Religious freedom was the idea behind legislation in 18th century Virginia that overthrew the tyrannical Anglican Church, which had functioned as an often brutal arm of the British Empire. Historians and the Supreme Court have considered the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom to be the forerunner to the approach taken by the Framers of the Constitution and of the First Amendment regarding the right relationship between citizens, government, and powerful religious institutions.
Still, as important and transformational as it was in our history, we will probably not hear much about it this Religious Freedom Day—the Day designated by Congress to commemorate it. This may be because most everyone to the left of the Christian Right has taken religious freedom for granted allowing its meaning to fade and knowledge of the underlying principle to atrophy. Continue reading.