However, it is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions: one man's religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion - to which free will and not force should lead us - the sacrificial victims even being required of a willing mind. (To Scapula 2; ANF translation)Tertullian is speaking here of Christians being forced to offer sacrifice to Roman gods, but, as a member of a minority religion in the Roman Empire, develops this broader principle of religious freedom. It reminds me a bit of the Quranic passage that "there is no compulsion in religion."
My musings on the New Testament, Early Christianity, Religion, Literature, and Other Phenomena and Ephemera.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tertullian on Religious Freedom
I was reading through some of Tertullian this morning, and ran across this gem:
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