When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, one social scientist sagely declared we had reached "the end of history." What he meant was that the big arguments were over and that liberal democracy would prevail henceforth. The rest would be tinkering with policy. The classical separation of church and state (not secularism), religious liberty, and freedom of speech all seemed to be unquestioned values that would stand for centuries to come. With failure in the Middle East, the rise of China, and the emergence of postliberal politics on the left and right in the U.S. and around the globe, our values seem far less settled than we might have thought. How should Baptists see themselves as they stand somewhere between the human sexuality revolution on the left and Christian nationalism on the right? Hunter Baker encourages the church to strongly embrace religious liberty, the regenerate church, and the sanctity of life as it seeks to be faithful in the 21st century and beyond.
