A new generation of American Christians is setting an example for courage in the midst of an increasingly hostile culture and the rest of the nation needs to follow that lead if the most cherished of our founding principles are to be preserved, according to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
Perkins is also author of the new book, ” No Fear: Real Stories of a Courageous New Generation Standing for Truth,” which focuses on little known stories of mostly young Americans fighting back against the infringement of their rights to free religious expression.
Included in the book is a chapter on high school students who defied orders not to pray at commencement, another who recorded the anti-Christian lectures of a history professor and released them, and another on the 14-year-old pageant contestant that testified against gay marriage. Several other stories are shared as well, each of which Perkins connects to an episode of courage in the Bible.
Perkins says there are plenty of example of courage in each generation, but he is especially encouraged by the boldness of young believers.
“We told that religion and this orthodox view of sexuality or this orthodox view of living out your faith, that’s the over-50 crowd. In reality, what we’re finding about young people is a greater commitment in devotion to the truth,” said Perkins.
“It means something for them to say, ‘I follow Jesus.’ There is a cost to discipleship that these young people are paying and are willing to pay today that we’ve not seen in times past,” he added.
Perkins firmly believes this fight over freedom of religious expression is about far more than any individual episode of government or educational leaders trying to stifle speech.
“This is for the very future of our country, for democracy. Is a vibrant protection of religious freedom, and that doesn’t mean the freedom to believe something between your two ears and not be able to speak it. It is the ability to live your life according to those orthodox beliefs, which has long been the hallmark of what it means to be an American,” said Perkins.
“We must aggressively protect that. We must aggressively pursue that first amendment freedom in everything that we do. And we have to fight for it,” he added, noting the fight cannot be any less intense than the battle to enshrine these freedoms into law in the first place.
“The pilgrims didn’t get on a ship and come over here and half of them die in their first year here just so they could pick a new church. They came over here so they could establish a country, according to the teachings of their faith. That’s what religious liberty is. It’s the ability to live your life according to your faith,” said Perkins.
The current religious liberty debate triggers intense debate among conservatives and even Christians over when to obey or disobey the law. Romans 13, for example, is the Apostle Paul’s admonition for believers to obey their secular government, in an epistle written while Christians lived under the oppressive Roman Empire.
“It does us in fact tell us we’re to submit to those authorities, but when we have authorities that issue edicts that are in direct confrontation to the revealed specific word or commands of God, we’re under obligation to obey God, not man,” said Perkins.
He cites Acts Chapter 5 as a prime example, where Christ’s followers refuse to obey commands to stop preaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 5:29-32, 42). But just like the disciples, Perkins says those who take a stand for God need to be prepared for hardship.
“When it comes down to choosing whether to obey God or man, when the two are in conflict, as Christians, we have to obey God. That does not absolve us from the consequences,” said Perkins.
He points to the saga of Kim Davis as an example. She is the clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, who was jailed for days for refusing to issue marriage licenses in the wake of the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.
Davis was released on Tuesday, just a short time after the interview with Perkins was conducted. He says Davis exactly the type of courageous Christian he hopes his book will encourage or inspire.
“I’m going to give her one of the first copies of the book because she could be on the cover of this book. One of the stories I tell in this book is of a young mother, Mariam Ibraheem, who is a Sudanese woman who was imprisoned a little over a year ago for her faith. Little did I ever envision that I would be seeing a woman here in the United States imprisoned for her faith,” said Perkins.
The Davis story is stirring fierce debate over how people who consistently insist upon the rule of law can side with Davis, regardless of her beliefs. Perkins says the court decision in question lacks a vital component of good law.
“An unjust law is no law at all. That goes back to St. Augustine. There has to be a moral foundation for the law. And we have a long history in this country of making accommodations for people based upon their religious views,” said Perkins.
Perkins hopes to see many more like Davis, who he says has “more courage that most politicians in this country combined.”
In the bigger picture, he sees America in perilous times, from the Planned Parenthood scandal in which “we’re now parting out babies as if they were junked cars down at the junk yard” to a suspect nuclear deal with Iran to a teetering economy to a Christian being imprisoned for her faith.
He says the book is designed to provide hope and encouragement to people to do the right thing when asked to turn their backs on their faith.
“I hope they will live out their faith in such a way, in a real authentic way that impacts the world around them. Bottom line, we have to come to a point where we have a greater fear, or reverence, for God than we do a fear of man and what they may say or do to us,” said Perkins.
