Does Torah Oppose Freedom of Religion

Overview: A key component of democracy is the basic right to freedom of religion. Does Torah, which is claimed to be the most moral of books, embrace or condone the theology of democracy, or more particularly, freedom of religion?

Perhaps the greatest piece of literary work of the second millennium is the opening sentence of the American Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

In articulation of this guiding principle, the First Amendment of the Constitution grants every citizen the right to choose their own religion. Following pursuit, most countries implemented Freedom of Religion as a basic human right. This invention was a lifesaver and increased universal peace to a great extent.

As the most moral of books, we would naturally expect the Torah to embrace this human “right.” Yet throughout the Five Books of Moses we find a governing-system that governs not only civil life but religious life as well. The courts in ancient Israel would punish for religious violations and even use the death penalty at some extreme occasions.

Judaism is not a democracy to the fullest extent. They bare many similarities, but as a whole the two are not parallel. Democracy is a beautiful concept, but it is only a temporary solution to the great problems of the world.

The world has a problem that is called “relative truth”; each individual has their own set of beliefs that collide with another’s—particularly in regard to religion. The solution the world found is to have “freedom of religion.” Each individual governs their own personal ideology. Before this concept became widespread, Christians would kill Muslims and Muslims would kill Christians. The same goes with most other religions. Millions were killed in in the name of religion. For civilization this was a hazard that had to end, and it did (to some extent) with the sprouting of Democracy and its entailing principles like Freedom of Religion.

But this concept is limited to the perspective of civilization as a physical experience in which everyone is entitled to their own decisions. As beautiful as that concept sounds, it is simply not 100% accurate. “Human Rights” is a human invention. We are not entitled to our own decisions because we all have a Creator Who gets to decide our day-to-day actions. He decides what truth is because truth is not relative. If He decides, say, that homosexuality is prohibited—then one’s personal opinion is void. Truth, by definition, does not allow for “Freedom of Religion” since truth cannot be relative.

Judaism is the one truth in face of all other religions, at least according to Judaism. This is not (intended to be) a statement of arrogance, but a candid fact that Judaism claims and that we attempt to demonstrate along this work. The fact that another religion might claim the same thing (i.e. that they represent the one truth), doesn’t minimize the legitimacy of Judaism as the one truth.

It is for this reason that Israelites living in the ancient Land of Israel were subject to the religious restrictions of Torah under the jurisdiction of the High Court. Torah was and is the truth and is not subject to personal opinion (i.e. “Freedom of Religion”). It wasn’t the leaders or scholars who decided to subject the Israelite population to Judaism but it was the Creator Himself. He created us for a mission in this world and we are all responsible for one another to complete this mission as a team. If people go overboard and begin to be counter-productive to this sacred mission, the Torah implements specific methods of punishment as a means for deterrence.

This is all in theory and in the ideal settings. Given the current circumstances the world and the Jewish People find themselves in now, we do not implement these punishments for religious violators. The reason for this is twofold.

First off, especially when it comes to religious violations, we take intent into account. The intent had to be that of rebellion against God in order to bare punishment. Nowadays, Jews who transgress generally don’t have evil intent. They were simply raised and educated in a society which allows us to do as we please so long as we don’t hurt others. We therefore cannot punish them for “rebelling” against God.

The second reason we do not implement the religious punishments is the current situation the world is in. With many cultures and religions now mixed together, the world would simply not survive if Freedom of Religion was breached. This beautiful concept is the pact mankind made with each other that although I believe A to be true and you believe B to be true, we will not punish one another for failing to abide by what each side believes to be true. This “human right” of Freedom of Religion is a great human invention and Judaism embraces it granted the world’s current situation.