One of the students at Dan’s house that vacation was a French Catholic who’d come to Newbold to study English. Since Easter is such a high day in Catholicism’s liturgical calendar, Elizabeth definitely wanted to go to Mass on Easter Sunday. So we all decided to go—at least to watch.

Having never been to an Easter Mass, I found it fascinating. Catholic ritual has a mystical quality about it. Elizabeth seemed moved by it all. For her it was comfortable, meaningful territory. For me it was definitely a new experience and really quite foreign. It was far removed from my worship experience in Seventh-day Adventist churches since my earliest memories—except for one thing.

Toward the end of the service, we sang a congregational hymn. The music was run-of-the-mill. It was the words that captured my attention. They wouldn’t ever be included in any Adventist anthology of hymns, because they were a plea for Mary to intercede on behalf of the Catholic Church. But the evangelistic sentiment the words carried was more than familiar to me.

Over the years I’ve listened to a lot of sermons—and prayers—that urge us to return to something we seem to have lost: Our first love. Our sense of urgency. Our total commitment. Our evangelistic fervor. Our eagerness for Christ’s coming.

And that’s what the Catholic song was about. It talked about the Catholic faith as it once existed in Scotland. And it implored the Blessed Virgin to bring back what had been lost.

I don’t remember the specific words of any of the stanzas—it was 35 years ago, after all!—but I remember the haunting, wistful words of the refrain: "Bring the old faith back to Scotland, our Lady of Aberdeen." Except for the fact that we were singing to Mary rather than about God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, it was totally familiar ground.

It’s really easy to fall into a "them" and "us" mentality. "They’re" Catholic . . . Mormon . . . Baptist . . . Hindu . . . agnostic . . . you name it; "we’re" Seventh-day Adventist. "They’re" wrong; "we’re" right. "Their" ideas are far-fetched; "ours" are compelling. "They’re" made of one substance; "we’re" made of an altogether different substance.

It’s only when we interact, it’s only when we take time to get acquainted and to walk together on their ground, discovering that there’s actually a lot of common ground, that we begin to understand and appreciate and respect and relate. That happened as I listened to the evangelistic longing of that Scottish hymn.

Currently, the Seventh-day Adventist Church (an organization that we might expect to be in favor of safeguarding religion from vilification and verbal assault) is lobbying against a United Nations attempt to ban speech that offends religious sensibilities.

In fact, the International Religious Liberty Association (an Adventist-supported body) has prepared a "Statement of Concern about Proposals Regarding Defamation of Religions," which was distributed at a recent meeting (in Geneva, Switzerland) of the UN Human Rights Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards."

The UN Ad Hoc Committee has the authority to "prepare complementary international standards to strengthen and update international instruments against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in all their aspects." Based on the foregoing, the Ad Hoc Committee is considering provisions to ban offensive comments about religion.

The Adventist Church has argued that people should be free to say what they want about religion––including our own. Even if their comments are not complimentary. In the long run, freedom of expression is a more important principle than ensuring that no one’s religion is spoken of derogatorily.

"While we find much that is said about religion to be offensive, we cannot accept efforts to ban speech about religion," says Barry Bussey, executive director of the Adventist-supported North American Religious Liberty Association. "Such a ban will silent [sic] minority opinions and prevent honest and open discussions about the pros and cons of religious beliefs."

Adventists have consistently taught that religion should be able to stand on its own two feet. It shouldn’t need governmental bodies––whether local, national or international––to prop it up either by legislation or by the public purse.

Taking the principle of separation a step further, Adventists have been strong defenders of an individual’s right not to believe. And not just to be passive about it. If atheists or agnostics wish to campaign in favor of atheism/agnosticism and against religion, that should be their prerogative. And should they speak ill of deity, religion in general or a specific religion, that too should be their right, however offensive we may view such speech.

"We have seen the devastating impact of national equivalents of the provision [being considered], particularly in Pakistan, where blasphemy laws are used to settle personal vendettas and relied upon as a pretext to marginalize the Christian community," says James Standish, Deputy Secretary General of the IRLA. "Exporting this failed national model to the rest of the world would be very problematic."

None of us want our freedom of expression muzzled––because we all believe we’re right. The real test comes when we’re willing to grant freedom of religious expression to those who we not only view to be wrong but whose message and manner we find offensive.

To our credit, Adventists have said, at times unpopularly, that those people too must be granted freedom of religious expression.

Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor

Leonie had gone into a store to see if they still had something she’d seen earlier, so I buried myself in a book. When she didn’t come out after what I felt was more than enough time, I made my way in, just to make sure she was still alive.

I found her chatting with the store’s owner, a female about our age, who was standing behind the counter. After Leonie had introduced me, I suggested that it was probably time to hit the road.

As I was turning to leave, the store owner said, "Could I ask just one favor of you before you go? Would you please walk slowly back and forth two or three times between this end of the counter and that end?"

I wasn’t sure what the request was all about, but I couldn’t imagine it would be too risky to comply. So I started walking.

The woman closed her eyes, relaxed and leaned her head back as if she were slipping into a euphoric trance. "Where did you get that cologne?" she asked in a breathy stage whisper. "It’s absolutely fabulous. I wish I could smell it all day. I have to know what it is so I can get some for my husband."

Fortunately, Leonie was there to witness all this. I think I probably wouldn’t have sounded very credible had I recounted to her how some female store owner had gone so gaga over my cologne that she said she’d love to smell me all day long!
Since by nature Leonie’s highly accommodating, she promised to phone the woman as soon as we got home and had a chance to check the details on the cologne bottle. And she did.

I hope for her husband’s sake that the woman was able to find the stuff, because my guess is that he would have had her around his little finger! I mean, that fragrance seemed to really take hold of her!

I realize that you now expect me to give you the name of the fragrance. But that’s not why I’m sharing this story.

I share this story to illustrate a verse of scripture written by the Apostle Paul: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" (2 Corinthians 2:14, 15).

I think what Paul is saying is that everywhere we go there should be something—almost like a perfume—that so permeates the atmosphere around us that people will ask: "What is it that makes you so appealing? Because I definitely want what you have."

Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor