By Lee Enochs
Anyone that has been paying attention to what is transpiring in current affairs throughout the United States should acknowledge that political progressives and socialists have been emboldened and are increasingly influencing public policy decisions in America. With this increased influence of leftism has come a proportional erosion in our civil and constitutional liberties.
Case in point, the massive social media popularity and “Green New Deal” agenda of Democratic socialists Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other leftist environmentalists, have already influenced new President Joe Biden to kill the economically prosperous Keystone Pipeline contract and with it, thousands of American jobs.
Along with this increase in political progressiveness and socialism has come a decrease our constitutional liberties such as free speech as evidenced by the leftist “cancel culture’s” banishment of certain Dr. Seuss books and the Muppet Show, and Big Tech’s censorship of conservatives on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
However, this assault on liberties safeguarded by and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution has not come from the political left exclusively.
Unfortunately, there has been a rise in anti-constitutional authoritarianism from elements on the right side of the culture war that has contributed to the massive polarization of American society.
An example of a contemporaneous right-of-center attack on our constitutional liberties has unfortunately come from an unusual and most respected source.
Recently famed Evangelical Bible teacher John MacArthur, long-time pastor of Grace Community Church of Los Angeles, California has spoken out on the need for Christians to make alliances with non-Christians in support of religious freedom.
As reported by the Christian Post on March 4, 2021, “MacArthur urged evangelicals to stop forming alliances with non-Christian groups to promote religious freedom because they don’t need it.
“The Gospel offends the sinner and seeks to break the sinner’s comfort and contentment by bringing him into stark realization of the eternal judgment of God. Evangelicals have become like Peter.”
Additionally, according to the Christian Post, MacArthur said, “They are looking for alliances with Satan that they think somehow can aid the Kingdom.”“I told our congregation a few weeks ago that I could never really concern myself with religious freedom. I wouldn’t fight for religious freedom because I won’t fight for idolatry. Why would I fight for the devil to have as many false religions as possible and all of them to be available to everyone?” he asked” (Please See: “John MacArthur: ‘I wouldn’t fight for religious freedom because I won’t fight for idolatry,” Christian Post, March 4, 2021).
As an Evangelical Christian myself, I greatly respect John MacArthur and his courageous stand for sound Biblical theology and do not want to besmirch his character and reputation, however, I strongly reject MacArthur's sentiments against Religious freedom and find it ironic that MacArthur would speak against our need for religious liberty when he has long enjoyed a prosperous ministry in very liberal Los Angeles, California precisely because the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution safeguards his right to worship and lead a like-minded religious community.
MacArthur's arguments against our need for religious freedom in the United States are dangerous since they could lead to the further evisceration of religious liberty in America and are entirely unconvincing logically, Biblically, and historically.
First of all, it is self-defeating for American Evangelicals to stop working with other groups who support religious freedom since this activity helps to safeguard the very religious mission and message MacArthur promotes and upholds.
Secondly, there is Biblical precedent for standing for this principle as evidenced by the fact that the Apostle Paul defended religious liberty and predicated it upon his Roman citizenship in Acts 22:1-30.
Lastly, there is a historical precedent for Christians standing for religious freedom in America as evidenced by a group of persecuted Baptists in President Thomas Jefferson’s home state of Virginia, who wrote Jefferson, asking him to put an end to the laws that were persecuting them and other religious minorities. Jefferson’s famous concept of the “separation of church and state” was first asserted in response to these persecuted Baptists and Jefferson promised them that he would stop religious persecution in America.
I personally like John MacArthur whose Christian faith I respect and believe in very much, but religious liberty must be defended and upheld by all Americans or this, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” will most certainly perish from the earth.
We must stand for all our constitutional liberties, including religious liberty. enshrined and safeguarded by the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
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Lee Enochs is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention and is currently studying political philosophy at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California. Lee is also the author of the books, A Biblical Defense of Capitalism, a The Case for Rand Paul. A lifelong conservative with Libertarian sympathies, Lee’s many political writings have appeared in many newspapers and magazines across the country.