美国新教由于自身的软弱，被美国政府乘虚而入，基督教会彻底沦陷。 （中英文版） 

自由思考、探索绝对是人类通往真理的必由之路，对异端的惩处、对思想的钳制，无论如何都无法使人们找到真理，我从来没有否认宗教自由，没有否认宗教自由带给人类在梦想中翱翔的双翅，但是我也坚持认为，最理想的社会是国家不得干预宗教，而宗教却能干预国家的社会。由于世俗政府由腐败堕落的人组成，又拥有强大的军队、警察等暴力机构，所以世俗政府不加限制的话，必然会无止境地发展，最后堕落崩溃，社会动乱、战争，最后毁灭。刚开始时美国社会尚未世俗化，美国政府也还弱小，人员不多，功能也不齐全，此时也许单个新教派别的精神之剑，就可以制约它，但是当时每个新教派别都认为，自己是精神之剑的唯一传人，而没有将各自手中的精神之剑，凝聚成一柄更强大的精神之剑，强力制约美国政府的发展，于是美国这个世俗政府就顺势发展，成为庞然大物，此时所有的单个教派已经无法制约它，不仅如此，这时，各个教派之间反而是，更加无限的分裂、无限的争吵，使自己的力量更加弱化、更加无力。更可悲的是这些新教教派在美国政府的打击下，甚至承认了完全政教分离的概念，没有利用美国宪法中，并没有宗教不得干涉国家事务的条款，力争自己的权利，而是将自己从政治生活中完全撤离，放弃了对美国政府的监督制约作用，这些都将给人类历史留下巨大的遗憾，也将造成人类社会巨大的灾难。我们没必要去责怪宗教自由，也没必要去责怪非基督徒涌入美国，我们首先要责怪是我们自己，我们由于人性的贪婪堕落，而没有团结一心、凝聚成一体，其实内部的纷争，才是基督教世界出现致命危机的根本原因。当每个新教派别都以为自己执掌了精神之剑，而暗自窃喜时，是否想到当一柄剑幻化成无数柄剑之后，已经失去了原来的分量，当然如果这无数柄剑是刺向同一个目标，还可能保持原来的威力，可是事实却远非如此，这些新教派别之间争吵不休，这些剑也散乱无序，目标各异，即使还有几剑会刺中目标，但已经是隔靴搔痒、毫无用处。是我们自己自废武功，没能形成一柄强大的精神之剑，无法捍卫自己的权利，任由世俗的美国政府发展，不断侵蚀基督教会的权利，是我们没有向非基督徒宣示，这是基督徒建立的国家，不容许任何人撼动它的根基——对上帝、圣经的信仰，没有明确告诉他们要在这个国家生活，必须信仰兄弟之爱而不是仇恨。于是美国这个上帝的山巅之城，这是尘世的耶稣之国，这个承载着清教徒无数梦想的社会，这个曾经桃花源一般美好的地方，在失去了基督教会精神之剑的制约后，世俗政权不断地膨胀扩张，成为一头怪兽，反而将基督教会吞噬，也终将整个社会吞噬，看看目前美国民主党的大政府、高税收，包办一切、控制一切的竞选主张，就知道我所言非虚。而且令人无法接受的是，这头怪兽首先吞噬的就是，上帝山巅之城的起源地，曾经的新英格兰清教徒四州——马萨诸塞、康涅狄格、新罕布什尔、罗得岛，如今这些清教徒的后人已经无人知道，当年先辈来到这片土地的目的是什么？或者认为他们是被愚昧的宗教激情所驱使，这里已经成为激进的、自由化的左派民主党的铁票仓，而马萨诸塞更是率先同意同性婚姻的州，首个大麻合法化的州，这些如何不使上帝在天堂黯然无语。

注：

①引用自《God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution》Thomas S. Kidd ，Basic Books 216页

②引用自《God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution》Thomas S. Kidd ，Basic Books 222页

③引用自《God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution》Thomas S. Kidd ，Basic Books 213页

④引用自《God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution》Thomas S. Kidd ，Basic Books 217页

⑤引用自《God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution》Thomas S. Kidd ，Basic Books 218页

Free thinking and exploration are absolutely the only way humans can reach the truth. The punishing of heresy and the suppression of thought can never make people find the truth in any case. I never deny the religious freedom of bringing the wings to humans soaring in their dreams. But I also insist that the ideal society is that the state cannot interfere with religion, but religion can interfere with the society and state. The secular government is composed of corrupt and degenerate people and has a powerful military, police, and other violent institutions. If the secular government isn’t restricted, it would inevitably expand endlessly. Society eventually degenerates and collapses, unrest, war, and finally ruin. In the beginning, American society was short of secularisation, and the American government was still weak, with a few staff and incomplete functions. At this time, perhaps the spiritual sword of a single Protestant sect could restrict it. However, each Protestant sect thought that they were the only descendant of the spiritual sword instead of condensing their spiritual swords into a more powerful spiritual sword, which could strongly restrict the American government. The secular government of the United States took the chance to develop and become a giant monster.

At this point, all single sects had been unable to restrict it. Not only that, more innumerable divisions and endless quarrels erupted among various sects, making their own weaker and more powerless. What’s sad was that under the attack of the U.S. government, these Protestant sects even recognized the concept of complete separation of church and state. They did not capitalize that there were no provisions in the U.S. Constitution stipulating that religion should not interfere in state affairs to strive for their rights. Instead, they completely withdrew themselves from politics and gave up the role of supervision and restriction on the U.S. government. All of these were a huge regret to human history and caused great disaster to human society. We oughtn’t to blame religious freedom or the influx of non-Christians into the United States. We should blame ourselves first. Because of the greed and degeneration of human nature, we don’t unite as one.

In fact, internal disputes were the root cause of the fatal crisis in the Christian world. When every Protestant sect suggests that they were in charge of the sword of spirit and self-complacency, they didn’t recognize that a sword had lost its initial power when it turned into countless swords. Of course, if these countless swords were stabbed at the same goal, they might still maintain their power, but the fact was far from that. These Protestant sects quarreled endlessly, and the goals of their swords were also scattered and disordered. Even if a few swords hit the target, they were useless, like beating the wind. It is because we were self-defeating martial acts, failed to form a powerful spiritual sword, failed to defend our rights, allowed the secular American government to develop, and constantly eroded the rights of the Christian Church. It is because we had not declared to non-Christians that this is a nation built by Christians, and no one was allowed to shake its foundation – the belief in God and the Bible. We also didn’t claim to non-Christians explicitly that to live in this country, they must believe in brotherhood rather than hatred. As a result, the United States, the city on the hill, a God’s city, the Kingdom of Jesus on earth, a society carrying countless dreams of Puritans, and the Holy Land of Peach Blossoming, lost the restriction of the spiritual sword of the Christian Church. The secular regime continued to expand and become a monster. In the end, it devoured the Christian Church and eventually the whole society. If you look at the Democratic Party’s big-government agenda, high taxes, all things arranged and controlled, you can see what I said is very accurate.

What’s more, what is unacceptable is that this monster first devoured the birthplace of God’s city, the four Puritan states of New England – Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Now, none of these descendants of the Puritans knows why their ancestors came to this land? or think that ignorant religious passions drove them. New England has become the radical and liberal Democrats’ storehouse of votes, and Massachusetts is the first state to approve same-sex marriage, the first state to legalize marijuana. How sadly God silences in heaven.

Note

①Thomas S. Kidd, “God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution”, Basic Books  p216

②Thomas S. Kidd, “God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution”, Basic Books  p222

③Thomas S. Kidd, “God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution”, Basic Books  p213

④Thomas S. Kidd, “God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution”, Basic Books  p217

⑤Thomas S. Kidd, “God of Liberty A Religious History of the American Revolution”, Basic Books  p218