Approximately 140 years ago, the American Sentinel commenced circulation for the purposes of defining and promoting religious liberty issues. Today, more than ever it is time for a far-reaching Religious Liberty periodical to be established that will address the same topics.

The United States political think tank, the "Heritage Foundation," is well-known for its "Mandate for Leadership" given to each incoming Republican president since Ronald Reagan in 1980. It seeks to infuse political policy with traditional American values. The foundation is eager for a 'Christianised' form of governance based on what they believe the founding fathers had. Recently, the Heritage Foundation released the report "Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years." This report proposes enforcing a uniform day of rest to benefit families and secure the future of the United States.

In his most recent election campaign, Donald Trump said he would seek to give the churches of America "power as they've never had before." The 'Christian vote' had a significant impact on Trump's presidential campaign. Unlike any president before him Trump has been overtly has been overtly surrounding himself with religious policy makers. Unlike any president before him, Trump has been very vocal about promoting the Bible.

These trends in the United States are being replicated around the world as populist movements seek to address the ever-increasing immorality and turmoil threatening the fabric of society by influencing policymakers. Religious ideology influencing politics is as old as time. It always leads to persecution.

While the Heritage Foundation has right-wing/conservative 'Christian' ideologies, this union of religious ideologies and politics is not limited to the Christian right. The United Nations was founded on the left-leaning ideologies of Christian Internationalism. It has been influencing the world's nations for almost a century.

Many people oppose a union of church and state. However, there is no international paper published, which has for its distinct object the clarification of what a church and state union is, or that seeks to vindicate the rights of the citizens of the world.

That light may be disseminated on this subject, we have commenced the publication of The Liberty Herald, International. We pray that those who read this paper will withhold prejudice and examine our articles with due consideration.

Many think they are doing God's service by bringing religion into political governance, and we are willing to give them credit for thinking so. We are aware they will look unfavorably upon our work and will suggest that we are striking at the foundations of morality and religion. However, they are much mistaken in their estimate.

We promise to indorse morality and religion by setting forth the true relation between them. Moreover, we will endeavor to demonstrate that the union of church and state neither upholds religion nor morality. But the objector will say: "There can be no harm in bringing religious or moral elements into civil practice." This plea is only plausible in the eyes of those who have not traced the end to which it necessarily leads.

Let us notice some of the things which result from a union of religious ideology with the state:

1. The constitutions of nations need to be repudiated so that religious laws and institutions may direct the law of the land.

2. To enforce these laws, any person who refuses to obey the religious practices must be subjected to penalties for their neglect or disobedience.

3. A person can be convicted of a misdemeanor before a court of justice, on the text of the law and the hearing of evidence. The court is necessarily constituted as the judge and exponent of the law; however, if a question arises in relation to the validity of a religious objection, it requires the support of an ecclesiastical authority. These outcomes are the seedbed of intense persecution, the likes of which were last seen during the Dark Ages. Many areas of faith and practice have already been removed from the domain of individual conscience and entrusted to legal tribunals, and persecution has ensued.

There are many different churches and religions, or forms of religion, in the world, and no constitutional provision or judicial decision could declare that all these are conformable to the 'best' faith and practice. To deal with this, the world has increasingly become more uniform in its religious understanding. Not necessarily that all are Christian or any other specific religion, but there are agreed forms of spirituality and moral understanding that have been instituted into global regulations and national laws that supersede individual conscience. Any union of a state with religious ideology oppresses. Tribunals that decide what a religious conviction is, and enforce its decisions by requisite penalties, are no less than the Inquisition revived.

During the COVID pandemic many religious rights and privileges were removed. Nobody had right to hold to a religious practice contrary to the decisions of ecclesiastical authorities and the courts, which

handed down rulings in harmony with the United Nations. Even though it seemed the minority had their consciences contravened, it was still religious oppression. This should be odious in the eyes of every true liberty-minded individual.

If any religious practice is written into law, the rights and consciences of those with dissenting practices get trampled underfoot, and those having no faith are compelled to conform to these practices without having any religious convictions.

To accomplish a world standard of spirituality, every religion, even down to denominations, must unite and set aside any peculiar theological understanding. There must also be a seamless merger of politics and spirituality. As has already been demonstrated, those with political aspirations profess a form of godliness to obtain political office. Not leads to a decline in true morality in the churches, and misrepresents 'godliness.'

As Faithful Adventists we place The Liberty Herald, International in God's service.

Adapted from J. H. Waggoner's article in the first edition of American Sentinel.

https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/AmSn/AmSn18860101-V01-01.pdf