220 Years of Religious Freedom

This past Monday was an important date, the 220th anniversary of what I and many others believe was the birth of religious freedom in America - the passage of the Virginia Statute Establishing Religious Freedom. On January 16, 1786, this important law, written by Thomas Jefferson and pushed to victory by James Madison, was passed in the Virginia Assembly. The importance of its passage can hardly be overstated. It was the decisive battle between two opposing conceptions of religious freedom, a battle that set Jefferson and Madison against Patrick Henry in answering the question of whether religious establishments could ever be compatible with a free society.

Jefferson first wrote and proposed the statute in 1779, when he was Governor of Virginia, but it failed to pass. In 1785, Patrick Henry put forth "A Bill establishing a provision for Teachers of the Christian Religion" - a law that would mandate that taxes be paid to the Christian denomination of one's choice to support the propogation of the faith. In response, Madison revived Jefferson's statute and decided to push it as an alternative to Henry's proposal. The choice was stark and clear and the battle lines drawn.

Predictably, Patrick Henry attacked the statute as anti-religious, calling it a "general declamation against all religion" and saying that it would result in the Virginia legislature being "held and administered by men professedly atheists, Mahometans [Mohammedans]; or of any other creed, however unfriendly to liberty or the morals of a free country." While Jefferson was in France at the time, Madison led the fight for this statute by writing his famous Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, perhaps the most eloquent defense of religious freedom and the need for separation of church and state ever written.

It was this powerful document that convinced the Virginia legislators to pass the bill and led other states to follow suit, eventually leading to our First Amendment. Madison would again have to battle against the theocratic Patrick Henry over the passage of the Constitution. Their opposing views of unalienable rights and freedom of conscience framed the two sides of perhaps the most important debate that has ever taken place. We should be forever thankful that Madison won those battles. So raise a glass and toast to Madison, to Jefferson, and to their eloquent defense of religious freedom for everyone, not just for Christians.