WHEREAS, Materialism and authoritarianism are inimical to personal religious freedom and to the freedom of the churches, and
WHEREAS, In our American life the separation of church and state has proved to be a valuable arrangement for the protection of both civic and religious liberty, and
WHEREAS, The concept of separation has become unclear because of the overlapping developments of church institutions and the expansion of the services of government, and
WHEREAS, Religious liberty is both fundamental to and dependent upon other human freedoms,
Therefore, be it RESOLVED, That we commend our Baptist channels of communication and education for their program of informing the people about current religious liberty problems, and that we urge continued and enlarged efforts in this field, and
That we urge penetrating study, intensive teaching and prophetic preaching of the biblical principles and insights that form the foundation of religious liberty, and
That we note with satisfaction a six-point definition of the meaning of separation as contained in the report of the Public Affairs Committee and express the hope that conversations be continued toward application of our Christian insights to the difficult church-state complexities of our day, and
That we urge upon our Baptist people the importance of exercising a prayerful and responsible stewardship of influence by means of active participation in all parts of the democratic process.