Zurich, Switzerland, is an exotic location nestled at the base of the Swiss Alps. Few know of its importance in the struggle for religious liberty, separation of church and state and priesthood of believers.
When more than 300 Baptist leaders from 46 nations gathered there July 1–7, 2018, for the Annual Gathering of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), these biblical doctrines were front and center. Most participants left with a greater appreciation for the price paid in blood for these freedoms Baptists cherish today.
Many of us stood just a few feet away from the famous Grossmunster church at the childhood home of Christian martyr Felix Manz. Here the first known believer’s baptism in over a thousand years was performed on Jan. 21, 1525.
That baptism of George Blaurock by Conrad Grebel was an act of defiance against state governed religion and an exercise of religious freedom.
On Jan. 17, 1525, Zurich’s city council issued a decree intended to end the challenge to the traditional Christian practice of infant baptism. The city council ruled that failing to baptize infants would “rip the Christian fabric” of Zurich society and declared that all who refused to baptize their infants would be expelled from the city.
But those affirming believer’s baptism as the baptism taught in the Bible refused to back down.
During a Saturday night Bible study Blaurock said he felt compelled to be baptized. The group went to a fountain outside the Manz home where on a cold January night Blaurock became the first documented believer’s baptism in over a millennium.
Believer’s baptism
Those believing in believer’s baptism became known as “Anabaptists” (baptize again) and the practice quickly spread across parts of Switzerland, Germany, France and into the Netherlands. But the practice drew the wrath of the reformed church as well as the state. Leaders of the Grossmunster church, like its renowned reformer pastor Ulrich Zwingli, joined the persecution of the Anabaptists. Eventually hundreds died.
Interestingly, some of those leading the persecution were the same people who only years earlier had been condemned as heretics by the Roman Catholic Church for their role in the Reformation. Evidently, the willingness to use state power against dissenters knew no doctrinal bounds.
One of many martyrs
Manz was one of the many martyrs. On Jan. 5, 1527, he was executed by drowning in the Limmat River which runs through Zurich.
Reports say his hands were tied behind his back and then lashed to his feet. A pole was jammed under his elbows so he could not move. A rope was placed around his neck and he was dragged from a platform into the freezing water.
Standing beside him was a priest from the Grossmunster, where Manz’s father served as canon, urging him to recant his belief in believer’s baptism and save his life. From the bank of the river, his mother urged him to hold to his faith, even unto death.
All the while the crowds cheered at the irony that one who promoted believer’s baptism was going to die in a type of baptism.
It was not until 1983 that the Swiss Reformed Church issued a formal apology for their persecution of the Anabaptists and in 2004 a plaque was placed along the riverbank near the site where Manz and others were martyred.
It was against this background that the Swiss Reformed Church invited the BWA to meet in Zurich and jointly sponsor a forum on religious liberty which, ironically, was held at the Grossmunster church where Zwingli once served as pastor.
Today most of the churches coming out of the Reformation embrace the doctrines of religious liberty, church-state separation and priesthood of believers.
Today most understand that the sacred space between humanity and God can only be occupied by Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest. He alone is Lord of the church. To allow anyone or anything (including government) into that space is idolatry.
That is why Baptists and others believe in religious liberty for all and its corollary of church-state separation. That is why Baptists and others believe in the priesthood of believers.
In addition to the jointly sponsored forum, the BWA Annual Gathering featured a special program devoted to the importance of religious liberty that included expressions of concern from Baptists facing religious persecution in places as varied as Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Of special concern was Russia and its tightening restrictions on religious liberty and a resolution about a conflict area in Ukraine where Russian-backed forces threaten to limit the work of all churches except the Russian Orthodox.
This writer is privileged to be a member of BWA’s Religious Liberty Commission.
Listening to the experiences of fellow Baptists from different parts of the world only reinforced appreciation for the price paid by early Anabaptists in Zurich as they stood for religious freedom and separation of church and state. Obviously that struggle continues today.
The supportive voice of the BWA, representing more than 48 million Baptists from about 240 member bodies in 124 different countries, was an encouragement to fellow Baptists.
A few days after the annual gathering, my wife Pat and I visited a small church in the Dutch village of Marken which is north of Amsterdam. A handout about the church related how the members of the church joined the Reform movement in 1578. One of the reasons for the change was religious liberty.
Another interesting point about the church is that it has the names of all the pastors who have served that village church printed on posters mounted at the front of the building. One can read of the unbroken witness of the Christian faith in a village that still has fewer than 2,000 inhabitants as one follows the names of the pastors from 1578 to the last pastor called in 2017.
Cardinal Baptist beliefs
Before there was a group of Christians known as Baptists, Christian champions were contending for what many today consider cardinal Baptist beliefs. As in Marken, these beliefs have impacted Christian believers for centuries and they still do.
May God make us as faithful to these important tenents of our faith like those who have gone before. And may the day soon come when all know the blessing of religious freedom.
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