Planning is already underway for the most important nationally recognized Day that most have never heard of. Religious Freedom Day commemorates the enactment of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, and is celebrated annually on January 16th.
The Statute, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 and shepherded into law by James Madison, it is considered by historians to be the forerunner to the approach taken towards matters of religion and government by the framers of the Constitution, and later the First Amendment. Jefferson viewed his role in creating it as one of the three signature accomplishments of his life — along with writing the Declaration of Independence and founding the University of Virginia.
Every year since 1992, Religious Freedom Day has been recognized on January 16 with a presidential proclamation. President Obama has issued seven such Proclamations since taking office. The next one will be his last. It will, to say the very least, be interesting to see how he addresses the day in light of all that has happened since his Religious Freedom Day proclamation in 2016. Here is part of what he said last year:
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the statute proclaims that "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." The First Amendment prohibits Government from establishing religion, and it protects the free exercise of every faith. Our Government does not sponsor a religion, nor does it pressure anyone to practice a particular faith, or any faith at all. The United States stands for the protection of equal rights for all people to practice their faith freely, without fear or coercion, and as Americans, we understand that when people of all religions are accepted and are full and equal members of our society, we are all stronger and freer.
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On Religious Freedom Day, let us recommit ourselves to protecting religious minorities here at home and around the world. May we remember those who have been persecuted, tortured, or murdered for their faith and reject any politics that targets people because of their religion, including any suggestion that our laws, policies, or practices should single out certain faiths for disfavored treatment. And as one Nation, let us state clearly and without equivocation that an attack on any faith is an attack on every faith and come together to promote religious freedom for all.
Since 2014 progressives have uses the occasion to reclaim the meaning of religious freedom from the Christian Right, who have been trying to redefine it to advance their agenda and to seek exemptions from a wide range of state and federal regulations and law.
The effort has been led by the Washington DC-based Coalition for Liberty and Justice, comprising 60 organizations opposed to the imposition of “one religious viewpoint on all.” The Coalition’s main event has been staging Twitter storms under the hashtag #ReligiousFreedomIs. (We can expect to see this again this year, and much more.) (The Coalition’s members include Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Catholics for Choice, National Council of Jewish Women, National LGBTQ Taskforce, Secular Coalition for America, and Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, Political Research Associates, and many more. ) The Coalition has begun planning this year's activities and I will report them here when they are ready.
Speaking for myself, last year, I published a report from Political Research Associates (PRA), where I am a Fellow, When Exemption is the Rule: The Religious Freedom Strategy of the Christian Right. The report launched the kinds of conversations I hoped it would. For shorter discussions of the report, you can see what Digby said, here; what feminist author Patricia Miller said, here; what Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, said here; and what I said in an interview with journalist Bill Berkowitz, here. Since then, PRA has created a Portal Page on its web site that features what we have published in this area, as well as pointing to useful external resources. I will publish more in the run up to Religious Freedom Day.
Here at Daily Kos, we have celebrated by doing what we do best, writing about it. And each year dozens of diaries, many very moving and deeply informative, have been posted. We have a Religious Freedom Day group and people who are interested in participating in Religious Freedom Day are welcome to join.
Caveat Emptor: a Google search for Religious Freedom Day will turn up ReligiousFreedomDay.com – which is run by a small outfit called Gateways to Better Education. It treats the Day as an opportunity to evangelize in the public schools. “Religious Freedom Day is not ‘celebrate-our-diversity day,’” they insist. (This is detailed in Katherine Stewart’s excellent book, The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.)