From the above titled Christianity Today article by Timothy Samuel Shah:
[A] profound underlying kinship binds [the] Christian tradition of Tertullian and More and the Enlightenment rationalism of Jefferson… [T]hey share something [profound]: a higher loyalty sets permanent limits to the powers of government.
The truest test of the justice and freedom of any society is how much its government and people respect the fact that all of its members owe their highest obedience to the truth about God as their consciences deliver it, not to the powers that be, whether emperor, king, or democratic majority.
[O]ur nation will be truly free only if we “stand immovable in loyalty to our conscience.”
So let us not be afraid to prefer conscientious “obstinacy” to the “safety” of the crowd. The rights and liberties we now defend under the banner of religious freedom are fundamental truths the Christian tradition has cherished from its earliest centuries. And as we persist in defending them against what may well be increasingly unfriendly currents of opinion, let us remember that we follow in the footsteps of the venerable if improbable fraternity of Tertullian, Thomas More, and Thomas Jefferson.
Also recommended:
