On January 16, 1786, the Virginia legislature passed Thomas Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Freedom which, contrary to right-wing opinion, is a statement strongly in support of freedom from religion, in addition to freedom of religion. It states in part (emphases mine):
Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was his Almighty power to do . . .
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief;
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we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such as would be an infringement of natural right.
By an act of Congress, presidents are required to annually recognize by proclamation the anniversary of this day to be Religious Freedom Day, as has President Biden this year. However, the right wing continues to attempt to twist the meaning of religious freedom, such as observed by the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer in a preface to work by Frederick Clarkson of Political Research Associates:
This is the religious liberty being propagated by the Religious Right. They argue that they have no religious freedom unless their restrictive moral code is written into the Constitution. They argue that they have no religious liberty unless those whose religious ceremonies violate the sanctity of their precious theology are thrown in jail. What they want to call religious freedom is in fact the kind of oppressive religious tyranny that my ancestors left their homeland to escape.
To counteract this twisted slant, each year Frederick Clarkson encourages a team of community writers at Daily Kos to write diaries over the course of a week, to provide personal views of religious freedom and to discuss religious freedom from a more leftward perspective. This year, this previous week has been our Religious Freedom Week. Many thanks to officebss, who has been indispensable to the organization of the team this year. I am posting this diary to review this week and, hopefully, let more folks know what we’ve been up to. I am providing snippets, but hope you’ll use the links to read the diaries in full; there’s a lot of great writing left out here!
January 9:
Frederick Clarkson led off our Religious Freedom Week last Sunday with:
Religious Freedom Day & reproductive freedom:
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.
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The entry of a politically vibrant interfaith pro-choice religious movement into public life might be transformational in the history of reproductive freedom, access, and justice. It just might also transform the way that both parties do politics and government as well.
January 10:
On Monday, joedemocrat wrote:
Religious Freedom Day: Let’s stop and ask who do we all have here?
In my view, religious supremacy says “we are the majority, and we have the freedom to do what we want.” Religious inclusion and religious freedom both stop and ask “Who do we all have here?”
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There are strong faith arguments that can be made for issues such as abortion rights, universal health care, a living minimum wage, climate change, same sex marriage, racial equality, and more. We need to make those arguments.
Also, Mikey Weinstein (of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation) posted:
The history and significance of American religious freedom, a guest post by MRFF board member John Compere:
Freedom of belief (religious or non-religious) is an original American liberty. It was a basis for Article 18 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaiming “...everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion...” .
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Religious belief uniformity is non-existent. Diversity prevails worldwide. World Christian Encyclopedia records 10,000 distinct world religions with over 2,000 different Christianities in America alone. “Religion” is derived from the Latin “religare” meaning “to bind”. Most religions claim exclusive truth rejecting others. Few respect diversity.
January 12:
On Wednesday, mettle fatigue wrote:
January 18, 2022: SCOTUS to hear oral arguments about flying religious flags at government buildings:
The plaintiffs illustrate & embody one free-speech issue that will NEVER get a hearing anywhere: the hijacking, plagiarism, and distortion of Judaic scripture by Christianity, for gain, for 2,000 years and counting.
January 13:
On Thursday, officebss wrote:
Religious Freedom Day: The Woman’s Bible — The feminist book that suffragists rejected:
Just as the Continental Congress left the issue of slavery out of the Declaration of Independence to prevent the revolution from ending even before it started, the Woman Suffrage movement disavowed The Woman’s Bible, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s brainchild, and shunned her, so the huge controversy over the book would not derail the drive for woman suffrage. And just like the consequences of leaving slavery unsettled, the ramifications of not addressing the Biblical underpinnings of British and American law, though not an actual bloody war like the Civil War, nevertheless has helped keep the war against women’s equality going, even into the 21st Century.
January 14:
On Friday, Frederick Clarkson wrote what he thinks that perhaps the president should have said in his commemorative proclamation:
My presidential proclamation for Religious Freedom Day:
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.
January 15:
On Saturday, Frank Cocozzelli wrote:
The libertarian conservative threat to religious freedom:
What all of the above have in common is their desire to use public governing power to impose theocratic Catholic notions regarding LGBTQ issues, reproductive rights and potential life-saving medical research. To do so, they will go against Church teaching on economics by providing religious cover to libertarian conservatives.
January 16:
Today, 2thanks wrote:
Happy Religious Freedom Day! Sunday good news and 2 polls:
This too included the diaries written this week. Hopefully he caught the morning readers and we’ll catch the evening readers with this diary!
Today also, Ojibwa wrote:
Religion 101: The “danger” of books, libraries, and religious freedom:
Ideally, libraries should be bastions of religious freedom (and freedom from religion), housing books and other materials covering a wide range of religious topics. While librarians are generally committed to the idea of free access to information, certain materials which are believed to be contrary to community religious beliefs are sometimes unavailable because of pressure from both outside and inside the library.
And finally: Frederick Clarkson closed out the week with:
On this Religious Freedom Day, let’s recall that religious freedom is a progressive value:
The principle of religious equality under the law was a profoundly progressive stance against the advantages enjoyed and enforced by the ruling political and economic elites of the 18th Century.
Again, I tried to quote enough to pique your interest, so please use the links to read more!
And if I missed your Religious Freedom Week diary, please let me know and I will update this diary! Thank you to all who participated, both behind the scenes and by writing. See you next year!!