By Jeff Fountain - Posted at Evangelical Focus:
Published September 29, 2025
In 1898, three years before he became prime minister of the Netherlands, Abraham Kuyper addressed American leaders in a series of lectures at Princeton seminary.
I suspect that if he could address America’s leaders today he would write something like the following:To the political leaders of the United States of America,
Grace and peace to you. I write as one who wrestled with the challenge of governing a society marked by deep religious and cultural divisions.
In your day, America finds itself torn by culture wars, political polarisation, and mistrust among citizens. Permit me to share counsel from principles I found to be timeless and essential for just government.
The task of the state: Justice, not domination
The state does not exist to enforce one worldview upon all its citizens, but to secure justice equally for all. When government becomes the instrument of a single faction—whether religious, secular, conservative, or progressive—it betrays its calling.
True authority is not domination but stewardship, exercised for the sake of the people under God.
I once declared: “The State may never be made an instrument for enforcing one confession upon all.” That warning stands. To impose uniformity of belief is to corrupt both the state and the belief itself. Your task as leaders is not to dictate consciences, but to guard liberty, order, and peace.
Sphere sovereignty: Respect the boundaries of life
Human society is made up of many distinct spheres—family, church, school, business, science, healthcare, art, and civil society. Each has its own integrity and authority under God.
The state’s calling is not to absorb or control them. These are not mountains to be ‘taken by force’. Government must protect their freedom and maintain just boundaries.
When government intrudes upon the pulpit or dictates family life, it overreaches. When religious groups or ideological movements seize the state to impose their own views, they too violate the balance of spheres.
A free society flourishes only when each sphere can live out its calling, and when the state acts as a guardian of justice among them.
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