PROTESTANTISM AND POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE

Any Protestant knows that if a church is not working according to what he or she thinks is the right interpretation, then he or she is free to form his or her own church. The Protestant world is a patchwork of many different churches and denominations. The concept of Universal Church helps to differentiate the concrete material or historical form taken by any local church or assembly, from the invisible church known only to God. Thus, the Universal Church takes multiple forms according to history, culture, interpretation; ways of understanding church government and so on. The local churches, visible organizations or even members are free to adapt Scripture interpretation to their denomination; or, in case that is not likely; then there is always the possibility of splitting to form new local churches or organizations (denominations). This is the reality of the Protestant world.

Thus, in theory, Protestant thought and practice perfectly fits into a liberal democracy. The rights of individual conscience and freedom to plan one’s life into whatever fits his or her personal outlook, goes before any other considerations. This is Christian freedom; which is the opposite of the Catholic or Catholic-inclined church organization. The visible organization with its hierarchy and power structure as well as its Magisterium, rules the life of a believer whose faith must comply with church doctrine as defined by magisterial authorities. Protestants, in theory, must make an effort to choose, to think about what to choose; and personally work his or her own interpretation according to what his or her conscience dictates. This is a radically different mode of understanding Christianity. Protestantism in this respect opens the way for modern democratic and constitutional freedoms.

That is why no Protestant should have any problem understanding the right of any territory to aspire to its own independence from any constituted state. States are not God-given entities that must be preserved at any cost. Any constitutional state should be based on the voluntary consensus of its territories to be part of that state. Any time a territory doesn’t fit into that consensus, it should be free to break away forming its own sovereign state or whatever political structure they feel like. That is democracy at its best and the Protestant mind shouldn’t have any problem understanding it since its religious life shares the same essence.