There is a battle going on in the U.S. for the definition of religious freedom — and one front in that battle is over the meaning of Religious Freedom Day — designated by an act of Congress to commemorate what historians and the Supreme Court consider the taproot of the approach to matters of religion and government taken by the Framers of the Constitution and later, the First Amendment. That’s why we created the Religious Freedom Day Group here at DK in 2015, saying this:
Religious freedom is a progressive value that must not be ceded to the Christian Right. The first national Day of the New Year will be one that most of us have never heard of. Authorized by Congress in 1992, Religious Freedom Day has been recognized every January 16th by an annual presidential proclamation commemorating the enactment of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786. This seemingly obscure piece of Revolutionary-era legislation is so integral to our history that Thomas Jefferson asked that his tombstone recognize that he was the author of the bill, along with the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the University of Virginia as one of the three things for which he wished to be remembered. It is worth taking a moment to understand why Jefferson thought it was that important. Jefferson drafted the bill in 1777 but it took a decade to be finally pushed by the then-member of the House of Delegates, James Madison. It is regarded as the root of how the framers of the Constitution approached matters of religion and government, and it was as revolutionary as the era in which it was written. The bill not only disestablished the Anglican Church as the official state church, but it provided 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."
As if he anticipated the historical revisionism of modern Christian Nationalists, late in his life, Jefferson sought to get the last word on what it meant. 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." That's why it was so significant that in 2015, progressives -- including many bloggers at Daily Kos -- took a big, bold step to reclaim this progressive legacy of the revolutionary, founding era. This group is about organizing towards Religious Freedom Day, January 16th.
One thing that I think is important to clarify about religious freedom and the day designated by Congress to commemorate the historical and legal taproot of the idea: And that is that religious freedom — and by extension, Religious Freedom Day — has nothing to do with religion. And everything.
I say this because religious freedom is about the right to believe (or not) as you will. It is a right that belongs to citizens free from the undue influence of government and of powerful religious institutions. By way of analogy, we now have the right to vote, but that is not the same thing as voting itself (or not) or what candidate you voted for, and why. Thus when we commemorate the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, it is not a celebration of faith, or a reason to oppose religion. It is an opportunity for us to figure out how best to understand apply the values of this revolutionary and liberatory idea in the 21st century. Particularly because conservative evangelicals and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and their allies are hell bent on redefining religious freedom to advance their agenda.
The struggle over the the meaning of religious freedom may very well determine the future of democracy in our time, just as it did in the 18th century. As historian John Ragosta told me in an interview last year:
A republic could not work if government and church officials… were trying to control what we think or prescribe what was the ‘best’ religion or which people were the ‘best’ citizens based upon their religious beliefs. If people were to make informed political choices themselves, they had to be free to think for themselves, especially about religion. For Jefferson and his supporters, religious freedom for all was central to our democracy.
I recently wrote about all this at Religion Dispatches/Rewire
There’s an oxymoron embedded in one of the model bills in the Christian right’s state legislative campaign called Project Blitz. Their model resolution for Religious Freedom Day celebrates a day devoted to something they oppose: religious freedom.
Yes, the authors mouth many of the right things, including boilerplate platitudes and cherry picked historical artifacts as recommended by Project Blitz. But what’s omitted illuminates the intentions of the theocratic Dominionists (notably, David Barton, as we reported in our original story) who have led Project Blitz from the beginning. Their vision of religion is incompatible with most people’s idea of freedom.
Left out of the model Religious Freedom Day (RFD) resolution is the recognition that, with regard to the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom—the 18th century statement the RFD commemorates annually—religious equality, not religious or Christian supremacy, was its guiding and governing principle. Indeed, what the day is supposed to commemorate is that the Virginia Statute effectively overthrew the tyrannical Anglican Church—which had been part of the British monarch’s system of control imposed on the North American colonies. Thus the Virginia Statute stands to this day as perhaps one of the most radical, liberatory, and revolutionary pieces of legislation in the history of the world.
To begin to answer that, there is now a model Religious Freedom Day resolution that seeks to stick to Jefferson and Madison’s intentions. Which says much about the meaning of religious freedom as a progressive idea that helped to overthrow the Anglican Church and the British Empire. Versions of this resolution are being introduced in the Minnesota State Senate and the DC City Council — and perhaps elsewhere. But whatever their prospects, what is important here is that a lot of people to the left of the Christian Right recognize that we need to be able to take back the definition and meaning of religious freedom — and to do that, we need to be able to say what it is, and not only what it isn’t.
But we have a lot of catching up to do. As I wrote in my Religion Dispatches/Rewire story:
Caveat emptor
The Christian right has been organizing on the principle of religious freedom for a long time. Indeed, what comes up first in a Google search for Religious Freedom Day is ReligiousFreedomDay.com, the work of a California-based Christian right agency called Gateways to Better Education. This group is part of a wider movement that seeks to evangelize children in public schools—as detailed in Katherine Stewart’s book, The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children. Gateways states that they work with such leading Christian right organizations as the Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, and American Family Association, and that it was “founded in 1991 to help public schools teach about the important contribution the Bible and Christianity make to the world.” Gateways has also jointly sponsored Religious Freedom Sunday (this year, January 13) with the Christian right legal network, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
Every president since 1993 has issued the annual presidential RFD proclamation, as required by Congress, but Trump was the first to overtly use it to promote the agenda of the Christian right. Trump had referenced a number of recent legal battles over religious exemptions from the law (some of which ADF had been a party to) “As the president’s proclamation says, ‘No American—whether a nun, nurse, baker, or business owner—should be forced to choose between the tenets of faith or adherence to the law.’” This proclamation is reprinted in Gateways’ Religious Freedom Day brochure on its website. If that were not enough, the first thing Gateways suggests that teachers do is to read Trump’s proclamation:
The proclamation is on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov. At the homepage, look for a search icon on the top right corner and enter “Religious Freedom Day.” If this year’s proclamation is not posted in time for you to use it in class, consider using previous year’s proclamations found on our homepage: www.religiousfreedomday.com.
It is not unreasonable to anticipate that on January 16th Trump will advance the hijacking not only of the historic idea and definition of religious freedom on behalf of the Christian Right, but of the presidential proclamation intended to commemorate that foundational value of our country. His fans certainly seem to think so.
Religious freedom is one of the central issues of our time. Fortunately history and common sense are on our side. But we still have a lot of catching up to do to revive our knowledge and skill set regarding religious freedom, pluralism and separation of church and state. But its all within reach. And Religious Freedom Day is a great moment to give focus to this necessary task.