Today we commemorate the enactment of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of civilization. Religious Freedom is a corner stone of democracy. It is the first freedom of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
It is my distinct honor to commemorate on this day, the foundational work of my predecessors, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison whose inspirational words and legislative prowess provided us with a philosophical framework that allowed 13 different colonies with different histories and religious mixes and different established churches to form the United States.
This piece of Revolutionary-era legislation is so integral to our history that 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. These were the three things for which he wished to be remembered. He considered them more important than his service as Secretary of State and later President.
The power of this revolutionary idea is that one does not have to believe like the rich and the powerful; and government or religious institutions must not exert undue influence on the citizens to bend them to conform to their beliefs, or that they to be required to pay for them.
It is no small thing to have contributed so profoundly to our history and to the history of the world. Consider that it was Jefferson’s idea of religious freedom that inspired one of Franklin Roosevelt’s
Four Freedoms, which in turn led to the framing of the Atlantic Charter, which stated what the Allies were fighting for against Nazi Germany. This, in turn, informed the founding principles of the United Nation and later, religious freedom provisions in the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
In that spirit, I understand my job as president is to ensure that the executive branch of the federal government serves as the neutral and uncompromised guarantor of the rights of all, including and especially religious freedom. I know that this foundational value is vital to the future of democracy, and that I will do all that is in my power to preserve and defend religious freedom for future generations.
There are tyrannical religious and political movements in our time, just as there have been throughout history. It is incumbent on us to defend and build on the freedoms for which the founding generation fought against the mighty British Empire. Thanks in part to the powerful, liberatory idea of religious freedom, we have been able to make great strides in civil and human rights. Through this lens, we can see how far we have come, as well as how far we have to go.
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was as revolutionary as the era in which it was written. It declared that people’s religious or irreligious identity "shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
And yet there are
those who today want to roll back historic advances in civil and human rights. Some justify their politics by claiming that the Founders intended the United States to be a Christian Nation. But Jefferson and his contemporaries saw them coming. They knew that the monarchists and the theocrats that they defeated in their time would be back someday. It happens that the current crop have libraries of historical revisionism to support their claim that they are the true inheritors of the mantle of the Founders — and not the contemporary proponents of religious freedom, pluralism and separation of church and state.
Late in his life, Jefferson sought to underscore that in no way did the Virginia Statute mean that they were sanctioning a Christian state or nation. He said that the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom contained "within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohametan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
We take the time today to pause and remember, to help ensure that we never forget this tremendous advance in the history of civilization, what it means to us today, and what it means for future generations.
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