Litany for Religious Liberty

[Haruo]

At the hymn sing workshop on Saturday, I heard that Sunday morning worship at First Baptist was going to be a lot of hymns celebrating their 150th anniversary. So I skipped Fremont and went. One of the non-hymnic items in the service was this litany by George Truett:

Litany for Religious Liberty by George W. Truett, read by Rev. Dr. Patricia L. Hunter and Congregation

One: There is a wide difference between toleration abd liberty.
ALL: Toleration implies that someone falsely claims the right to tolerate.
One: Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right.
ALL: Toleration is a matter of expediency, while liberty is a matter of principle.
One: Toleration is a gift from [here is the missing line] people, while liberty is a gift from God.
ALL: It is the consistent and insistent contention of our Baptist people, always and everywhere, that religion must be forever voluntary and uncoerced.
One: And that it is not the prerogative of any power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, to compel anyone to conform to any religious creed or worship.
ALL: God wants free worshipers and no other kind.

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