The United States began as colonies of people fleeing their homeland seeking the freedom to practice their own religion, although at least initially those people often did not tolerate other religions within their own midst, anymore than God tolerated other religions in the Israelites’ midst under His Old Testament theocracy. Nevertheless, First Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution is thought to guarantee both the freedom of religious speech and the free exercise of religion, although lately it seems to have been interpreted more as a guarantee of a freedom from religion. Now there are even more threats to our free exercise of religion in the form of the redefinition of marriage, orders to our social service organizations, aspects of the so‑called Affordable Healthcare Act pertaining to abortion, and the like.
Pilgrim is part of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a national church body originating with immigrant groups who also came to the United States for the freedom to be faithful to God. Now the LCMS is conducting “Free to be Faithful”, an education and awareness initiative supporting life, marriage, and religious liberty (you can find all sorts of related resources on its website). In addition, the LCMS is working to establish the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. Time will tell what impact the initiative and the Center will have with God’s blessing.
To be sure, we do not expect either the initiative or the Center to prevent the general apostasy the Bible says will happen as the end nears. To the extent that the United States and other countries have granted freedom of religion in the past, they are quite different from the situation of the New Testament, where Christianity was not legal and believers expected to be persecuted and counted themselves blessed for suffering unjustly as Christ had suffered (for example, see Matthew 5:11-12; Acts 5:41). We pray that we may be so faithful to the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that we, too, may be so blessed.
As directed by Holy Scripture (for example, 1 Timothy 2:1-4), we also pray for our government on every level. Striking is the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write such strong statements about government (as in Romans 13:1-7) when the Roman government of the time was as evil and corrupt as it was and would even go on to martyr Paul! Although opinions might differ whether governments today are better or worse, we nevertheless pray:
Eternal Lord, ruler of all, graciously regard those who have been set in positions of authority among us that, guided by Your Spirit, they may be high in purpose, wise in counsel, firm in good resolution, and unwavering in duty, that under them we may be governed quietly and peaceably; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Lutheran Service Book: Altar Book, #223, p.453.)
You may be interested in the April 29, 2015, presentation Pastor Galler gave to the Kilgore Rotary Club on this topic: handout and audio. And, Pastor Galler occasionally writes about matters of Church and State in his newspaper column, such as the November 28, 2015, one titled “Free to give God thanks?” The image at the top of this page and that in the slider were composed by then-Candidate for the Ministry Christopher Nuttelman, using a picture Pastor Galler took of Pilgrim’s steeple on Christmas Day 2014 and the LCMS “Free to be Faithful” logo.
