Because Truth needs a witness, Salt & Light Global created a new series of resources to help believers bring the heart of Jesus to the cultural conversations of the day: Words that Work.
It can be difficult to talk about issues of moral truth when others are personally and emotionally invested, but the Word of God more than just truth—it is the most loving and compassionate answer to the questions of our time—and we have a duty to speak that truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Scripture also teaches us the importance of communicating effectively (Proverbs 25:11), and this resource is designed to aid believers in doing just that.
Religious liberty is one of those challenging topics that is frequently attacked and rarely understood. Religious Liberty is about more your freedom to believe in and worship God. It protects your right to
live out your faith–even in the public square. Religious liberty protects against compelled speech or action against one’s conscience. It also protects the freedom to express one’s faith on a football field, display a nativity on public property, or share a Bible verse during public comment at a government meeting. It includes the right of people of faith to gather together in worship, or of an individual to peacefully pray on public sidewalk or park.
Religious liberty is not a license to do anything (1 Peter 2:16), but it is a fundamental, Creator-endowed liberty that just governments must respect and protect. When government respects religious liberty, the Created to freely form a sentient personal relationship with his or her Creator, know His truth and, as a matter of conscience, share it with others.
Religious liberty is important in many ways, and where religious liberty thrives, people thrive. Ideas and viewpoints informed by the sacred contribute enormously to the improvement of society (e.g., the abolition of slavery). For ideas and viewpoints informed by the sacred to enter the marketplace of ideas though, individuals must be free to not just to believe and hold them as a matter of conscience, but also to manifest such conscience, including through speech and other expression.
Preserving the unalienable liberty of religious conscience and freedom of expression is, therefore, essential to ensure that citizens can introduce such ideas and viewpoints into the marketplace of ideas. It also ensures that these ideas, informed by the sacred, can continue to contribute to the improvement of society. Finally, this unalienable liberty protects against government action excluding citizens from participating in civil society based on the viewpoint or religious conscience held by the citizen.
While this resource is by no means exhaustive, it is our prayer that this resource will help you to have winsome, truth-centered conversations that preserve and protect religious liberty for generations to come.
