberty in a pluralistic society is far from simple. Issues such as abortion, contraception, health care, homosexuality, religious instruction in school and marriage equality have created an ongoing and contentious debate. Precisely because of this religious freedom is more important than ever. A society that respects religious liberty and allows differing claims to truth to compete beside one another creates an atmosphere of openness, integrity, and respect.

Earlier Saturday, I stood once again in the beautiful rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial. We are in Washington with the youths from our church (including my granddaughter) on a Religious Liberty Trip. I pointed out the timeless words inscribed on the panels of the monument, the same words my grandmother read to her grandson almost 50 years ago. Then we sat the on steps of the memorial and talked about religious liberty. Religious faith must be a matter of conviction, not of coercion. Jesus never forced anyone to follow him. That's not too hard to understand.

I don't know if my granddaughter or any of the youths will take their grandchildren to Washington 50 years from now and talk about religious liberty. I would like to think they would. But more importantly, I hope that the bell of religious liberty will still be ringing with a clear, clarion call. "Almighty God hath created the mind free …"

Let religious liberty ring!

MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD!

Julia Ward Howe was a remarkable woman.  She was a crusader for social justice, an outspoken abolitionist, an early advocate for women’s right to vote, and a crusader for world peace.  She was a direct descendent of Roger Williams, who is often called the first Baptist in America, the founder of Providence Plantation in 1636, the first American settlement that was founded on the principle of the separation of church and state.  She came from a extraordinary family.

        President Abraham Lincoln was inspired by the writings of “Miss Julia” and invited her to the White House in November of 1861.  That evening she was invited to a public review of the troops.  As the soldiers marched by they were singing a popular battle song of the day.  The inspiring tune was a campfire spiritual called “Canaan’s Happy Shore,” that came out of the camp meetings, the revivalistic movement of the day.  But at the beginning of the Civil War, soldiers changed the words and it became known as “John Brown’s Body”  

Old John Brown’s body lies a’moldering in the grave,

While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;

But tho’ he lost his life while struggling for the slave,

His soul is marching on.

        The soldiers added many other verses when the war started including one about hanging old Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree!

        Standing beside “Miss Julia” at the troop review was a Washington clergyman by the name of James Freeman Clark.  He turned to her and suggested that she write new words for the fighting men’s song. 

       

        She went back to the Old Willard Hotel in DC.  The youth who went to Washington last week walked right past it, it’s on Pennsylvania Avenue just two blocks from the White House. 

        She said that she slept soundly that night but awoke before sunrise with the words beginning to “Twine themselves in my mind.”  She said to herself, “I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep and forget them.”  So she sprang out of the bed and found in the dimness an old stump of a pen and “scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.”  Before the morning sun reached the paper the words were all there, as if written by another hand. 

        Those stirring words have become one of our nation’s most beloved hymns.  Dr. Martin Luther King, loved this song and quoted it frequently in his speeches including the speech at the end of the Selma to Montgomery march and in his final sermon the night before his assassination he proclaimed, “Mine Eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

        Sir Winston Churchill loved the Battle Hymn of the Republic so much it was played at his funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  And on September 14, 2001, at memorial services for the victims of 09/11, it was played both at the National Cathedral in Washington and at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. 

        The beautiful and compelling words that Miss Julia penned early that November morning were not for half a nation to march to, but for a united nation, a whole people to stand up and sing. 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

        This Sunday morning (July 1) as part of our service on Religious Liberty, our choir will sing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  

WASHINGTON DC AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

          Next week we leave for a long awaited youth trip to Washington, DC.  We had originally planned this trip two years ago, but a snowy winter cancelled most of Spring Break and we had to postpone the trip.  But now it is finally here and when Amtrak # 80, the Carolinian, rolls through Lexington next Thursday morning around 8:00 a.m. 27 youth and adults will be on board bound for Union Station in our nation’s Capital!

        We will tour the US Capitol on Friday morning and travel to Mount Vernon for a Friday afternoon and evening tour.  In fact, our group will have the interactive Reynolds educational center all to ourselves Friday night. Then we travel by bus back into DC and we tour all the monuments on a moonlight monument tour. 

        The next morning we visit the monuments (we walk!) and then begin our time at the Smithsonian.  We will start at the Air & Space Museum and then go across the Mall to the American History Museum.  Early Saturday evening we will go the National Archives to view the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, followed by a great meal at the Hard Rock Café.   We actually have t-shirts that have the Hard Rock logo on the front and a special youth group logo designed by Jack Davis on the back.  

        We will visit Arlington Cemetery Sunday morning and come back into DC for an afternoon tour of the Newseum, devoted the First Amendment of the Constitution.    Our whirlwind trip will conclude with a ride back to Greensboro on the Amtrak Crescent, one of Amtrak’s premier long-distance trains that runs between New Orleans and New York City.   We arrive in Greensboro at 12:15 a.m.

I’m a firm believer that every child and young person should visit Washington.  There is no better place to learn the guiding principles of our government and to reflect on the significance of freedom and liberty.  

Once reason I feel so strongly about this is because my grandmother took me to Washington when I was 9 or 10 years old.  I remember the trip well.   We went to Birmingham and caught the Southern “Southerner.”   The Southern “Crescent” was more of a Pullman train, while the Southerner had more coaches.  We rode in a coach, not a sleeper. 

I remember going to the Britling Cafeteria in Birmingham before we went to the station.  My grandmother was a firm believer in arriving at the station at least two hours or more before the train departed.  “You never know when something might happen,” she would say.   “It’s always better to be early.”

I’ve adopted her philosophy and Joyce will tell you that when we travel I’m always at the airport well ahead of schedule because, “You never know what will happen!”

Birmingham had two train stations, one for the Southern RR and one for the L&N.  The Southern Station “Birmingham Terminal Station” was a massive Byzantine styled structure with a massive dome over the center of the station.  I was awestruck by the sight.  Sadly, the old train station was demolished in the late 1960s.  

We left Birmingham in the afternoon and headed for Atlanta.   Atlanta also had a beautiful old station that has long since seen its demise.   I remember the train having to back a long way into the station. 

A highlight of rail travel was the dining car.  We sat down to silver service on a white linen tablecloth.   A seasoned waiter in a starched white jacket took our order.  I marveled at how he could almost effortlessly carry a tray of drinks and plates as the train swayed back and forth. 

Arriving in DC on the train is a thrill.  You can see the Washington Monument looming in the distance as you approach the city.   The train crosses the Potomac and you pass by the Jefferson Memorial.  Soon you can see the US Capitol, the Washington Monument and other well-known landmarks.   Suddenly everything turns dark as you enter a long tunnel that takes you into Union Station.  

Some of you might remember those old black limousines that would give DC tours back in the 60s and 70s.  My grandmother contracted for a limousine and driver to take us around the city and visit all the monuments and museums.  We visited the Capitol and the White House.   It was a lot easier to do so fifty years ago.  Security was a far cry from what it is today.

   I actually saw LBJ in Washington.   We were standing in line to go into the White House when a motorcade flew past us and LBJ waved from his car.   It had only been a year or so since JFK had been assassinated.  Washington was full of JFK memorabilia.  I saw a small bust of John Kennedy that I wanted.  I remember the store owner telling me how fragile it was and I was to take good care of it.  Fifty years later it has a few nicks, but it still sits in my office.   

I can remember as a child standing in the rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial and my grandmother pointing out Jefferson’s powerful words that are inscribed in the marble panels.  There is, of course, the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, . . .”  Right next to it you will find these words on Religious Liberty:  "Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."

I’ve stood under that rotunda with both my grandsons and pointed out these words.  Next week I will stand there again and point out these words to our adopted grandchildren, the youth of our church.  And our granddaughter, Hannah, will also be with us.  More than anything else, I want our youth to understand the power and the significance of freedom. 

Later we will visit the World War II memorial as well as the Korean and the Vietnam.  Here we will see the cost of the freedom that Jefferson proclaimed.  Freedom is never free. 

I always get inspired when I visit Washington.  I can’t wait to share this with our youth next week. 

God Bless America!   Land that I Love!