The hard-fought battle for American freedom of religious expression in the 17th and 18th centuries was not a monolithic one, but was in general peopled by (1) Baptists and (2) premillennialists, both minority positions in their day. Taking cues from Roger Williams and Isaac Backus, this presentation argues that the foundation upon which religious liberty was built was one of discontinuities in the governance, respectively, of OT Israel (a mixed community based on theocratic structures/laws that governed all of life), the NT Church (a regenerate community operating within but separately from the realm of “Caesar”) and a glorious age to come (a pure theocracy in which Christ would personally reign for a thousand years).
In the present age, so argued Williams, Backus, et al., the church and the state operated independently from but not without reference to one another. While civil magistrates might freely consult with churchmen in the course of their duties, they were not to privilege any one sect; rather they were simply to establish civility among men (so Calvin) so that all might pursue their consciences without fear. The church was likewise to stay in its lane, not aspiring to engage in “national discipleship,” much less holy conquest. Such lofty aspirations will eventually be realized, but only after the return of Christ to personally and supernaturally effect them.
Standing in the way of Williams and Backus were churchmen chiefly postmillennial, who had conflicting visions of a Christian nation-state functioning as a “city on a hill” for the balance of the world to see and emulate. For these, the Church was to lead a joint magisterial-ecclesiastical effort to cultivate the fledgling kingdom of God on earth. Such had been the pattern in post-Reformational Europe, and the American experiment could only improve upon that. But which particular vision (Anglican? Congregational? Reformed? Catholic?) would prevail, and who would be disenfranchised?
We were fortunate, this presentation hazards, never to have found out—because freedom of religion, with its policy of maintaining civility between all religious expressions, prevailed. It is the argument of this paper that Christian Nationalism, with quest for national discipleship, threatens the American pax of “peaceful and quiet lives” where “godliness and holiness” prevail and the Gospel is given ample opportunity to succeed (1 Tim 2:1–4).