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in Egypt. We must assume the !sra–

elites had ceased to observe their

sacred Sabbath day. By the time they

left Egypt they had no idea upon

which day the Sabbath fell. t>robably

they were forced to gather bricks and

straw seven days a week. Their slav–

ery was total!

Finally God sent Moses and Aaron

to Pharaoh with a message: "Let my

people go, that they may hold a feasl

unto me

in the wi/derness"

(Ex. 5:1}.

Obviously religious festiva ls were

held in disfavor anywhere in "civil–

ized" Egypt. Afterwards Moses re–

peatedly pleaded with Pharaoh: "Let

my people go, that they may serve

their God." But the Egyptian Pha–

raoh was obstínate. He stubbornly

refused until the land of Egypt was

drenched witb the blood of his own

people.

In the interim he had suggested

self-serving solutions: "Go, serve the

Lord; your children also may go with

you; only Jet your flocks and your

herds

remain behind"

(Ex. 10:24,

RSV). This kind of extortion is not

without its parallels today. But

Moses protested: "Our cattle also

must go with us; not a hoof shall be

left behind" (Ex. 10:26, RSV). He

did not compromise one whit wilh

this archextortioner.

Finally the lsraelites were deliv–

ered from Egyptian slavery. For a

short time there was one nation on

this earth enjoying total religious lib–

erly. But their freedoms were short–

lived. Very soon they were involved

in a whole series of periodic slaveries.

The book of Judges in the Old Testa–

ment depicts one foreign invasion af–

ler another, with each one being fol–

lowed by brief deliverances brought

about by various Judges. It is very

unlikely that any of these invaders

allowed much religious freedom.

They were devoted to their gods.

Shortly after Solomon's reign, Is–

rael and Judah split into two entirely

separale nalions. And in a matter of

a very few centur ies one followed lhe

olher into captivity. The norlhern

house of Israel never did relurn to

Palestine. But a colony of the Jews

was sent back to Jerusalem during

the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

For untold centuries the city of

Jerusalem has been a symbol of reli–

gious liberty and freedom lo more

than one faith. Ironically, bolh lhe

8

civil and religious leaders lurned this

symbol of liberty and freedom into

one of bondage by the time of Christ.

And do not blame the Romans for

this strange lurnaboul of events. The

Roman Empire allowed the Jewish

vassal slate a measure of both civil

and religious freedom.

Jesus Chrlst Struggles for

Religious Llberty

Jesus of Nazareth conslantly argued

against the abuses of lhe lheological

system of His day. Jesus charged:

"But woe to you, scribes and Phari–

sees, hypocrites [the religionists of

the day]! Because you shut the king–

dom of heaven againsl men; for you

neither enter yourselves, nor allow

lhose who would enter to go in"

(Matt. 23: 13). Thal was a serious

indictment! The clergy was, in effect,

prohibiting the true worship of God.

Jesus' attempts to free men spiri–

tually were soon met with stiff oppo–

sition. Persecution from religious

leaders set in swiftly. Repeatedly the

leading members of the Sanhedrin

plotted against Jesus (see John

11 :48-53}.

.

The apostles who followed Jesus

suffered similar persecutions. Final–

ly, by

A.D.

135, both the adherents of

Christianity and Judaism were driv–

en out of Jerusalem. The Romans did

crack down-and hard. Fi rst the ar–

mies of Titus in

A.O.

70; then the

crushing of the Bar-Cocheba rebel–

lion in

A.o.

135.

Except for the "little flock" (Luke

12:32}, the true Church forced vir–

tually underground by persecution,

men did not really follow J esus

Christ and Moses in the many centu–

ries that ensued. Followers of Simon

the Sorcerer, who became the Ro–

man Catholic Church, professed to

teach and practice lhe true religion,

but their doctrines were perversions

of the truth. Christianity was stained

by the Crusades and the Spanish In–

quisition. Religious battles raged

throughout Europe in lhe Dark Ages.

The soil of the Old World was

drenched with the blood of millions

of martyrs. Tyndale lost bis life for

daring to translate lhe Scriptures

into everyday English. Church

lead~

ers had feared spiritual anarchy if

every man had his own Bible. The

church-state scheme of things was

not working out.

In quest for religious liberty and

freedom of worship, men and women

began lo leave the persecutions of lhe

Old World for the challenges of the

New. But their persecutors were not

far behind. Pioneer thinking in Prot–

estant arcas whicb sougbt the supre–

macy of the individual conscience in

religious matters was being overlak–

en by l'igid Puritanism.

Early American Battles for

Religlous Freedoms

The Founding Fathers clearly per–

ceived that lhe religiopolilical

scheme of joint sovereignty had not

prolected human rigbts nor freedom

of conscience in the nations of Eu–

rope. Church and state had mixed

like oil and water. Sorne other system

simply had to be found.

The Declaration of Independence

and the Constitution of the United

States are both on display in lhe

Library of Congress. Let us now be–

gin to understand how these and