Backus and Leland: Baptist Warriors for Religious Freedom
Backus and Leland: Baptist Warriors for Religious Freedom
[Isaac Bakus]
[John Leland]
Baptist pastors Isaac Backus and John Leland were part of a Christian struggle for religious freedom that began in England and later flourished in North America. By way of background, from time out of memory, kings and queens had demanded total allegiance, based upon the notion of "Divine Right of Kings." This claim said a monarch could not be questioned on any matter, and all people must show absolute devotion and obedience. Governments and religion had been tightly woven since the fourth century, where each side of the marriage had supported the other and suppressed or persecuted any dissenters.
In 1607, an Independent congregation and its ministers, already separated from the Church of England and therefore illegal, fled England to Amsterdam, a City of Refuge, under persecution for their religious beliefs. Here, their two pastors, John Smythe and Thomas Helwys, led the congregation to become the first Baptists in 1609. They believed their ultimate authority was God, revealed in His Word; believer's baptism; priesthood of all believers; missions and social Christianity; local church autonomy; and religious freedom. This cluster of beliefs, most all of which ran contrary to the established Church of England, did not set well with its head, King James I. A year later, in 1610, he proclaimed to Parliament:
What many Baptist do not remember today was the compelling answer of Thomas Helwys, challenging King James I in a book he wrote he wrote in 1611:
For this courageous response, Helwys was arrested, thrown into Newgate prison, and died in 1616, leaving behind the first Baptist defense of religious liberty. Baptists continued to suffer for this belief for the next eighty years, both in England and the New World. They yearned for space in which to worship according to their consciences, all while enduring persecution at the hands of the respective church-supported governments that dictated religion to its citizens. In the Colonies, Puritanism was the law in New England, as was Anglicanism in the south. Baptists were a minority in those early days, enjoying space to worship only in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey.
Baptists continued to struggle for a guarantee of religious freedom in the New World from 1638, when Roger Williams established the first Baptist Church in the Colonies in Rhode Island, to 1776. During the Revolutionary period, two Baptist preachers and freedom fighters, rarely known today, influenced the US Constitution and Bill of Rights to guarantee for all Americans religious freedom. They were Isaac Backus and John Leland.
Isaac Backus, New England Champion (1724-1806) was born in Yantic, now part of Norwich, Connecticut, and witnessed the first Great Awakening of 1734-1740s. Converted at seventeen years old, he was ordained in 1748 in the Congregational (Puritan) church. He became a Baptist in 1751 over his changed belief in believer's baptism instead of infant baptism, and founded the Middleborough Baptist Church in Massachusetts, which was considered illegal to exist at the time. Backus then traveled all across New England, helping to organize churches.
The Warren Baptist Association was established in 1767, and Backus was named chairman of the Grievance Committee, formed to work toward the elimination of persecution by civil authorities. As an agent of the Committee he labored tirelessly, riding thousands of miles by horseback, to document and collect evidence of persecution and to keep the issue of separation of church and state before the general public. He also advocated the abolishment of slavery. In 1774 he traveled to Philadelphia to seek assistance from the First Continental Congress.
Backus served as a delegate from Middleborough to the Massachusetts Convention that ratified the new United States Constitution in 1788. He was particularly pleased that it prohibited religious tests (to what church one belonged) for office holders. He also helped John Leland influence James Madison to include the guarantee of religious liberty in the Bill of Rights.
John Leland, Virginia Statesman (1754 - 1841) was born in Grafton, Massachusetts into a Congregationalist family. He became a Baptist in Bellingham, Massachusetts in 1775, before he left for Virginia and became friends with the founding fathers. During the 1788-89 election, Leland and the Baptists threw their support behind James Madison, because Madison supported religious freedom. Baptists agreed to vote for Madison if he would guarantee that religious liberty would be included in the Constitution. He agreed, Baptists voted, and Madison was seated in the first Congress that year. The Constitution, however, was approved without that specific guarantee. Baptists again approached Madison to ensure that the Bill of Rights would spell out religious freedom. Madison wrote and submitted the Bill, and Baptists joined others to ratify it in 1791.
Leland returned to Massachusetts later that year and, back in New England, planted several churches in Connecticut, to one of which President Thomas Jefferson later wrote his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, regarding religious freedom and commending the "wall of separation." Leland is remembered today for his leadership among Baptists, his firm stand for religious liberty for all, his opposition to slavery, and his service as a pastor and evangelist.
In the year of America's independence in 1776, one out of every 264 Americans was a Baptist. By 1800, one out of every fifty-three Americans was Baptist, and by 1830, Baptists numbered one out of every twenty-seven citizens.
Today, as the elections of 2024 are upon us, we remember with gratitude the strong Baptist advocates of separation of Church and State, of freedom of conscience, and the absolute resistance to the bowing of knees to any political party or ruler. By fighting for the right to worship God according to the conscience of each individual, Baptists helped to gift to our new nation the guaranteed space in which every human being can deal with God personally. It is our Constitutional right. In this way, they may be seen as political peace-weavers, for which we take sober note and are grateful.
-Karen O'Dell Bullock
In 1607, an Independent congregation and its ministers, already separated from the Church of England and therefore illegal, fled England to Amsterdam, a City of Refuge, under persecution for their religious beliefs. Here, their two pastors, John Smythe and Thomas Helwys, led the congregation to become the first Baptists in 1609. They believed their ultimate authority was God, revealed in His Word; believer's baptism; priesthood of all believers; missions and social Christianity; local church autonomy; and religious freedom. This cluster of beliefs, most all of which ran contrary to the established Church of England, did not set well with its head, King James I. A year later, in 1610, he proclaimed to Parliament:
“The State of MONARCHIE is the supremest thing upon earth: For Kings are not only GOD’S Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon GOD’S throne, but even by GOD himself they are called GODS.”
What many Baptist do not remember today was the compelling answer of Thomas Helwys, challenging King James I in a book he wrote he wrote in 1611:
“For men’s religion to God is between God and themselves. The king shall not answer for it. Neither may the king be judge between God and man. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever, it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure. This is made evident to our Lord the King by the Scriptures” (The Mystery of Iniquity).
For this courageous response, Helwys was arrested, thrown into Newgate prison, and died in 1616, leaving behind the first Baptist defense of religious liberty. Baptists continued to suffer for this belief for the next eighty years, both in England and the New World. They yearned for space in which to worship according to their consciences, all while enduring persecution at the hands of the respective church-supported governments that dictated religion to its citizens. In the Colonies, Puritanism was the law in New England, as was Anglicanism in the south. Baptists were a minority in those early days, enjoying space to worship only in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey.
Baptists continued to struggle for a guarantee of religious freedom in the New World from 1638, when Roger Williams established the first Baptist Church in the Colonies in Rhode Island, to 1776. During the Revolutionary period, two Baptist preachers and freedom fighters, rarely known today, influenced the US Constitution and Bill of Rights to guarantee for all Americans religious freedom. They were Isaac Backus and John Leland.
Isaac Backus, New England Champion (1724-1806) was born in Yantic, now part of Norwich, Connecticut, and witnessed the first Great Awakening of 1734-1740s. Converted at seventeen years old, he was ordained in 1748 in the Congregational (Puritan) church. He became a Baptist in 1751 over his changed belief in believer's baptism instead of infant baptism, and founded the Middleborough Baptist Church in Massachusetts, which was considered illegal to exist at the time. Backus then traveled all across New England, helping to organize churches.
The Warren Baptist Association was established in 1767, and Backus was named chairman of the Grievance Committee, formed to work toward the elimination of persecution by civil authorities. As an agent of the Committee he labored tirelessly, riding thousands of miles by horseback, to document and collect evidence of persecution and to keep the issue of separation of church and state before the general public. He also advocated the abolishment of slavery. In 1774 he traveled to Philadelphia to seek assistance from the First Continental Congress.
Backus served as a delegate from Middleborough to the Massachusetts Convention that ratified the new United States Constitution in 1788. He was particularly pleased that it prohibited religious tests (to what church one belonged) for office holders. He also helped John Leland influence James Madison to include the guarantee of religious liberty in the Bill of Rights.
John Leland, Virginia Statesman (1754 - 1841) was born in Grafton, Massachusetts into a Congregationalist family. He became a Baptist in Bellingham, Massachusetts in 1775, before he left for Virginia and became friends with the founding fathers. During the 1788-89 election, Leland and the Baptists threw their support behind James Madison, because Madison supported religious freedom. Baptists agreed to vote for Madison if he would guarantee that religious liberty would be included in the Constitution. He agreed, Baptists voted, and Madison was seated in the first Congress that year. The Constitution, however, was approved without that specific guarantee. Baptists again approached Madison to ensure that the Bill of Rights would spell out religious freedom. Madison wrote and submitted the Bill, and Baptists joined others to ratify it in 1791.
Leland returned to Massachusetts later that year and, back in New England, planted several churches in Connecticut, to one of which President Thomas Jefferson later wrote his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, regarding religious freedom and commending the "wall of separation." Leland is remembered today for his leadership among Baptists, his firm stand for religious liberty for all, his opposition to slavery, and his service as a pastor and evangelist.
In the year of America's independence in 1776, one out of every 264 Americans was a Baptist. By 1800, one out of every fifty-three Americans was Baptist, and by 1830, Baptists numbered one out of every twenty-seven citizens.
Today, as the elections of 2024 are upon us, we remember with gratitude the strong Baptist advocates of separation of Church and State, of freedom of conscience, and the absolute resistance to the bowing of knees to any political party or ruler. By fighting for the right to worship God according to the conscience of each individual, Baptists helped to gift to our new nation the guaranteed space in which every human being can deal with God personally. It is our Constitutional right. In this way, they may be seen as political peace-weavers, for which we take sober note and are grateful.
-Karen O'Dell Bullock
Posted in PeaceWeavers