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Religious Liberty

Religious Liberty. The Key to American Freedom and Success. The Pilgrims came to America in 1620 fleeing religious persecution. The Puritans - 1630. The Puritans wanted the perfect Christian society.

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Religious Liberty

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  1. Religious Liberty The Key to American Freedom and Success

  2. The Pilgrims came to America in 1620 fleeing religious persecution

  3. The Puritans - 1630

  4. The Puritans wanted the perfect Christian society • John Winthrop envisioned the Massachusetts colony as a “City on a Hill” that all people would look to. • It was to be a Theocracy • Non-Puritans were not allowed

  5. Roger Williams • Williams disagreed with the Puritans in their dealings with the Indians and especially in demanding that everyone in the colony worship the Puritan way. He was exiled in 1636 and founded the colony of Rhode Island.

  6. Roger Williams, 1644 on religious freedom • It is the will and command of God that (since the coming of his Son the Lord Jesus) a permission of the most paganish, Jewish, Turkish, or antichristian consciences and worship, be granted to all men in all nations and countries; and they are only to be fought against with the sword which is only (in soul matters) able to conquer, to wit, the sword of God’s Spirit, the Word of God.

  7. Different Attitudes toward the Jews • Peter Stuyvesant tried to kick the Jews out of New York – 1654 • The Jewish people were welcomed in Roger Williams’ Rhode Island and allowed to worship freely.

  8. William Penn • Quaker • Founder of Pennsylvania • Asserted that all men deserved “liberty of conscience.”

  9. John Leland – Baptist Minister “Is it the duty of a deist to support that which he believes to be a cheat and imposition? Is it the duty of the Jew to support the religion of Jesus Christ, when he really believes that he was an imposter? Must the papist be forced to pay men for preaching down the supremacy of the pope, whom they are sure is the head of the church?”

  10. The Great Awakening • Isaac Backus was converted during the Great Awakening • He became a critic of taxation for religious purposes and liberty of conscience • Worked with Jefferson and Madison to disestablish the Church of England

  11. George Mason – Father of the Bill of Rights • Wrote Virginia Declaration of Rights – 1776 • That religion, or the duty which we owe our Creator, . . . , can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence: . . .

  12. Patrick Henry • As governor of Virginia, proposed that the government of Virginia pay for Christian teachers to teach the children. A tax on all the people, Christian or not, would pay for the teachers. It was defeated. (1784)

  13. James Madison helps defeat Patrick Henry’s Bill • Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785) made the case against taxation for religious teaching

  14. Excerpt from Memorial and Remonstrance “Torrents of blood have been spilt in the old world, by vain attempts of the secular arm, to extinguish Religious discord, by proscribing all differences in Religious opinion. Time has at length revealed the true remedy. Every relaxation of narrow and rigorous policy, . . . , has been found to assuage the disease.”

  15. Thomas Jefferson • Wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) • “No man shall be compelled to frequent of support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor . . . Suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief. . . .”

  16. Charles Pinckney • “No religious test or qualification shall ever be annexed to any oath of office under the authority of the U.S.” • He recommended the prohibition of religious tests which was adopted by the Constitution Convention

  17. Fisher Ames helped write the First Amendment • “Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights of conscience.”

  18. George Washington to Hebrews in Rhode Island - 1790 • “For happily the Government of the [U.S.], which gives bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens. . . .”

  19. Victory of Religious Freedom • Despite outbreaks of religious persecution, mild by world standards, the U.S. has been a haven for religious people from around the world. Religious freedom has not influenced religion to die out but to thrive in America, much more than in many countries with establishment of religion

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