Written by Don Byrd
I am all for reading the Bible. I often find solace, joy, encouragement, and beauty in its pages. But as a freedom-loving Baptist, my celebration of Scripture is first and foremost an act of personal conscience. Choosing to read the Bible, or not, is a quintessential expression of God-given Soul Freedom. Without Soul Freedom, the whole enterprise of personal salvation might as well swirl down the drain.
I am reminded of Soul Freedom every time some public official gives me a nudge in the direction of religion. National Days of Prayer and government invocations, to name just a couple, strike me not just as a heavy-handed show of piety, but also a cheapening of my own free exercise. We don’t need, and shouldn’t request, for government to be in the business of suggesting to us when to pray or how to pray, or to pray on our behalf.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, however, has taken the religious nudge to a whole new level.
In a Proclamation signed back in April, Branstad encouraged all Iowans to participate in a Bible reading event taking place at county courthouses across the state June 30 through July 3. The Proclamation also encourages all Iowans to “read through the Bible on a daily basis each year until the Lord comes.” It also declares the Bible to be the one true revelation of God.
The Des Moines Register reports that several religious liberty advocates are crying foul:
“The governor’s proclamation is frankly outrageous and embarrassing, and inconsistent with our core American and Iowan principles of inclusion and respect of all its people of all faiths, as well as those who are not religious,” [the ACLU of Iowa’s Rita] Bettis said Tuesday. “Our U.S. and Iowa state constitutions protect from precisely this sort of government overreaching and endorsement of a particular faith.”
If I want to read the Bible, or read it through in a year, I will do it as an act of personal faith and Soul Freedom. I may read it in communion with my family or my church or other group of my choosing. But I do not want to read Scripture at the behest of government. It is too important, too personal, too sacred, for that.
The perch of government should be used to protect the religious liberty of all, not declare which book is the word of God and tell us when and how to read it.
Thanks but no thanks Governor.
