Introduction
The three monotheistic
religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity have different emphases that lead
to very different understandings of freedom.
This essay briefly examines how the emphases of devotion, submission,
and witness relate to notions of freedom.
It then contrasts these with the emergent Secularism of Post-Christian,
Western society. The goal of the essay
is to point out that these different belief systems lead to different understandings
of freedom. The essay covers these
topics in broad strokes to identify emphases in the different perspectives and
thereby provide some understanding of the conflicts between various groups. It also challenges any generic use of the
value of ‘freedom’ without further definition.
Judaism
Judaism is a religion of singular devotion to God by His chosen people. Israel’s narrative in the Old Testament moves
from God’s calling and promise to Abraham and his offspring to God’s liberating
Israel from Egyptian slavery to God’s redeeming His people from exile and returning
them to their land. Since Judaism holds
that there is only One God, who is the Creator, and that His choosing of Israel
as His people is for universal purposes, the religion is not isolationist or
selfish. It points beyond itself to God’s
mission towards all peoples. Since
Judaism’s own historical narrative tells the story of Israel’s failure to be
devoted to God, to obey Him and to love Him, it points beyond its own devotion
to God to an offer to people from all nations to become His people and devote
themselves to Him. Without the narrative
of Israel’s failure to devote herself to God, the ethnic focus of covenantal
election becomes one self-righteousness and privilege more than a requirement
of devotion to God. Without the conviction
that God is the only God over all nations and all creation, the election of Israel
becomes a presumption of privilege and overrides the emphasis on devotion.
These characteristics
of Judaism shape its understanding of freedom.
Freedom is the freedom to be devoted to the One true God, not subjugated
by other people and their religions. Freedom
is also a freedom from one’s own sinfulness in not being devoted to God. Freedom is not a human freedom of choice but
a natural freedom that comes by living according to God’s laws revealed in
creation and in His Law. Freedom is not
prior to devotion to God but follows from it.
As God’s chosen people, Israel does not subjugate other nations to force
them to obey God’s Law but witnesses to them of what freedom means when a
people is devoted to God.
Therefore,
freedom is understood as freedom to be this people amidst the nations.
Islam
Islam is a religion of submission to Allah. The Quran lacks a narrative and is full of
commandments to submit to Allah and to force others to submit by the use various
kinds of force (from taxation to military force). Devotion in Islam takes its form in the
simple creed that Allah is God and Mohammed is his prophet, in prayers, in
fasting, in performing the Hajj (a pilgrimage to Mecca), and to almsgiving, but
devotion is expressed especially through enforced submission, whether Sharia
Law, jihad (‘striving’ through an
internal, spiritual struggle and an external, military enforcement), and worldwide
expansion of Islam.
Therefore, for
Islam, freedom is a counter-value. It
does not separate state authority from religious and social life. Coercing (including killing) people for
religious uniformity is better than social unrest or civil strife (al-fitnah; cf. Quran 2.217). The Quran says, ‘Fight those who do not
believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger
have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were
given the Scripture,1 until they pay the tax, willingly submitting,
fully humbled’ (Quran 9.29).[1] The tax, jizyah,
was imposed on non-Muslims.
Christianity
Christianity is a religion of witness to God’s salvation in Jesus Christ offered to all that
they might believe and be saved. Therefore, freedom is freedom to live a quiet
life as Christians (compare Judaism) while praying for and bearing witness, not
enforcing submission, to this salvation (contrast Islam). It resolves the problem of being an ethnic
religion of Jewish privilege, and it resolves the problem of sinful
disobedience. It rejects the way of
enforcing submission, like Islam. It is
a religion of universal witness to what God has done in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial
death for sinners that all might be saved.
The characteristics
of Christianity as a religion of witness can
be seen in Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2.1-7:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in
high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified
in every way. 3 This
is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between
God and men, the man1 Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom
for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a
preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of
the Gentiles in faith and truth (ESV).
The universal
character of Christianity is not stated in terms of universal submission but in
terms of universal witness. Prayer
entails asking God to use people in powerful positions to allow Christians to
lead a peaceful, quiet, and dignified life—rather like Judaism’s focus on
freedom to be devoted to God as His people.
Yet this life is not inwardly focussed but outwardly directed: it is so
that Christians might participate in God’s universal mission. The mission is carried out through
proclamation of the Gospel, through testimony.
The Gospel is first and foremost about what God has done in Jesus Christ
to save sinners and bring them to a knowledge of the truth.
Christianity’s
focus on witnessing to what God has
done to save sinners involves an understanding of freedom that is public,
evangelistic, and non-coercive. By being
public, freedom is not the freedom to believe something privately but to practice
devotion to God without constraints in every context. Freedom means not to be coerced into doing
what is against God’s commandments and freedom to live openly as
Christians. By being evangelistic,
freedom requires the freedom to proclaim the testimony of God’s salvation in Christ
Jesus to all people everywhere. By being
non-coercive, people are converted to Christ not by enforced submission but by personal
faith, conviction. The Church is a
voluntary community of persons singularly devoted to God, submitting to His
commandments, and receiving by faith the Good News of salvation in Christ
Jesus.
Western Secularism
The secular and
now post-Christian West takes a different view of freedom. In a worldview that promotes diversity, the
exclusive claims of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—each in their own way—sets
such religions against culture. Many
secularists would prefer no religion in society, though they might permit
religious practices begrudgingly. They
tend to insist on religion being private, not public. Through taxation, laws, and government entitlements,
secular governments suppress religious devotion. Freedom is set over against religion if it
becomes anything more than private beliefs and practices. Judaism is particularly singled out as an offensive
faith because of its ethnic focus and belief that God has chosen the Jews as
His treasured possession. What could be
more offensive to a secular society’s promotion of diversity? At best, Judaism might be allowed in a sort
of ghetto, but not in the public square where diversity is a primary value.
Western
secularism also promotes equity, which is understood not as equality but as the
suppression of some in order to promote others in the name of equality. Over against its own convictions about
freedom as a freedom from religious authorities, secularism tends to suppress
Christianity and promote Islam, the very religion that practices
suppression. Muslims can ride this wave
of support for only so long until their religion emerges out of the blind spots
of Western secularism. So few know
anything about Islam that they only see it as a minority religion practiced by
non-Western people that an open society should include. They are embarrassed by their own history of
opposing the spread of Islam and wish to right this perceived wrong. The irony of secularists supporting Islamic
immigrants and countries abroad has led to bizarrely contradictory practices. (The recent elections in Europe may indicate that
some Europeans are waking up to the inconsistencies of their own belief
systems.)
The Western
Church, if defined in terms of the once mainline denominations, have embraced
the third value of Western secularism: inclusion. First dismantling their own, historic
doctrines and practices, they then welcome new teachings and practices. From ‘Pride’ flags at churches to same sex
blessings to reading the Quran in churches, these once Christian denominations
have refashioned themselves into secular expressions of culture. They have turned from worldwide witness of
the singular Gospel of Jesus Christ to a worldwide welcome of all who practice
inclusion and embrace.
Thus, for
Western secularism, freedom is an expression of the values of diversity,
equity, and inclusion. These new values are
different from the understanding of freedom and equality set out in the Age of
Enlightenment. They no longer are about
the individual’s freedom from coercive authorities, whether religious or
government, but are now expressions of social coerciveness. Secular society is increasingly requiring devotion to its values, submission of some groups to others in
the name of equity, and opposition to the
public witness of especially Christian faith.
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