Quotable Quotes

“Religious liberty is the nursing mother of all liberty. Without it all other forms of liberty must
soon wither and die.

“The Baptists grasped this conception of liberty in its full-orbed glory, from the very beginning.
Their contention has been is now, and must ever be, that it is the God-given and indefeasible right
of every human being, to worship God or not, according to the dictates of his conscience; and, as
long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others, he is to be held accountable to God alone,
for all his religious beliefs and practices.

“And Baptists make this contention, not only for themselves, but as well, for all others – for
Protestants of all denominations, for Romanists, for Jews, for Quakers, for Turks, for Pagans, for
all men everywhere.

“Their contention is not for mere toleration, but for absolute liberty. Toleration implies that
somebody falsely claims the right to tolerate. Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right.
Toleration is a matter of expediency; while liberty is a matter of principle. Toleration is a gift
from man, while liberty is a gift from God.

“It is, therefore, the consistent, insistent and persistent contention of our Baptist people always
and everywhere, that religion must be forever voluntary and uncoerced, and that it is not the
prerogative of any power, whether creed or form of worship, or to pay taxes for the support of a
religious organization to which they do not belong, and in whose creed they do not believe. God
desires free worshippers, and no others.”

—George W. Truett, presidential address to the sixth Congress of the Alliance (July 1939)

June 2003