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Good morning.

On this day in 1525 a small group of Swiss Christians met in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Zurich.Ìý After a long night of anxious discussion one of the men, Conrad Grebel, baptised the others.Ìý They’d already been baptised in the Catholic Church as babies, and the city council of Zurich had ruled specifically that their infant baptism was valid and sufficient.Ìý This private act of defiance was a declaration that the state should have no jurisdiction over the church and vice versa.Ìý It sparked the radical reform movement that became known as the Anabaptists.

The de-linking of religion from the state remains a live issue, and nowhere more so than in France, where the concept of laïcité – secularisation – is being examined again after the recent atrocities in Paris.Ìý Can a secular state allow all forms of religious belief to flourish equally and without privilege?Ìý Or should religion be removed from public life altogether, and relegated to the private sphere?Ìý What then is a state to do with radicals like the Anabaptists, who believe that they owe allegiance to another power that takes priority over the State?Ìý
In the case of the first Anabaptists, the answer was that they were executed – ironically by being drowned in Lake Zurich.Ìý But for those who believe that a power greater than the State offers life beyond death, even the threat of execution is an ineffective sanction.Ìý

God of all, we need your help to live together well; to tolerate our differences and celebrate our diversity. Help us to build a community where people of many beliefs and of none can co-exist in peace.Ìý Amen.ÌýÌý

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