Welcome to the Liberty Insider. 00:00:26.69\00:00:28.52 This is your program 00:00:28.56\00:00:30.53 that you can follow the latest updates, 00:00:30.56\00:00:34.23 analysis and discussion on religious liberty 00:00:34.26\00:00:37.40 in the US and around the world. 00:00:37.43\00:00:38.93 My name is Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty magazine. 00:00:38.97\00:00:41.94 And my guest on this program 00:00:41.97\00:00:43.37 Professor Nic Miller, author of... 00:00:43.41\00:00:45.97 Oh, yes. 00:00:46.01\00:00:47.34 A very significant book 00:00:47.38\00:00:49.04 that we need to talk a little bit about. 00:00:49.08\00:00:51.01 500 Years of Protest and Liberty, 00:00:51.05\00:00:54.35 Martin Luther to modern civil rights. 00:00:54.38\00:00:56.79 This year is the 500th anniversary 00:00:56.82\00:00:58.79 of the Protestant Reformation. 00:00:58.82\00:01:00.46 And so, I've gathered many articles 00:01:00.49\00:01:03.66 I've written over the years for Liberty magazine, 00:01:03.69\00:01:06.39 added some material for today 00:01:06.43\00:01:08.66 and none other than Lincoln Steed 00:01:08.70\00:01:10.73 has the forward in the book. 00:01:10.77\00:01:12.73 You can get a copy at Liberty500.com, 00:01:12.77\00:01:17.67 and for every book that's ordered, 00:01:17.71\00:01:19.51 we're giving free subscriptions to Liberty magazine. 00:01:19.54\00:01:22.84 Sounds a pretty good combination... 00:01:22.88\00:01:24.21 So it's a great, a great combination... 00:01:24.25\00:01:25.71 Now, this is a fantastic outline of the Reformation 00:01:25.75\00:01:30.09 which we're remembering now 00:01:30.12\00:01:31.82 but it's more than just remembering it 00:01:31.85\00:01:33.19 like a birthday or something. 00:01:33.22\00:01:34.72 This is such a seminal development 00:01:34.76\00:01:37.09 into the form of religion and religious liberty 00:01:37.13\00:01:39.83 that we have today in the United States. 00:01:39.86\00:01:41.70 It explains, it explains the conflicts 00:01:41.73\00:01:44.10 we have in society today. 00:01:44.13\00:01:45.93 And what we've done is we're doing a program 00:01:45.97\00:01:48.74 on each of the centuries, 00:01:48.77\00:01:50.11 so we've done the 16th century Martin Luther 00:01:50.14\00:01:52.21 the priesthood of believers 00:01:52.24\00:01:53.78 and how the priesthood of believers 00:01:53.81\00:01:55.14 created the framework of freedom to study the Bible 00:01:55.18\00:01:59.31 which meant that church and state should be separate. 00:01:59.35\00:02:01.95 The state shouldn't be telling you 00:02:01.98\00:02:03.65 how to study the Bible and what the Bible teaches. 00:02:03.69\00:02:05.35 Sounds good today. 00:02:05.39\00:02:06.72 If you listen to this program 00:02:06.76\00:02:08.09 always hear about separation of church and state, 00:02:08.12\00:02:09.46 before Luther that was antithetical concept. 00:02:09.49\00:02:11.16 It didn't exist... 00:02:11.19\00:02:12.53 And a lot of people think 00:02:12.56\00:02:13.90 that it's a secular enlightenment idea. 00:02:13.93\00:02:15.26 We don't trust those religious people, 00:02:15.30\00:02:16.63 we have to push them out of the public sector. 00:02:16.67\00:02:18.73 But in reality its roots lay 00:02:18.77\00:02:20.50 in the Protestant Reformation understanding of Sola scriptura 00:02:20.54\00:02:23.41 and the priesthood of believers. 00:02:23.44\00:02:24.77 Well, yes I agree with you. 00:02:24.81\00:02:26.57 I do believe 00:02:26.61\00:02:27.94 that the developing enlightenment thought 00:02:27.98\00:02:30.58 which emphasized the... 00:02:30.61\00:02:34.02 I'm trying to think of... 00:02:34.05\00:02:36.38 there's line from Fast 00:02:36.42\00:02:37.75 where he talks about the unbounded soul. 00:02:37.79\00:02:40.36 Okay. 00:02:40.39\00:02:41.72 You know, I do think intellectual development 00:02:41.76\00:02:44.33 in the renaissance and beyond 00:02:44.36\00:02:46.29 that sort of emphasized the individual 00:02:46.33\00:02:48.46 and the Protestant Reform is picked up 00:02:48.50\00:02:50.23 on that, that frame of mind 00:02:50.27\00:02:53.44 because it wouldn't have come at them naturally 00:02:53.47\00:02:55.10 from within the church. 00:02:55.14\00:02:56.47 So you had a renaissance humanism in Italy, 00:02:56.50\00:02:59.47 but the renaissance humanists 00:02:59.51\00:03:00.84 they did emphasize the individual, 00:03:00.88\00:03:02.84 but they didn't have a big concept of individualism 00:03:02.88\00:03:05.85 in terms of religious ideas or religious ideology. 00:03:05.88\00:03:10.39 And it took really Martin Luther 00:03:10.42\00:03:12.72 and we moved, we recognize 00:03:12.75\00:03:14.56 that Martin Luther in our last program 00:03:14.59\00:03:16.22 and Calvin stayed with for a variety of reasons 00:03:16.26\00:03:19.39 what we call magisterial Protestantism 00:03:19.43\00:03:21.46 which is the kind of Protestantism 00:03:21.50\00:03:23.23 that combines church and state. 00:03:23.26\00:03:25.10 So Calvin's Geneva, Luther worked with the princes, 00:03:25.13\00:03:29.27 but his ideas were picked up and used by the Anabaptists 00:03:29.30\00:03:33.81 who did believe in a strong separation of church and state. 00:03:33.84\00:03:37.51 And after Luther and Calvin died, 00:03:37.55\00:03:39.25 the Anabaptist become significant in the Netherlands 00:03:39.28\00:03:42.45 and they're the English Baptists 00:03:42.48\00:03:44.75 and we should perhaps talk about 00:03:44.79\00:03:46.15 the English Reformation, Henry the VIII and his death, 00:03:46.19\00:03:50.09 King Edward for a few years 00:03:50.13\00:03:51.89 and then it reverts back to Catholicism 00:03:51.93\00:03:54.33 under Queen Mary. 00:03:54.36\00:03:55.90 Bloody Queen Mary... 00:03:55.93\00:03:57.27 Who kills, 00:03:57.30\00:03:59.60 at least there's 300 martyrs during her reign. 00:03:59.63\00:04:02.47 Many of the Protestants in England escape 00:04:02.50\00:04:04.81 and go to Geneva where they study under Calvin 00:04:04.84\00:04:08.71 causing British Protestantism, 00:04:08.74\00:04:10.85 at least a part of it 00:04:10.88\00:04:12.21 to have a strong Calvinistic emphasis... 00:04:12.25\00:04:16.15 So you connected them to the Puritan. 00:04:16.18\00:04:17.52 Well, and then the Puritans arise 00:04:17.55\00:04:19.49 because they're never happy with the kind of halfway 00:04:19.52\00:04:22.52 Reformation that Queen Elizabeth 00:04:22.56\00:04:24.59 carries out in the church. 00:04:24.63\00:04:26.19 And hence their name the Puritans... 00:04:26.23\00:04:28.80 You've missed a few... 00:04:28.83\00:04:30.17 Okay, well, what do you think we need to... 00:04:30.20\00:04:32.27 Well, this is my... 00:04:32.30\00:04:36.24 idee fixe on history. 00:04:36.27\00:04:37.94 All right. I love history. 00:04:37.97\00:04:39.51 But in the mid 1600s which is our century, right? 00:04:39.54\00:04:42.64 Yeah. The century. 00:04:42.68\00:04:44.61 There was a civil war in England... 00:04:44.65\00:04:46.31 Oh, no, I'm still before that because the... 00:04:46.35\00:04:48.05 I'm sorry... Well, you jumped over to... 00:04:48.08\00:04:49.82 No, the end of the 16th century is when the Puritans rise 00:04:49.85\00:04:53.05 and then they develop into the 17th century. 00:04:53.09\00:04:56.59 Some of them come to America 00:04:56.62\00:05:00.33 and they take the Bible very seriously. 00:05:00.36\00:05:02.46 Purify the church in England, if you can't purify it, 00:05:02.50\00:05:05.00 you leave it and you become pilgrims 00:05:05.03\00:05:06.60 and go to America, you settle in New England. 00:05:06.63\00:05:09.27 But now we're getting to the civil war period. 00:05:09.30\00:05:11.61 That's Massachusetts Bay... Massachusetts Bay. 00:05:11.64\00:05:14.14 The Puritans that go to America 00:05:14.18\00:05:17.05 do so because of some persecution 00:05:17.08\00:05:18.88 that happens in the 1630s 00:05:18.91\00:05:20.58 but those that stay around confront the king 00:05:20.62\00:05:24.19 and soon there is a civil war. 00:05:24.22\00:05:26.52 Parliament is made up mostly of Puritans 00:05:26.55\00:05:29.32 and it opposes the camp. 00:05:29.36\00:05:30.69 Yeah, now they didn't confront him on a religious question. 00:05:30.73\00:05:33.56 Okay. 00:05:33.60\00:05:34.93 And that's why I think... 00:05:34.96\00:05:37.40 The Reformation of course is everything 00:05:37.43\00:05:39.63 when you talk about religious freedom and Protestantism 00:05:39.67\00:05:43.71 separating from the monolithic dictatorial church. 00:05:43.74\00:05:47.18 But you can't see these things in isolation. 00:05:47.21\00:05:49.14 There were social developments, 00:05:49.18\00:05:51.21 there were political developments, 00:05:51.25\00:05:52.71 and in England there was a long dispute 00:05:52.75\00:05:58.05 that actually went back 00:05:58.09\00:05:59.42 to the more liberal style of rule in England 00:05:59.45\00:06:03.86 where they needed to call a parliament 00:06:03.89\00:06:05.76 to raise money for wars. 00:06:05.79\00:06:07.46 And so the kings tried to rule by faith, 00:06:07.50\00:06:11.87 but every now and again they'd have to call parliament. 00:06:11.90\00:06:14.04 And King Charles, 00:06:14.07\00:06:17.11 the first king of England and of Scotland 00:06:17.14\00:06:20.08 which was a very unusual period. 00:06:20.11\00:06:22.98 He begrudgingly after many years 00:06:23.01\00:06:25.08 of having dismissed parliament called them again, 00:06:25.11\00:06:27.35 and in the meantime as you said 00:06:27.38\00:06:28.72 they'd become primarily a Protestant assembly of Puritan. 00:06:28.75\00:06:32.72 The Puritan assembly. Yeah. Right. 00:06:32.75\00:06:35.59 And they didn't like his style. 00:06:35.62\00:06:37.99 They tried to have some control 00:06:38.03\00:06:40.16 as a condition of giving out the money 00:06:40.20\00:06:41.96 so he dismissed them again. 00:06:42.00\00:06:43.33 Well, but let's not minimize the religious elements 00:06:43.37\00:06:45.73 because clearly he had to call it 00:06:45.77\00:06:47.44 because he needed to raise an army 00:06:47.47\00:06:49.10 and he needed taxes for that. 00:06:49.14\00:06:50.81 But the reason that he didn't want to bring them together 00:06:50.84\00:06:53.01 was because the Puritans were against 00:06:53.04\00:06:54.74 his style of church government. 00:06:54.78\00:06:56.58 They were against his wife, his wife was Catholic. 00:06:56.61\00:06:58.95 Well against his wife... 00:06:58.98\00:07:00.32 And they believed that he was trying to recath, 00:07:00.35\00:07:02.18 catholicize England 00:07:02.22\00:07:03.89 and the singular event was Archbishop Lord 00:07:03.92\00:07:09.32 of the Church of England, 00:07:09.36\00:07:10.76 he was a high churchman, 00:07:10.79\00:07:12.13 this is the Church of England was for most of its history. 00:07:12.16\00:07:15.36 Changed the book of common prayer... 00:07:15.40\00:07:17.13 And they were convinced 00:07:17.17\00:07:18.50 that this was bringing in Catholicism again. 00:07:18.53\00:07:21.47 So there was deep suspicion on a religious level 00:07:21.50\00:07:23.67 as he convened parliament. 00:07:23.71\00:07:25.04 But it was all about raising money. 00:07:25.07\00:07:26.54 Charles believed in the episcopacy 00:07:26.57\00:07:29.08 which is the bishop coming down appointed by the king. 00:07:29.11\00:07:32.31 He believed in the heavy hand of the authority. 00:07:32.35\00:07:34.42 The Puritans wanted a presbytery 00:07:34.45\00:07:37.19 which was elders elected by the church body 00:07:37.22\00:07:40.66 and these two competing systems clashed 00:07:40.69\00:07:43.76 and a civil war broke out. 00:07:43.79\00:07:45.13 And in fact... 00:07:45.16\00:07:46.49 But it wasn't religious initially. 00:07:46.53\00:07:47.90 It had religious undercurrent. 00:07:47.93\00:07:50.93 It turned into a religious war 00:07:50.97\00:07:53.10 when Charles appealed to Catholic friends for help. 00:07:53.13\00:07:57.87 And he, and this is why 00:07:57.91\00:07:59.47 they cut his head off in the end. 00:07:59.51\00:08:01.01 They found that he'd been conspiring 00:08:01.04\00:08:02.68 to bring a Catholic army into England... 00:08:02.71\00:08:05.25 So they cut his head off and for the first time 00:08:05.28\00:08:08.55 you had a government of the godly. 00:08:08.58\00:08:11.25 Parliament was now in charge 00:08:11.29\00:08:13.69 who was the Lord Protector, who was the... 00:08:13.72\00:08:16.16 Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell. 00:08:16.19\00:08:17.53 The head of the army 00:08:17.56\00:08:18.89 who was himself a dedicated Puritan. 00:08:18.93\00:08:21.43 In fact, he once said, I'd rather have, 00:08:21.46\00:08:24.07 I forget the number but say 20 of my hymn singing Puritans 00:08:24.10\00:08:28.20 than, you know, the whole army of the fancy cavaliers. 00:08:28.24\00:08:32.61 Now there is an important distinction to be made 00:08:32.64\00:08:35.78 that we say Puritan 00:08:35.81\00:08:37.15 and we think it means one group, 00:08:37.18\00:08:39.78 but Oliver Cromwell was an independent, 00:08:39.81\00:08:43.18 not a Presbyterian. 00:08:43.22\00:08:44.99 Now we're getting into some of the minutiae 00:08:45.02\00:08:46.69 of the British Civil War... 00:08:46.72\00:08:48.06 Very few of them were Puritans, were Presbyterians. 00:08:48.09\00:08:50.59 Well, most of parliament were Presbyterians 00:08:50.63\00:08:52.69 and they wanted to impose religion through law... 00:08:52.73\00:08:55.73 Yeah, we're dealing in history. 00:08:55.76\00:08:57.30 But it, but it contracted down 00:08:57.33\00:08:59.87 and that's the accusation against Cromwell 00:08:59.90\00:09:02.47 which is probably correct 00:09:02.50\00:09:04.01 that he only worked with those that he was comfortable, 00:09:04.04\00:09:06.84 then he worked things down to get a Rump Parliament 00:09:06.88\00:09:10.78 and even to get the king's execution that... 00:09:10.81\00:09:13.72 he got rid of most of the nominal Protestants 00:09:13.75\00:09:18.92 and just had a little tight group of mostly Puritans 00:09:18.95\00:09:21.66 who signed the death warrant. 00:09:21.69\00:09:23.02 But Cromwell being an independent 00:09:23.06\00:09:25.86 was actually more tolerant of religious differences 00:09:25.89\00:09:28.20 than were the Presbyterians. 00:09:28.23\00:09:29.56 Oh, he's very tolerant in according to the time. 00:09:29.60\00:09:31.13 He allowed the Cath, he allowed Jews in England, 00:09:31.17\00:09:34.80 he was actually going to tolerate Catholics in England. 00:09:34.84\00:09:37.57 He sent a force and source of money over 00:09:37.61\00:09:40.41 to protect the Waldenses, right? 00:09:40.44\00:09:41.94 I'm glad you know it, most people don't. 00:09:41.98\00:09:43.31 Who were being persecuted in England. 00:09:43.35\00:09:44.85 Well, he was so offended 00:09:44.88\00:09:46.35 that at the mistreatment by the... 00:09:46.38\00:09:48.75 was the Duke of Savoy I think of the Waldenses that he said, 00:09:48.78\00:09:52.52 if they didn't cease immediately, 00:09:52.55\00:09:54.82 he would personally lead an English army 00:09:54.86\00:09:56.83 to relieve them. 00:09:56.86\00:09:58.49 And there were at least a couple of authors 00:09:58.53\00:10:02.83 who wrote during this period that are very important, 00:10:02.86\00:10:04.90 one is John Milton, right? 00:10:04.93\00:10:07.20 After Shakespeare, 00:10:07.24\00:10:08.57 the greatest author in the English language. 00:10:08.60\00:10:09.94 John Milton is a Puritan, 00:10:09.97\00:10:11.71 but he is influenced 00:10:11.74\00:10:13.34 by some of these dissenting Protestants 00:10:13.38\00:10:14.94 we discussed earlier. 00:10:14.98\00:10:16.31 He reads the Baptists writings 00:10:16.34\00:10:18.01 who've been studying the Anabaptists, 00:10:18.05\00:10:19.61 who've been studying early Luther, 00:10:19.65\00:10:21.32 and he comes to believe 00:10:21.35\00:10:22.68 in the separation of church and state. 00:10:22.72\00:10:24.49 He writes that not only should people have religious freedom 00:10:24.52\00:10:29.36 but in the... 00:10:29.39\00:10:30.73 He has a treatise on civil and ecclesiastical power. 00:10:30.76\00:10:35.70 And he says that... 00:10:35.73\00:10:37.10 And this was very advanced view for his day 00:10:37.13\00:10:39.57 that the state should not pay the salary of ministers, 00:10:39.60\00:10:42.47 that there should be a real separation 00:10:42.50\00:10:44.17 of church and state. 00:10:44.21\00:10:45.54 I studied that at school, I haven't read it for years... 00:10:45.57\00:10:46.91 Is that? 00:10:46.94\00:10:48.28 I have a great regard for Milton, powerful writer. 00:10:48.31\00:10:49.68 So Milton writes these things very clearly, 00:10:49.71\00:10:52.55 and he puts these ideas of freedom 00:10:52.58\00:10:55.28 in another document which is even more influential. 00:10:55.32\00:10:57.99 You've heard of Paradise Lost, right? 00:10:58.02\00:11:00.49 Paradise Lost is about war over ideas with the... 00:11:00.52\00:11:04.36 Was the great controversy of his age. 00:11:04.39\00:11:06.13 Being given the freedom to choose God or Satan, right? 00:11:06.16\00:11:09.50 Yeah. 00:11:09.53\00:11:10.90 And this view of human freedom 00:11:10.93\00:11:14.20 and the government of God granting freedom 00:11:14.24\00:11:17.67 and a fight over morality, 00:11:17.71\00:11:21.04 it creates the environment in the English speaking world, 00:11:21.08\00:11:24.21 the Puritan context. 00:11:24.25\00:11:25.98 The critique of, 00:11:26.01\00:11:27.35 well, there's two critiques of Paradise Lost. 00:11:27.38\00:11:28.92 All right. 00:11:28.95\00:11:31.65 Samuel Johnson said, "None wished it longer." 00:11:31.69\00:11:35.82 But I think it's a good link but it's in... 00:11:35.86\00:11:39.53 Verse. 00:11:39.56\00:11:40.90 Open verse 4, 00:11:40.93\00:11:42.26 but still it's, you got to trudge through it. 00:11:42.30\00:11:43.77 But if you know the King James, 00:11:43.80\00:11:45.57 it's wonderful similar language. 00:11:45.60\00:11:47.94 And the other critique is that the hero is Satan. 00:11:47.97\00:11:51.27 And freedom, and I'm saying that for real... 00:11:51.31\00:11:52.94 Milton didn't mean that. Others have said that he... 00:11:52.97\00:11:54.31 No, but he gave him 00:11:54.34\00:11:55.68 some of the most heroic speeches. 00:11:55.71\00:11:57.51 And like his, better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. 00:11:57.55\00:12:01.78 Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. 00:12:01.82\00:12:03.72 Right, yeah. 00:12:03.75\00:12:05.09 But I think he got himself caught up 00:12:05.12\00:12:08.46 in just the dynamic of the plot, 00:12:08.49\00:12:10.59 but the principles that he was having Satan 00:12:10.63\00:12:13.80 the numerate were actually the self determinism 00:12:13.83\00:12:17.73 that came out of Protestantism. 00:12:17.77\00:12:19.57 Well Milton writes these things very clearly 00:12:19.60\00:12:22.54 a separation of church and state 00:12:22.57\00:12:23.94 like we have in America, it doesn't get picked up 00:12:23.97\00:12:26.17 but there he sets it out clearly in written form. 00:12:26.21\00:12:29.11 And then a few years later John Locke 00:12:29.14\00:12:31.95 who reads Milton and who also reads 00:12:31.98\00:12:34.18 these Baptists dissenting Protestant authors 00:12:34.22\00:12:37.22 begins to express very clearly in a couple of different books. 00:12:37.25\00:12:42.22 His book on the two treaties on government 00:12:42.26\00:12:45.49 is filled with these ideas of natural rights 00:12:45.53\00:12:50.47 of worship due only to God 00:12:50.50\00:12:52.63 that shouldn't be enforced by humanity. 00:12:52.67\00:12:55.44 And he writes another book on religious toleration 00:12:55.47\00:12:59.87 which really should be understood 00:12:59.91\00:13:01.24 as religious freedom as we use it we're today. 00:13:01.28\00:13:03.21 I think it's pretty easy to prove 00:13:03.24\00:13:05.01 that as far as so called secular thinker, 00:13:05.05\00:13:08.18 Locke was the singular personage 00:13:08.22\00:13:11.09 that informed the development of the American republic. 00:13:11.12\00:13:13.49 So here we are 00:13:13.52\00:13:14.86 between the 16th and the 18th centuries, 00:13:14.89\00:13:16.93 and so this connecting piece with the British Revolution, 00:13:16.96\00:13:21.40 Locke sees the wars of religion in England, 00:13:21.43\00:13:25.03 and he begins to realize that you can't put civil power 00:13:25.07\00:13:29.14 on the side of spiritual beliefs 00:13:29.17\00:13:31.21 that you really need to separate these two things out. 00:13:31.24\00:13:33.94 And he begins to clearly state that 00:13:33.98\00:13:36.01 in these writings that have a profound effect 00:13:36.04\00:13:37.95 on the American founding fathers. 00:13:37.98\00:13:39.98 Yeah, and a little advertisement 00:13:40.02\00:13:41.45 for Liberty magazine, 00:13:41.48\00:13:42.82 we've had many features on him. 00:13:42.85\00:13:44.29 And I can visually see on the back cover once, 00:13:44.32\00:13:47.92 we had a powerful quote from John Locke. 00:13:47.96\00:13:49.92 I can't remember the exact quote 00:13:49.96\00:13:51.69 but I had him in the sky like the sun king 00:13:51.73\00:13:55.23 shining down on the American republic... 00:13:55.26\00:13:57.17 He is of great influence. But it's very interesting. 00:13:57.20\00:13:59.63 Why in Washington there's no, 00:13:59.67\00:14:02.80 that I know of, there's no big statue 00:14:02.84\00:14:05.61 or commemoration of Locke's role 00:14:05.64\00:14:07.48 but to me he's everywhere 00:14:07.51\00:14:11.08 in the Declaration of Independence 00:14:11.11\00:14:12.55 and the discussions 00:14:12.58\00:14:13.92 that surrounded the constitution. 00:14:13.95\00:14:15.28 Well, really James Madison and Thomas Jefferson 00:14:15.32\00:14:17.79 are bringing Locke to America. 00:14:17.82\00:14:19.45 Absolutely. 00:14:19.49\00:14:20.82 We'll take a break here 00:14:20.86\00:14:22.19 and be back shortly to continue our discussion. 00:14:22.22\00:14:24.29 Stay with us. 00:14:24.33\00:14:25.66