The Land Doctrine
By David N. Bass (08/29/03)
When the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission can openly criticize Chief Justice Roy Moore’s stand for the Ten Commandments, not only is there something rotten in the state of Christianity, but something rotten in our historical perspective as well.
On August 18, the Southern Baptist’s supposed “church-state” specialist Richard Land indicated his dismay at the prospect of a judge disobeying a court order, even if that court order mandated abandoning the most influential set of laws in world history. “One of the foundational principles of American law is that we believe in the rule of law,” he told Baptist Press.
Mr. Land’s comments doubtless pleased the likes of Joel Sogol, a renowned opponent of public prayer, and Barry Lynn, a lawyer who thinks Moore’s constitutionally sound display of the Ten Commandments is an attempt “to use the government to promote religion.” But to those who believe in the “Law of Nature and Nature’s God”, in the inherent freedoms and laws written on the hearts of all mankind, his words stung like a sword.
Attacks from the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are to be expected, even welcomed. Afterall, if those groups attack Justice Moore he must be doing something right. But attacks from the Southern Baptist’s “church-state” specialist begin to border on the absurd. Has the Church in America become so watered down with politically correct dogma and anti-freedom, anti-religious tirades that she has forgotten both her purpose and history?
If our global ancestors had followed the Land doctrine, there would be no Christianity today; there would be no Judaism today; there would have been no Islam today; there would be no United States, no free Germany, and no free Russia today; there would have been no Protestant Reformation, no American Revolution, and no civil rights for American citizens.
History is chalked with examples of governments that infringed upon mankind’s God-given freedoms. Mr. Land would do well to learn from them.
If Peter and the Apostles had followed the Land doctrine, the Gospel would never have spread throughout Asia Minor, because the disciples were in effect “disobeying a court order” mandating they cease and desist in spreading the good news.
If Moses and the Children of Israel had followed the Land doctrine, there would have been no exodus from Egypt, no parting of the Red Sea, and no carving of the Ten Commandments. Today, we wouldn’t even be arguing over Chief Justice Roy Moore’s display of the Decalogue, because the Ten Commandments would not even be in our possession.
If the Founding Fathers had followed the Land doctrine, the freedom America brought the world might never have been; if George Washington had followed the Land doctrine, there would be no Valley Forge; if James Madison had followed the Land doctrine, there would be no Federalist Papers, no Constitution, and no Bill of Rights; if Thomas Jefferson had followed the Land doctrine, there would be no Declaration of Independence, no “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all.
If German patriots such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller had not ignored the Richard Lands of their own day, had not stood against fascist totalitarianism, had not stood against the innocent slaughter of countless Jews in Germany, the modern world as we know it might not exist.
If Martin Luther had obeyed the Land doctrine, October 31, 1517 would have come and gone without Luther’s ninety-five theses being nailed to the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg. Likewise, William Tyndale’s English translation of the Holy Bible would never have seen the light of day, because Tyndale was going against the “court orders” of the Catholic Church.
And that, according to Mr. Land, is a far more egregious sin than going against the orders of God.
What’s happening in Alabama is not only an issue of religious freedom, of protecting the ten most important laws in the history of mankind, or insuring the state’s rights–it is about the future of America. Tens of thousands of Americans should be in Montgomery right now. We owe it to our descendents, if to no one else. Fifty years from now, I refuse to look my grandchildren in the face and say I failed to stand when the government took away our freedom of religion. That’s a choice I’m not willing to make.
Time is ticking away our liberties, and if we fail to act, time will snatch those liberties right from our hands.
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