Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings in Christ,

The tension between religious liberty and religious conformity seems part of every generation. The initial struggle of Christians to worship under Pagan rule and then the struggle of Pagans to worship under Christian rule. The conflict of the Reformation Era where various countries across Europe declared their religious liberty from Rome but then implemented their own expectations of religious conformity.

In England the strict expectation that every citizen would attend worship at a Church of England parish each Sunday and all other forms of Christian Worship were banned, the state had political and ecclesiastical liberty from Rome but the citizens had no religious liberty in their lives. The civil war that brewed in England for generations before breaking out in the deaths of king and bishops as the Puritans, seeking religious liberty, enacted bloody religious conformity.

The Puritan splinter group that left before the civil war broke out to colonize the Americas seeking religious liberty yet creating a society of excessively strict conformity. The way that calls for religious liberty in our present politics too often seem requests to conform to a specific group's expectations. 

On this day in 1645 the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, was beheaded in the various trials taken up by Parliament once the Puritans gained control after the Civil War in England. Laud, throughout his ordained ministry, had been a strong advocate for religious conformity and the authority of Bishops. Within the Anglican Communion "Laudianism" continues to mean strict expectations of conformity and the maintenance of the Episcopate as the mechanisms for ensuring such. The deadly violence the Puritans took against him was not different from the violence the Church and State enacted against the Puritans over several generations.

What then are we to do with this day of commemoration for Archbishop Laud? What are we to do with the many days that commemorate Catholic, Puritan, and Protestant martyrs whose lives were taken by the Anglican Church? How do we make the tension between Religious Liberty and Religious Conformity one that is life giving and not death dealing?

We can begin to understand that Religious Conformity is what allows us to build community, common language, and systems of safety that can support the vulnerable... something we actually all long to have. We can begin to understand that Religious Liberty is about rejoicing in the myriad different ways we find and are found by God. We can begin to end the cycle of violence that happens in the world around us by recognizing how in our life with God we desire both a chance to share our unique personal journey but also the patterns, structure, and norms that nourish each of us and the greater community that is our church, bishops’ authority included.

Pax,
—Ben