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Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives Gary B. Doxey International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU June 23, 2011

Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

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Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives. Gary B. Doxey International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU June 23, 2011. Lord Acton, 1834-1902. [F] ree government . . . can only be the fruit of long, manifold, and painful experience. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Religious Freedom:Historical Perspectives

Gary B. DoxeyInternational Center for Law and Religion

Studies at BYU

June 23, 2011

Page 2: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Lord Acton, 1834-1902

[F]ree government . . . can only be the fruit of long, manifold, and painful experience.Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Page 4: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Tension between Competing Ideas

• A dynamic of history since ancient times.

• Often in the form of old versus new ideas.

• Tension greatest when ideas challenge authority.

• E.g., Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642.

Page 5: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Quick Personal Observations

• Religious freedom is a very rare thing in human history.• Its price has usually been very high.

Page 6: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Religious Freedom in History: Four Patterns of Evolution

1. Conversion of a ruler who proclaims freedom of belief and practice for the new religion – often replaced in the next generation by intolerance for the old religion.

2. Religious conflict (really exhaustion from conflict) leading to a modus vivendi of some tolerance.

3. Introduction of new ideas through trade, proselytism, conquest, or immigration, resulting in attitudes of pluralism.

4. Intellectual and political commitment to freedom.

Page 7: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

The Traditional Narrative of Freedom:The Reformation

Luther Calvin

Page 9: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Sebastian Castellio, 1515-1563

• His ideas on tolerance resonate positively today

• “To kill a man is not to protect a doctrine, but it is to kill a man.”

Page 10: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

The Division of Christendom

Page 11: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

1530-1648—A Century of War

Page 12: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives
Page 14: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Treaties: the original Western European form of religious freedom law

• Peace of Augsburg (1555)• Union of Utrecht (1579)• Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Page 15: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Peace of Westphalia, 1648

Page 16: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

The Rule

Cuius regio, eius religioWhose region, his religion

Page 17: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

The Age of Enlightenment

Page 18: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

The Enlightenment and Revolution

Locke Jefferson Madison

Page 19: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Colonial American Pluralism

Page 20: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives
Page 21: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Old Prejudices Slow to Give Way

Anne Hutchinson on Trial

Page 22: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives
Page 23: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

A Revolutionary Break

Page 24: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives
Page 25: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Since the Constitution

Page 26: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789

“No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.”

Page 27: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Modern International Human Rights

Page 28: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

The Universal Declarationof Human Rights,

1948

Page 29: Religious Freedom: Historical Perspectives

Toward a Competent Historyof Religious Freedom

• Elements of “myth,” in a positive sense, are in the historical narrative

• Careful and thoughtful, more nuanced study and analysis are needed

• The need for appreciation and understanding of religious freedom is great “Lest we forget.”