One of our less well known national days is Religious Freedom Day, which commemorates the enactment of Virginia's Statute for Religious Freedom. The Virginia Statute was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 but it wasn't passed and signed into law until 1786, by then-governor James Madison. Its unfortunate that Religious Freedom Day is not better known -- because the statute was the forerunner to the approach to religious freedom and separation of church and state taken by the framers of the Constitution and later the First Amendment.
There will certainly be a Presidential Proclamation on January 16th. But if past is prologue, there will probably not be a whole lot else. But it is time for that to change. In this era when religious freedom is rising as a defining national issue, the day provides us a teachable moment -- teachable most importantly to ourselves. Religious freedom is, or ought to be a strong issue for progressives, one with roots in the best traditions of the Enlightenment, progressive religious communities, and of the American Revolution and the making of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Meanwhile, the Religious Right is making religious freedom a central part of their argument on everything from abortion rights, to marriage equality to the contraception benefit of the Affordable Care Act. But there is much in the history of religious freedom in the U.S. that makes claims of the need for most such exemptions from the law, ring hollow. On another front, some on the Religious Right go so far as to argue that religious freedom is for Christians only and certainly not for Muslims. But history proves otherwise.
Nearing the end of his life Jefferson, who considered the Virginia Statute one of his three most important achievements (the others being drafting the Declaration of Independence and founding the University of Virginia) wanted to get in the last word on interpretation.
While he knew that the Virginia Statute was as revolutionary as the era in which it was written, he also knew that interpretations of convenience come easily to people with opposing views. The Statute was clear in stating that no one can be compelled to attend any religious institution or to underwrite it with taxes; that individuals are free to believe as they will and that this "shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." But Jefferson wanted to be even more specific about what was meant by all that.
So in his autobiography, Jefferson warily dotted the i's and cross the t's of history, lest anyone think there could be any exceptions. The statute, he wrote, contained "within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohametan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
The idea that Muslims (then-called Mohametans) would be equal in the eyes of the law with Christians of any flavor -- and anyone else -- has even greater meaning today than it did in the heady revolutionary days of 1777.
Indeed, President Obama held closely to the spirit and intention of Jefferson's reminder when he declared in his 2013 Religious Freedom Day Proclamation:
"...our Founders looked to the Statute as a model when they enshrined the principle of religious liberty in the Bill of Rights.
Because of the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, each of us has the right to practice our faith openly and as we choose. As a free country, our story has been shaped by every language and enriched by every culture. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, Sikhs and non-believers. Our patchwork heritage is a strength we owe to our religious freedom.
Americans of every faith have molded the character of our Nation. They were pilgrims who sought refuge from persecution; pioneers who pursued brighter horizons; protesters who fought for abolition, women's suffrage, and civil rights. Each generation has seen people of different faiths join together to advance peace, justice, and dignity for all."
Religious Freedom Day thus affords all of us a great opportunity, for those who are religious and non-religious, for example, to agree on such a powerful thing as our common civil and constitutional rights, and to recognize the threat to those rights that we share. We face similar challenges as the Religious Right seeks to redefine history for political advantage. That is smart politics because
history is powerful. But too often, I think, we allow the Religious Right to go unchallenged, or inadequately challenged in these things.
But the good news is that history is on our side, and its not too late.
Crossposted from Talk to Action