On the first episode of the BJC podcast series on Christian nationalism, BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler interviewed five Christian leaders who are taking a stand against the dangerous ideology, including FCNL Executive Director Diane Randall.
If we’ve only defined religious freedom as being supportive of one religion, then it’s not truly religious freedom.
“Quakers came to this country to pursue religious freedom, so that they would be able to follow their own understanding of the divine — their understanding of God — and were persecuted for it. And so we have a history in that regard,” said Randall.
“Today, I am not aware of Quakers being persecuted in any way, but it’s clear that there are other people of faith in this country who are disregarded, who are targeted, who are maligned, who do not have the religious freedom that I enjoy as a Christian and that I enjoy as a Quaker. And so problems of equating some other religion as less than American is really a problem for all of us, because when religious freedom is upheld for Christians as well as for Jews and for Muslims, that’s good for everyone. And if we’ve only defined religious freedom as being supportive of one religion, then it’s not truly religious freedom.”
Hear from Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (starting at 5:17); Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (10:11); Diane Randall from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (15:02); Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice (19:14); and Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Haggray of American Baptist Home Mission Societies (23:13).
