More and more, though, the state seeks to encapsulate Christianity in spaces invisible to the rest of society. Under the previous administration, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent up trial balloons along these lines, speaking of “freedom of worship” instead of “freedom of religion.” Christian observers caught their language and condemned it as contrary to the First Amendment. Mere freedom of worship is a pale shadow of of the Constitutional right to the “free exercise” of religion.
Jacob Rudenstrand’s Stream article Friday on Christian refugees being denied asylum in Sweden and the United Kingdom is disturbing on multiple levels. These governments have taken on the authority to determine Christian doctrine. They’re deciding who counts as Christian. This is just wrong.
In Britain, reports Rudenstrand, “the government quoted Bible verses” to argue that Christianity isn’t a religion of peace. In Sweden, officials regularly give asylum seekers “pop quizzes on theology to determine whether they are genuine believers.” Some of those questions have been so complex, “not even experienced pastors have been able to answer.” That’s bad. Worse yet, though, “the testimony of churches and pastors counts for little.” The Church doesn’t decide who’s Christian. The state does.
It’s two instances of the same thing: the state taking control over what counts as Christianity.
Who Defines “Religious Acts”?
These are new developments, but the ideas motivating them aren’t. Four years ago I reacted to a Frank Bruni New York Times op-ed arguing that religious freedom was fine for believers “in their pews, homes and hearts,” but baking a cake, arranging roses or running an inn “aren’t religious acts.”
