On Thursday, October 29, 2026, I had the privilege of participating in an America 250 forum at the College of Southern Idaho. The following are my prepared opening remarks and talking points from my baptistic viewpoint.
I spoke with other religious leaders in the community from a broad range of different faiths. On the panel with me was a Pentecostal, Mormon, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish rabbi.
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Good Evening. My name is Paul Thompson, and I’m a member of a Reformed Baptist church here in the city of Twin Falls, Idaho. I pastor Eastside Baptist Church. Thank you, Professor Andy Orr and the College of Southern Idaho for this invitation and for hosting this event.
I hold to the doctrines of grace (Calvinism), the 1689 London Baptist Confession, and the historic Baptist commitment to the authority of Scripture alone. Today I’d like to offer a brief word on how we understand the separation of church and state.
First, let me be clear about our heritage. Baptists did not invent the idea of religious liberty to make the public square safer for secularism or to amalgamate all faiths into one universal faith. We argued for it with words from prison cells in England and Colonial America so the church could be free from the state’s interference. Our spiritual forefathers—men like Roger Williams, John Clarke, Obediah Holmes, and the early Particular Baptists like John Bunyan and Benjamin Keach—knew what it was to suffer under established churches that used civil power to enforce doctrine and punish dissent. They insisted that the kingdom of Christ is advanced by the Word and Spirit, not by the sword of the magistrate. That conviction is still ours.
Scripture shapes our view. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He distinguished between the things that belong to Caesar and the things that belong to God (Matthew 22:21). The New Testament never authorizes the civil government to compel belief, baptize infants into the church, or punish heresy with the power of the state. At the same time, the civil magistrate is “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4). Government is a legitimate institution ordained by God to restrain evil and promote justice. We do not ask the state to stay silent about morality; we ask it not to play church.
So what does separation of church and state mean for a Reformed Baptist in Idaho today?
It means the state has no authority to dictate our doctrine, appoint our pastors, or fund our churches. We reject any establishment of religion—whether Protestant, Catholic, or secular. We also reject the modern distortion that treats the First Amendment as a demand that Christians keep their convictions private. Separation was never meant to produce a naked public square. It was meant to protect the integrity of both institutions.
In practical terms, that means we gladly participate in civic life. We vote. We speak. We serve on school boards and in the legislature when called. We argue for laws that reflect the moral order God has written on the human heart and revealed in Scripture—laws that protect the pre-born, uphold marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and preserve religious liberty for all. We do this not because we want a theocracy, but because we believe righteous laws are a blessing to all people.
At the same time, we refuse to confuse the church with the state. The church’s primary weapons remain prayer, preaching, and the ordinary means of grace. We will not trade the purity of the gospel for political power. We will not baptize political parties or treat any earthly nation as the new Israel. Our ultimate hope is not in Boise or Washington, but in the return of King Jesus.
In short, as Baptists, we cherish a free church in a free state. We want the government to stay out of the pulpit, and we want Christians free to bring the whole counsel of God into the public square. That is not a contradiction. It is simply the outworking of the Lordship of Christ over every sphere of life—while carefully distinguishing the distinct callings of church and magistrate.
Thank you. May the Lord grant us wisdom to live as faithful citizens of both the heavenly kingdom and this earthly commonwealth.
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