What Is Religious Freedom Day?
From Wikipedia…
Religious Freedom Day commemorates the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption of Thomas Jefferson’s landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786. The statute, written by Jefferson in 1777 and shepherded through the legislature by James Madison in 1786, became the basis for the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and led to freedom of religion for all Americans.
Religious Freedom Day is commemorated on January 16 via a proclamation by the President of the United States since 1993. Legislation has also been introduced in Minnesota to commemorate Religious Freedom Day at the state level. It is not a federal holiday. More at Wikipedia.
Background on the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted in 1777 by Thomas Jefferson in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and introduced into the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond in 1779. On January 16, 1786, the Assembly enacted the statute into state law.
The statute disestablished the Church of England in Virginia and guaranteed freedom of religion to people of all religious faiths, including Christians of all denominations, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. It was a notable precursor to both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Importance of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom to Jefferson
The Statute for Religious Freedom is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson instructed be included on his epitaph. More at Wikipedia.
“Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”
My Thoughts
On this National Religious Freedom Day, I think it’s important to note that the statute we are honoring includes the disestablishment of the Church of England. At the time Jefferson wrote this statute, church and state were one, with the head of state serving as the church’s supreme governor.
By disestablishing the Church of England, Jefferson helped ensure freedom of religion for Christians of all denominations, as well as for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and others.
With the belief that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry…
National Religious Freedom Day is a reminder that the freedom to believe — or not — was deliberately written into the foundation of our country, not added as an afterthought. That is something worth remembering.
