In this anniversary year we are grateful for the witness which our Baptist movement has been privileged to bear. The discernment of the call of God in Christ has led us to a glorious experience of evangelism and missionary outreach through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our leaders and our people have firmly rejected the use of the coercive powers of government in the realm of religion. Baptists had much to do with writing the First Amendment into the Constitution of the United States and have been in the forefront in preserving the religious liberty that our nation has enjoyed. We have unflinchingly declared our desire for separation of church and state in resolutions, in sermons and in policies and practices. “In applying this principle to the field of public education, we affirm the historic right of our schools to full academic freedom for the pursuit of all knowledge, religious or otherwise.” Motion carried.
1. We, the messengers of the Convention hereby affirm our support for the concepts and the vocabulary of the First Amendment, including both its prohibition upon government roles in religious programs and its protection of free exercise of religion for the people.
2. We enunciate our concern that public officials and public servants of all types shall have the same free exercise of religion as other citizens, but that this freedom does not entitle them to use public or official powers for the advancement of religious commitments or ideas. In applying this principle to the field of public education, we affirm the historic right of our schools to full academic freedom for the pursuit of all knowledge, religious or otherwise.
3. We appeal to the Congress of the United States to allow the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States to stand as our guarantee of religious liberty, and we oppose the adoption of any further amendment to that Constitution respecting establishment of religion of free exercise thereof.
4. We urge all our channels, leaders, and churches to involve themselves thoroughly in study of the biblical, the historical, and the contemporary issues related to religious liberty to the end that our heritage of freedom and responsibility under God may be clearly understood and appreciated by the next generation and by ever larger proportions of the world’s peoples.