“Could it be that America’s anti-slavery church – the black church born fighting for freedom, religious freedom and political freedom – is uniquely shaped and situated both to perceive the threat and to lead in the important work of this manner?” Warnock told the crowd that liberty – and religious liberty – are in peril. And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak.” When they came for the Jews – in our context, the Muslims – I did not speak up, because I am not a Muslim. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist. Warnock gave his version of Niemöller’s famous words, making one key adjustment: “hen they came for the socialists I did not speak up, because I was not a socialist. He invoked the words of Martin Niemöller, the protestant pastor who was a critic of the Nazi regime in Germany. Speaking only two days after the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, Warnock reviewed some of the policies proposed on the campaign trail, such as religious tests in immigration policy, that caused him concern and are now serving as a call to stand up for others who are marginalized. “It is against the oxymoronic backdrop of the legacy of a Christian slaveocracy that black people have had to fight for their liberty and their religious liberty, and have leveraged each in the pursuit and maintenance of the other,” he said. He also pointed out the glaring hypocrisy of colonists fighting the British for freedom from tyranny while keeping people as slaves. Warnock reviewed history that continues to shape America today, noting that slaveholders had concerns that religious freedom for slaves might lead to political freedom.

“The freedom provided by the separation of church and state has been of limited good for those who have known the violent encroachment of each upon their liberty, separately and in tandem,” he said. But, he noted the convoluted relationship for African-Americans. “Religious liberty is one of the hallmarks – and part of the bedrock – of American democracy,” Warnock said as he reviewed the ways in which the First Amendment provides freedom of – and freedom from – religion. Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, delivered a lecture and participated in a panel discussion. Held at the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., the symposium featured a variety of voices. 10, the Baptist Joint Committee sponsored a symposium focusing on that complex intersection along with the Howard University School of Divinity. Warnock during a day-long exploration of the relationship between religious liberty and the black church. “Religious freedom – like all other freedoms – has always been, for African-Americans, complicated at best,” said the Rev.

Warnock legacy racial tyranny