Religious Persecution in the Bible

Yesterday I wrote about examples in the Book of Mormon related to religious liberty and those who sought to restrict it.  There are similarly numerous examples in the Bible of those who denied religious freedom to people seeking to worship God in a way different from the mainstream culture.  The most poignant example of course was Jesus Himself, who was ultimately put to death at the Jews’ insistence because “he made himself the Son of God.”  Even Pilate declared, “I find no fault in him” and Matthew tells us that “he knew that for envy they had delivered him” (John 19:6-7, Matt. 27:18).  The Jewish leaders could not accept His religious teachings or the fact that others were accepting Him instead of them, and so despite all of His miracles and good works, they put Him to death.  They had no tolerance for any religious views other than their own.  Similarly, there are many other examples of people in the Bible who, often as types of Christ, were denied their religious freedom to the point of persecution and violence.  There stories should act as a reminder to us of the importance of protecting religious freedom for all those who seek to live peaceably according to the dictates of their conscience. 

               In the Old Testament, the stories surrounding the period of exile after the Babylonian captivity show several examples of the Jews who were denied religious freedom.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego could not be forced to worship how Nebuchadnezzar tried to make them to worship.  When they declared, “Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up,” they were cast into the burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3:18).  Babylon was no place for religious freedom but one that had little tolerance for religious dissenters.  Similarly under the Persians, the king Darius signed a royal statute saying that “whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of [the] king, he shall be cast into the den of lions” (Daniel 6:7).  Daniel of course would not stop worshiping his God, and when he was found praying to God he was cast into a den of lions in a show of extreme religious intolerance.  Likewise in the story of Esther the minority Jews were persecuted; a decree went forth telling the officers “to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month” (Esther 3:13).  It was only through the courage of Esther and goodness of God that they were spared. 

               In the New Testament after the Savior’s resurrection, we see more examples of religious persecutions as the world fought against the leaders of the fledgling church.  Peter and John were put in prison where the leaders of the Jews did “[beat] them” and “commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus” (Acts 5:40).  When Stephen gave a peaceful speech about the Savior, the people showed not an ounce of religious tolerance: “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him” (Acts 7:57-58).  Paul who participated in that stoning eventually learned firsthand what it was like to be on the other side of religious persecution.  He summed up his own experience to the Corinthians this way: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned…   in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen” (2 Corinthians 11:24-26).  Paul suffered again and again at the hand of those who rejected religious freedom as he sought to preach the gospel among many different peoples.  These stories and others are an important reminder to us that religious freedom has very often been rejected and that we must do all we can to safeguard it in our own communities.