Calvin News

Stephen Monsma, senior research fellow at Calvin College’s Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, is deeply concerned over threats to the religious freedom of faith-based organizations.

“One’s faith—when consistently followed—shapes all of one’s life, whether in education, social services, overseas development or business. But a mindset that does not recognize this leaves faith-based organizations of all types vulnerable to pressures to secularize what they do,” said Monsma.

Faithful and influential

So Monsma, seeing this threat, stepped in to show faith-based organizations how they can defend their ability to follow their religiously based beliefs without having to jettison the faith that led them to provide services to those in need.

His recently released book, Free to Serve, was recognized by the editors of Christianity Today as one of the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought and culture in their annual book awards.

“Plenty of people speak the truth about God and his world, but their manner is abrasive. Others use warm, artful language in the service of half-truths and falsehoods,” wrote Matt Reynolds, an associate editor at Christianity Today in his introduction to the annual book awards. “We recognize Christian writers for painstaking research and trenchant analysis, for dazzling prose and arresting imagery. What a testimony to the power of beauty and orthodoxy uniting in a delicious feast.”

Monsma co-authored Free to Serve with Stanley W. Carlson-Thies, the founder and senior director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, a division of the Center for Public Justice. In their book, the two present a pluralist vision for religious freedom for faith-based organizations of all religious traditions.

A timely and key resource

Thought leaders who have read the book see it as a key resource for those involved in faith-based organizations and public policy development, and those interested in knowing how religious organizations can maintain and winsomely communicate their authentic religious identities.

“The next decade may very well see more ferocious—and hugely important—battles over religious freedom than at any time in recent years. [It is] a must-read for anyone interested in preserving our country’s historic stance on religious freedom,” said Ronald J. Sider, distinguished professor at Palmer Theological Seminary.

“This book explains how religious institutions caring for our communities risk losing their character as faith-based organizations. We have to protect the rights of everyone in our society if we are to protect the rights of anyone,” said Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S.

Defending freedom for all

The book also develops case studies that document the challenges faith-based organizations face to freely follow the practices of their religious traditions, analyzes these threats as originating in a common, yet erroneous, set of assumptions, and develops an alternative position labeled principled pluralism, which according to Monsma “protects the religious freedom of faith-based organizations of all types and all religious traditions without compromising the freedom of secular persons and organizations.”

The book also includes responses by diverse voices—an Orthodox Jew, a Roman Catholic, two evangelicals, two Islamic leaders, and an unbeliever who is a religious-freedom advocate—which reviewers of the book say underscore the importance of religious freedom for faith-based organizations.

“Monsma and Carlson-Thies present a timely and compelling case for how the United States can navigate the current changes to social norms by proposing that society value and give equal credence to the ideas of all religions and the nonreligious alike,” said Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

Free to Serve received an Award of Merit in Christianity Today’s Politics and Public Life category of their annual book awards. Free to Serve was one of only two books awarded in this category in 2016.