Founding Principle: Freedom of Religion (Redux)

One of the many pillars supporting this Republic is the fundamental belief that this Nation believes in the Freedom of religion, the basic God-given right to practice the religion of one’s choice.  While it may sound routine, in the 1600’s, it was far from routine for with each changing of a monarch came a new mandatory religion.  People were persecuted for their beliefs, so they prayed for a solution.  That solution was a new land.

 The Mayflower Compact was signed in 1620, as the Pilgrims anchored in northern Virginia, a place now called Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  

 IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. 

IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

The Pilgrims made a compact with each other, invoking the blessings of God.  They believed that this voyage was possible only due to their quest for religious liberty.

 Likewise, as the Ark and the Dove were coming into a sliver of land near the present-day Patuxent Naval Air Station, the members of that expedition signed The Charter of Maryland in 1632.

 Charles, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, king, Defender of the Faith, & To all to whom these Presents come, Greeting. 

II. Whereas our well beloved and right trusty Subject Caecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, in our Kingdom of Ireland, Son and Heir of George Calvert, Knight, late Baron of Baltimore, in our said Kingdom of Ireland, treading in the steps of his Father, being animated with a laudable, and pious Zeal for extending the Christian Religion, and also the Territories of our Empire, hath humbly besought Leave of us, that he may transport, by his own Industry, and Expense, a numerous Colony of the English Nation, to a certain Region, herein after described, in a Country hitherto uncultivated, in the Parts of America, and partly occupied by Savages, having no knowledge of the Divine Being, and that all that Region, with some certain Privileges, and Jurisdiction, appertaining unto the wholesome Government, and State of his Colony and Region aforesaid, may by our Royal Highness be given, granted and confirmed unto him, and his Heirs. 

In 1636, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson left Massachusetts to start a new colony in Rhode Island, based on the belief that one could practice whatever religion they deemed appropriate, including Catholicism and Judaism.   

Connecticut grew up out of members from Massachusetts, with Thomas Hooker playing a huge role in the issuance of the Fundamental Orders of 1639, which was the first written Constitution in the Colonies.

 For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte and the lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one Public State or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also, the discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth of the said Gospel is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as followeth: 

Delaware was established in 1638.  The Colony accepted all religions without malice, but to serve in government, one must believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Pennsylvania was established in 1682 with a special grant from the King of England to allow William Penn to create a colony of Quakers and other faiths.  Per the issued Charter of Privileges in 1701: 

“That no Person or Persons, inhabiting in this Province or Territories, who shall confess and acknowledge One almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World; and profess him or themselves obliged to live quietly under the Civil government, shall be in any Case molested or prejudiced, in his or their Person or Estate, because of his or their conscientious Persuasion or Practice, not be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious Worship, Place or Ministry contrary to his or their Mind, or to do or super any Act or Thing, contrary to their religious Persuasion.”  “all Persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, shall be capable…to serve this Government in any Capacity.”

As a side-note, one of Penn’s first task was to define the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which is called the Mason-Dixon line after the two surveyors; Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.

The Carolinas adopted the Fundamental Constitution of 1639 which allowed all religions provided: 

No Man shall be permitted to be a Freeman of Carolina, or to have any Estate or Habitation within it, that doth not acknowâˆpledge a GOD, and that GOD is publickly and solemnly to be Worshipped. and No Person whatsoever shall disturb, molest, or persecute another for his speculative Opinions in Religion, or his Way of Worship.  

Indeed, this Nation was founded on a belief in God and recognized the need for man to worship the Almighty without fear of reprisals from a tyrannical government, as in those they left behind.

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