Wings of Liberty • July 23, 2025

THE CURSE OF CHURCH AND STATE, PART 2: SILENCE, HERETIC

Control is the aim of all religionists who desire civil power. They want the power of government for one single reason: they are not content to allow their religious ideas to stand or fall in competition with other religions and philosophies in the marketplace of ideas, judged by each person for themselves as true or false. Instead, they intend to dominate human thought and behavior by having government compel their religious views on society using the force of law. Since they have lost the argument in the public square, they will win it by force. Some of these religionists may have vague intentions of altruism, hoping to reform a corrupt society through religious compulsion. But, regardless of motive, as soon as the objective is obtained it is inevitable that the union of church and state will result in persecution.


This is because the power of government is to make laws for society. When religionists have this power they will make laws for their religious purposes, and laws to punish breaches of their religious laws. The result is religious persecution, and the corruption of church and state.


There are many examples to demonstrate that the above proposition is true. In theocratic Muslim countries where the church controls the state, censorship of media of all sorts is enforced, from books to movies, and the internet. There are religious restrictions on every aspect of society, and these restrictions are for the good of society in the minds of those who pass them and enforce them. Compliance is mandatory, and a person is considered an enemy of the common good if he dissents.


In Islam, as in all religions, the ultimate dissent is considered to be conversion away from one’s former religion. But when the mosque controls the state, one converts from the religion which controls the government. In much of Islam, conversion is to be punished by death. Islamic teaching stipulates that a delay of three days for “reconsideration”, is appropriate prior to carrying out the death penalty.i


The Roman Papacy also wants control of government, even global government,i and it long ago proved that it persecutes dissenters. For centuries it banned books and persecuted their authors,ii justifying it actions with the claim that reading John Locke, Galileo, and John Milton, was “heresy” and “contrary to morality”, and suppression of writings is necessary for the common good. Many martyrs were tortured and killed for possession or creation of prescribed religious materials.


This censorship and persecution is supposedly justified by the papal teaching extra ecclesiam nulla salus - "outside of the Church, there is no salvation”, and, “it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”iii Thomas Aquinas, often lauded by Catholic scholars, agreed that "to be subject to the Roman Pontiff is absolutely necessary for salvation."iv Thus, the Papacy justifies censorship by the following perverse argument: since only Catholic doctrine can save society, dissenting or heretical views must not be tolerated if society is to be saved.


This position is not only ancient, but also modern. In advocating for a new reinterpretation of the Constitution through a lens of Catholic social doctrine deceptively called “common good constitutionalism”,v Harvard legal scholar and Catholic Integralist, Adrien Vermuele, stated:


The libertarian assumptions central to free-speech law and free-speech ideology – that government is forbidden to judge the quality and moral worth of public speech … [should] fall under the ax. Libertarian conceptions of property rights and economic rights will also have to go, insofar as they bar the state from enforcing duties of community and solidarity in the use and distribution of resources.vi


Carefully consider Vermuele’s assertions in this vein and it will slowly dawn on you that he is quietly but vehemently opposed to American independence, the Bill of Rights, and probably apple pie. Vermeule believes the United States government should be subordinate to the Roman Catholic Papacy. When he advocates for government censorship of public speech that is low in “quality and moral worth”, what he means is that the Catholic Church should direct the government to suppress public speech it opposes.


Vermeule’s contentions prove the proposition that a union of church and state results in wickedness and oppression, as President John Adams wrote.vii But there may be another word to describe his intentional attack on US independence. What do you call a proposition that your country’s government and Constitution be subordinated to the Pope of Rome, who is not only a religious leader but a foreign monarch, and that your fellow citizens be stripped of their freedom of speech and property rights?


While these menacing thoughts are published under the sometimes-subversive cloak of academia, Vermuele betrays enough of an inner latent Torquemada that there should be serious alarm bells for liberty lovers.


Take David French, for example. French, a lawyer, former editor of the National Review, and Protestant twice has debated Sohrab Amari, a well-known Catholic Integralist and editor of the New York Post, on the subjects of American liberty and Originalism versus a Catholic social doctrine reinterpretation of the Constitution.viii French is a staunch supporter of individual rights, and the defense of civil liberties as enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Amari believes the government should be subordinated to the Catholic Church, and that the Constitution needs to be “reinterpreted” so that it conforms with Catholic doctrine.


French handily won both debates. But if the Catholic church controlled the government, the French/Amahri debates probably do not end with a handshake. They end with French’s writings proscribed, his house expropriated and converted into a camp for Catholic migrants,ix and French himself chained to a rack and tortured for heresy. That is the difference when the church controls the state.


Many Protestants today want civil power, and claim to be setting up a kingdom for Jesus Christ. They claim there will be more liberty in this kingdom, not less. But Protestants who believe in a union of church and state are not much different than Papists. They have behaved like Papists when they have had civil power and there is every reason to believe they will again if they obtain it again.


There are many examples of the foregoing, but one or two will suffice. In Scotland, “The National Covenant or Confession of Faith” was first created in 1580 and certified by an act of Parliament in 1640. The law was approved by Charles II in 1651 as a condition precedent of his restoration to power.


As noted by author and liberty advocate A. T. Jones, the Covenant “declares, in approval of various acts of the Scottish Parliament, as follows:


… do condemn all erroneous books and write concerning erroneous doctrine against the religion presently professed, or containing superstitious rites and ceremonies papistical, … and ordains the home-bringers of them to be punished … and ordains the users of them to be punished for the second fault as idolaters.i


In order to protect the Covenant religion, the Covenant declares that “all within the realm are bound to profess it”, and states all must:


… recant all doctrine and errors repugnant to any of the said articles, and all magistrates, sheriffs, etc., are ordained to search, apprehend, and punish all contraveners; … that none shall be reputed loyal and faithful subjects to our sovereign Lord or his authority, but be punishable as rebellers and gainstanders of the same, who shall not give their confession and make their profession of the said true religion.ii


Magistrates were required by the Covenant to:


Maintain the true religion of Jesus Christ… and be careful to root out of their empire all heretics and enemies of the true worship of God who shall be convicted by the true Kirk of God [Church of God] of the aforesaid crimes.iii


Scottish Reformer Jon Knox himself stated that “none provoking the people to idolatry ought to be exempted from the punishment of death”, and “it is not only lawful to punish to the death such as labor to subvert the true religion, but the magistrates and people are bound to do so unless they will provoke the wrath of God against themselves.”iv


As noted, this is far from the only example of Protestant misdeeds when they obtain civil power. John Calvin had Michael Servetus arrested and murdered over a religious disagreement. Zwingli endorsed violence to encourage conversion, and Melanchthon drowned an Anabaptist for the “heresy” of being rebaptized.


Thus we see a union of church and state in Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism all yields the same evil result. The supposedly “true” religion (as declared by thin-skinned religionists who cannot stand to have their ideas debated and adopted or discarded as the individual decides) is established by civil law, dissenting views are censored, and the expositors punished, persecuted and murdered. That is the lesson of history in all ages, and it is the prophecy of Revelation 13 that so will it be at the end of time.


Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.


The next installment in this series will examine the links between Catholic social doctrine, the labor movement, and the push for church and state union.





i The Papacy is in a fixed battle for global domination. See, for example, Malachi Martin, “The Keys of This Blood: The Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Capitalist West”, Simon & Schuster, 1990, pages 16-18.


ii https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum


iii Unam Sanctum, Pope Boniface, https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm


iv Thomas Aquinas, Against the Errors of the Greeks, Pt. 2, ch. 36


v Individual rights are for the common good. In fact, the highest common good is served when freedom of thought, speech, religion, and the press hold sway. The name, “common good constitutionalism” falsely implies that constitutionalism itself neglects the common good, which is the exact opposite of the truth.


vi Adrian Vermuele, “Beyond Originalism,” The Atlantic, March 31, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/common-good-constitutionalism/609037


vii See www.wingsofliberty.net/the-curse-of-church-and-state-part-1-canon-and-feudal-law


viii https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/david-french-sohrab-ahmari-and-the-battle-for-the-future-of-conservatism ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gFiDNIaIVA


ix https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2019/07/a-principle-of-immigration-priority-.html


x https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2019/07/a-principle-of-immigration-priority-.html


xiThe American Sentinel, September 1886, pages 69-70.


xii Ibid


xiii Ibid



xiv Knox’s Works, Laing’s Ed, vol IV. pages 515-600; Lecky’s History of Rationalism, vol II, pages 50, 51.



The Sun Is Setting on the British Empire

By Wings of Liberty • October 18, 2025
Humanity is accelerating toward the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the events warned of in Revelation 13-18. Ecumenism is bringing Protestantism back into harmony with the Papacy. The wall of separation between church and state is under attack from religeonists who covet state power to compel their dogmas on the human population. We have passed another signpost. The Church of England split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 during the Reformation over a dispute about papal authority and the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage. As a result of this schism, Anglicans have long had an established creed similar to the Westminster Confession of the Reformed Church. Like the Westminster Confession, the “39 Articles of Anglicanism” formally rejects the papal claim to universal supremacy for the Bishop of Rome. The 39 Articles of Anglicanism include the following: “As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred, so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith”; “The Romeish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshiping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God”, “It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church to have public Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people”, “Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not commanded by God's Law, either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage: therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other Christian men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve better to godliness”, and “ The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England.” The Popes assert they “hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty”. England rejected these boastful claims and the Pope’s presumptuous authority to dominate the minds and hearts of humanity. It is not a coincidence that while many other European countries were suffering under the oppression of the Inquisition, England was advancing toward empire. So vast was is influence at one time it was famously even claimed that “the sun never sets on the British empire”. But a great change has come. For some decades England, which never sufficiently distanced herself from Rome doctrineally, has been increasingly friendly toward the Papacy. Today, the globalism of the Roman pontiff is the globalism of King Charles III. The climate change agendas of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV are also shared by King Charles III, the latter of who’s father publicly advocated for population reduction and compared humanity to a “plague”. England is also adopting digital IDs and carrying out mass surveillance and censorship on its own citizens, a practice near to the hearts of the prelates of Rome, to be sure. And now, King Charles III, who holds the title of not only king but Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church, is headed to Rome to hold a public prayer ceremony with Pope Leo XIV. The leader of the Anglican Church has not engaged in public prayer with the Bishop of Rome for approximately 500 years. According to the Royal Palace, “This will be the first state visit, since the Reformation, where the Pope and the Monarch will pray together in an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel, and the first time the monarch will have attended a service in St Paul’s Outside the Walls, a church with an historic connection to the English Crown.” According to MSN News, Charles III will also accept a new title. “Charles is also being recogenised for the British monarchy’s historic association with the Papal Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome, the seat of a Benedictine Abbey, and will be made “Royal Confrater” of the abbey.” Rome never changes. The Papacy has not retreated one letter from its false doctrines. It still claims authority over this earth. It still teaches the false doctrine of purgatory and forbids priests to marry, as well as many more false doctrines which Protestants, including Anglicans, object to. So why this ecumenical development today? The change is with the Anglican Church, which is drifting back toward the once-estranged mother as prophecy foretells. The light of sola scriptura that was brought to England by the Bible is being rejected. It seeks the company of the pope, the pretender to the throne of Christ. Like Israel of old, Anglicanism will say, “we have no king but Caesar.” Of all the Protestant denominations, Anglicanism is the closest to Catholicism. The pageantry and formal rites still have many similarities. England mirrors the union of church and state of Roman Catholicism by unifying church and state in the person of the monarch of England. It has no pope, but it has a king who claims to be the head of the church. Now that king will go to Rome. All roads lead there, it is said, and Protestantism has set itself to prove it. The sun is setting on the British empire after all. SOURCES: https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13praec.htm https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/king-to-pray-at-public-service-with-pope-during-state-visit-to-vatican/ar-AA1OF5lH https://www.ibtimes.com/prince-william-shares-prince-charles-philips-grave-concern-over-issue-2767853

An Inconvenient Study

By AnInconvenientStudy.com • October 15, 2025
In 2016, journalist Del Bigtree issued a challenge to the head of infectious disease at one of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world: conduct the most thorough vaxxed vs. unvaxxed study that has ever been done. The expert took up the challenge and ran the study to prove Del wrong. That study never saw the light of day... until now. Learn the implications and maybe for the first time see what the actual data shows. Too often we depend on medical experts , media, what our neighbor says, or what we have always believed. In this documentary type film learn what actual studies show on this issue. It may seem controversial but this presentation strives to reduce controversy to facts. View and perhaps be surprised and informed.

THE CURSE OF CHURCH AND STATE, PART 4: THE FIRST DUTY OF CITIZENS

By Wings of Liberty • October 3, 2025
“ It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of Citizens...” – James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Let us soberly consider Madison’s warning. It is “ proper ” to be alarmed at the “ first ” experiment (in modern terms, “threat”) to our liberties . The first threat, mind you. And, not only is it “proper to take alarm”, but “ this prudent jealousy ” is the “ first duty of citizens .” What a warning! Our world is full of tyrants. There are tyrants on the Left, and yes, do not deceive yourself, there are also plenty of tyrants on the Right. Let us soberly evaluate ourselves as citizens then. Have we, do we, exercise “that prudent jealousy” to safeguard individual liberties, not only ours but the individual liberties of our society? No. If we are honest, the answer is “no.” Collectively and individually, western society has woefully failed to take alarm when individual liberties are threatened. If “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”, as Jefferson said, we should expect to be enslaved. And we ought not to be surprised that this is precisely what is happening. We are entertained. We are preoccupied. We are self-absorbed. And we have failed to be vigilant for liberty. What liberties are we to guard? We do not have to guess. We are to jealously safeguard as our first duty those liberties enshrined in the Constitution. First and foremost, we are to safeguard the separation of church and state, freedom of religion, free speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assemble. Before considering the existential threat to liberty that Christian Nationalism poses, which is the primary subject of this article, we first must make dishonorable mention of certain other threats to liberty which so many of us have ignored to our shame and peril. Compulsion to use biologically discordant gender pronouns is a threat to liberty. Silence while the world plays make-believe about men becoming women and having babies is a threat to liberty. Government removal of parental rights is a threat to liberty. Suing bakeries to punish them for refusing to make wedding cakes for gay weddings is a threat to liberty. And yes, killing millions of babies in utero is absolutely a threat to liberty. Not only is it uncivil and immoral, it is national suicide to wilfully destroy the next generation of human beings. Killing millions of babies is correlated with western willingness to accept mass migration. There is a need to replace workers the western world does not have. How is that going for you, France? Germany? UK? America? But if any of the above makes you feel partisanly righteous, however, let us disabuse you of your sanctimony. Both Left and Right governments locked their populaces down during Covid. Both forced and bullied their citizens into social distancing and “two weeks to flatten” the spine of the population. What would Madison have said about an America where the government threatens the civil liberties of the entire country, and American’s response was to roll up their sleeves, and say, “fine, Fauci says I need it, and I really want a free hamburger”? We are to take alarm at the First Experiment upon our liberties. And when does that start? Is 37 trillion dollars of national debt a threat to liberty? What about currency debasement? Mass warrantless public surveillance? Digital money tied directly to the Federal Reserve so that authorities can shut your entire life off with the push of a button? No, Christian Nationalism is not the first threat to liberty. Not even close. But it is a threat to liberty and more than this, it is biblically prophetic, as we have discussed. Click Here For Previous Articles You might ask – why shouldn’t the Christian Right take control of civil power and abuse the Left as much as the Left has abused us? And we could respond, and do respond, “because it is unconstitutional”. And it is. But the answer is bigger than that. Doug Wilson, and Jared Longshore. Timon Cline and Lennox Kalifungwa. Stephen Wolfe. These, and many other modern and intolerant “Christian” thought leaders all believe in the establishment of a Christian Republic in America as a cure for society’s ills. What do they propose? Liberty? Far from it. The Woke Left violated free speech through state-sponsored gender confusion and forced pronouns. The Christian Nationalist response is blasphemy laws enforced by the state. Doug Wilson and friends are constantly telling everyone who will listen how great the Puritans in Massachusetts were, and that they founded America, which is false by the way. But they do not tell you that in Massachusetts violations of blasphemy laws were historically punished by piercing the offender’s tongue with a hot poker, or death. Today in Massachusetts, a blasphemy law still exists (although it is not currently enforced), and states as follows: Section 36: Blasphemy Section 36. Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior. Are we so blind that we do not see that censorship from the Right is as much a threat to liberty as censorship from the Left? Christian Nationalists claim Swiss Reformer John Calvin is the father of America. This is a dangerous and outrageous falsehood, and will be the subject of an upcoming article. It must never be forgotten that John Calvin had men murdered for the supposed crime of heresy, the substance of which was nothing more than disagreeing with John Calvin. The Woke Left hijacked government to enforce their religion of gender ideology. And Christian Nationalists want to establish Protestantism as an official state religion, contrary to the First Amendment to the Constitution. Doug Wilson and company intend to legislate compliance with the first table of the Ten Commandments. That includes blasphemy laws, of course, but also Sunday ‘Sabbath’ blue laws, and punishments for supposed violations. Violations of Sunday laws historically included whipping. Jailing. Chain gangs. Stocks. And death. And in case you were wondering, all of those things when imposed for simply disagreeing with religious bigots are a threat to liberty. Christian Nationalists want to demolish the separation of church and state in America, and even admit their intention to impose a religious test for public office, contrary to the Article VI of the Constitution: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution ; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. Doug Wilson and company are openly stating their intention to threaten the liberty of every single American. Madison would have opposed them publicly, were he alive. But he has left the trust to us. Madison as a youth stood outside a local prison and listened to an incarcerated minister preach through the bars of his cell window. The minister had been imprisoned for the so-called “crime” of “preaching the Gospel incorrectly”. Because he had seen oppression from religious bigots firsthand, James Madison had a lifelong animus to the union of church and state. And so should you. It is a threat to liberty, and it is your first duty as a citizen to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. ********************************* Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmSG4U06X2o – Discussion between Walter Veith et al and Doug Wilson where Doug Wilson states he is in favor of the state establishment of the Protestant religion. “I believe the Christian faith ought to be the public faith of our civic polity. That’s why I’m a Christian Nationalist.” – Doug Wilson, minute 33:30. Wilson claims he nevertheless believes in the First Amendment and the separation of church and state, which is disingenuous. He also believes the government should enforce the first table of the Decalogue, proving further that he is really aiming to break down the wall of separation between church and state. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgkfi191qV0 – David Shepherd and Lennox Kalifungwa interview Pastor Douglas Wilson and Ben Merkle https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hRZ1eTNX65w – Senate hearing on Covid shot safety, September 2025 https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-constitution/constitution.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFeIO0ZjdF8 - CNN interview with Christian Nationalist Doug Wilson