We've come a long way since Jefferson
On January 16th we celebrate Religious Freedom Day to commemorate what may be the most revolutionary and liberatory idea in the history of civilization. It was the reason many joined the American Revolution. It’s the first freedom in the First Amendment.
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.
But this is a story we need to know—and we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to never forget.
Here is the short of it.
The Virginia Statute was drafted by Thomas Jefferson in the heat of the Revolution in 1777. Evangelical Baptists and Presbyterians, then-persecuted religious minorities in the Virginia colony, saw religious freedom as a reason to throw in with the Revolution and take up arms against the Empire. It may sound almost like a Star Wars tale. But it’s central to our history.
It took a decade before James Madison was able to prevail against the old guard in the legislature to enact the Virginia Statute in 1786; to carry its message to Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention the following year; and later for it to be included in the First Amendment in 1791.
Commemorative proclamations called for by Congress and issued by presidents annually, have been generally true to the spirit of the occasion. That is, until Donald Trump, who used the occasion to promote the Christian Right’s idea that religious freedom allows for ad hoc exemptions from the laws that apply to everyone else.
The Framers knew there’d be days like these. The theocrats and monarchists lost in the 18th century. But they would be back. And they had the White House for awhile recently.
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, like the Constitution and the First Amendment that followed, was aspirational. Which is to say that they hoped the principle would shape and inform our culture, politics, and law over time. And it has -- albeit unevenly and slowly. But the principle also allowed for ever greater advances in human and civil rights in the centuries since. But in our darkening moment, a variety of retrograde ideas of second-class citizenship are ascendant.
Christian theologian Rebecca Todd Peters, wrote in Religion Dispatches in 2019 that religious freedom belongs to everyone and that we should not cede the religious argument to conservatives:
“… refusing to codify traditionalist, conservative religious beliefs into law isn’t a violation of anyone’s religious freedom. In fact, it not only protects a large majority of people in this country from the tyranny of patriarchy, it actually protects their religious freedom.”
But as we consider the meaning of Religious Freedom Day, I think its important to know that it’s not too late for the bright light of history to illuminate our present enabling us to see the possibility of a better future.
That light, perhaps more than anything else, may be the Framers’ expectation that in the future there would also be people like us—non-theocratic Christians, free thinkers, deists and people of other religions—who would insist on the promise of equality inherent in any reasonable understanding of religious freedom. Now as then we need to know that we are all in this together.
Religious Freedom Day affords us the opportunity to discuss all this, as we search for fresh and bold ways forward.
To have those discussions, we also need to refresh the language of religious freedom. The truth is that ringing rhetoric in the 18th century can sound clunky today. For example, the key phrase in the Virginia Statute reads: “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” In addition to replacing “men” with “people,” a 21st century paraphrase might say that we’re free to believe and express ourselves as we will and that our religious or irreligious identity neither advantages nor disadvantages us as citizens.
What it is
To appreciate the significance of Religious Freedom Day, it is important to know that religious freedom has both nothing and everything to do with faith or religion. Religious freedom is the underlying right to believe as you will—or not—and to change your mind, free from the undue influence of government or powerful religious institutions. It’s a civil or constitutional right, not to be confused with religion in general, or any particular religion at all.
Because all this is so, we need to know in our bones not only what religious freedom is, but also be able to articulate and connect this foundational value to our politics and policy-making in a way that’s second nature.
The authors of the First Amendment knew that without the right to think and believe differently than religious, governmental and economic elites—speech could not be free. Nor could there be a free press. That’s why freedom of religion is called the “first freedom.” Without it, democracy itself is impossible.
And that’s why it’s up to the rest of us to not only remember, but to refresh and reclaim religious freedom in our time.
In that spirit, a group of 15 prochoice religious organizations are convening what they call a SACReD Gathering. The Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (SACReD) includes Auburn Seminary, Just Texas, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and Sister Song. They come from traditions (of which there are many) that see reproductive choice as consistent with their religious views. Some of those who are making this event happen were profiled recently in The Guardian. There is a vast prochoice religious community waiting to be organized. This may well be the beginning of an historic movement.
The organizers of Sacred Ground, say that in the fight for reproductive justice, it “is deeply faithful for congregations to speak out in support of reproductive dignity, including abortion.”
The Sacred Gathering will be held online January 25-26, 2022 It will be a “first-of-its-kind virtual gathering of justice-oriented people of faith, activists, and leaders from the reproductive health, rights, and justice community.” (Scroll down to register.)
Grounded in our shared values of justice, dignity, human rights, compassion, and expansive love, we will discover how faith and reproductive liberation are interdependent through keynotes, panel discussions, and breakout sessions.
I am honored to be speaking in a breakout session. (Not sure yet when!)
SACReD is the spark that will change the religious conversation around abortion.
We are building a multi-racial, multi-faith movement of congregations across the country that publicly proclaim their support for reproductive dignity.
We are creating places of love and compassion in our congregations for anyone who needs abortion care.
We are changing the culture.
