Let one man worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the heavens, another to the altar of Fides;\u00a0let one\u2014if you choose to take this view of it\u2014count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one consecrate his own life to his God, and another that of a goat. For see that you do not give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking away religious liberty, and forbidding free choice of deity, so that I may no longer worship according to my inclination, but am compelled to worship against it. Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him. And so the very Egyptians have been permitted the legal use of their ridiculous superstition, liberty to make gods of birds and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any one who kills a god of their sort. … In, fact, we alone are prevented having a religion of our own. We give offence to the Romans, we are excluded from the rights and privileges of Romans, because we do not worship the gods of Rome. It is well that there is a God of all, whose we all are, whether we will or no. But with you liberty is given to worship any god but the true God, as though He were not rather the God all should worship, to whom all belong.<\/p>\n
–Tertullian, Apology ch.24<\/p>\n
It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions: one man\u2019s religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion\u2014to which free-will and not force should lead us\u2014the sacrificial victims even being required of a willing mind. You will render no real service to your gods by compelling us to sacrifice. For they can have no desire of offerings from the unwilling, unless they are animated by a spirit of contention, which is a thing altogether undivine.<\/p>\n
–Tertullian, To Scapula ch. 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let one man worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the heavens, another to the altar of Fides;\u00a0let one\u2014if you choose to take this view of it\u2014count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one consecrate his own life to his God, and another that of a goat. For see that you do not give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tertullian","tag-freedom-of-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":799,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-on-christian-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":0},"title":"Tertullian On Christian Worship","author":"Nemo","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. 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For, whatever was the form and expression which was then given to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1015,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-ad-martyras\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":3},"title":"Tertullian: Ad Martyras","author":"Nemo","date":"January 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On Imprisonment You have no occasion to look on strange gods, you do not run against their images; you have no part in heathen holidays, even by mere bodily mingling in them; you are not annoyed by the foul fumes of idolatrous solemnities; you are not pained by the noise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tertullian"","block_context":{"text":"Tertullian","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/tertullian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":818,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/tertullian-de-corona\/","url_meta":{"origin":827,"position":4},"title":"Tertullian: De Corona","author":"Nemo","date":"February 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Baptism When we are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. 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