Religious Freedom History (backup)

A Brief History of Religious Freedom in the United States

The idea of religious freedom, having the right to believe and worship according to one’s conscience, has been a core value since America’s founding, even as it has been contested by some over time and hard to live out perfectly.

Pre-European Settlement

Read On

Native American Nations

Although Native American nations vary greatly in their religious practices prior to contact with Europeans, most are fluid and interwoven with cultural practices. Because these practices tended to be non-exclusionary, they often incorporate new ideas if they seem effective. Although the idea of “religious freedom” does not quite apply (as a European construct), Natives are functionally free from the apparatus of state coercion and ideas of orthodoxy in regards to religious beliefs and practices.

1492

Read On

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus sails under the Catholic Monarchs and, upon arriving at San Salvador in October, writes about the natives: “They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them. I think they can very easily be made Christians, for they seem to have no religion.”

1607

Read On

The Oath

Before sailing for Jamestown, an oath is taken, declaring that the Pope has no authority over the emigrants.

1610

Read On

Martial Law

Jamestown is put under Martial Law by Lord de la Warr, and church attendance is required, with fourteen services held each week. The Captain of the Watch is to round up all persons, except those sick or injured, and bring them to the Church at the appropriate times. The laws prescribe a range of punishments for those who fail to attend services, as well as for the minister if he fails to conduct a service. Missing one will cost the settler his ration of food for the day. Additional absences receive increasingly severe punishments and can result in death.

1630

Read On

John Winthrop

Puritan John Winthrop abandons England seeking freedom to worship, establishes Massachusetts Bay Colony, and allows virtually no religious dissent.

1636

Read On

Roger Williams

Roger Williams is banished from Puritan Massachusetts colony in part because he challenges the idea that the state may coerce people into particular beliefs and practices. He establishes Providence Colony, Rhode Island, where no one will be coerced or persecuted for their beliefs. This protection, rather radically, extends even to Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and atheists. He comes to believe the state has no authority to regulate the first four of the ten commandments, as they relate to the relationship between God and man (such as observing the Sabbath); and that the state does retain authority to regulate the last six (such as not committing murder), as they relate to relationships between people.

1638

Read On

Ann Hutchinson

Ann Hutchinson is excommunicated from her church in Boston because her beliefs are in conflict with Puritan clergy; she is tried, convicted, and banished by colony leaders and flees to Rhode Island, where she establishes Portsmouth.

1649

Read On

Maryland Toleration Act

Anti-Catholicism is imbedded in young America as many come to escape the excesses of the Catholic Church’s influence. As the only Catholic English colony, Maryland is intended as a place of refuge for Catholics. When Protestants take over, they pass the Maryland Toleration Act, which declares that “No person or persons…shall from henceforth be in any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof.” However, settlers who blaspheme by denying either the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus Christ can be punished by execution or the seizure of their lands. This guaranteed protection for Catholics will not last long, however, as the Toleration Act will be repealed in 1692.

1656

Read On

Peter Stuyvesant

Director-General of New Netherland (present day Flushing, New York) Peter Stuyvesant writes an ordinance against illegal religious meetings, formally banning the practice of all religions outside of the Dutch Reformed Church.

1657

Read On

Flushing Remonstrance

The Flushing Remonstrance is signed by a group of English citizens who were affronted by persecution of Quakers and the religious policies of Governor Stuyvesant. None of them are Quakers. The Remonstrance ends with: The law of love, peace and liberty in the states extending to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, as they are considered sons of Adam, …our desire is not to offend one of his little ones, …whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker, but shall be glad to see anything of God in any of them, …Therefore, if any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot, in conscience, lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresses and regresses unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences.

1660

Read On

Mary Dyer

Mary Dyer is hanged in Boston for preaching as a Quaker.

1669

Read On

Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (extending from present-day North Carolina to Florida) protects the rights of religious dissenters and those seeking refuge for religious reasons.

1682

Read On

Pennsylvania Established

William Penn establishes Pennsylvania, his “holy experiment”; where most can freely worship.

1730s-1740s

Read On

The First Great Awakening

A series of revivals known later as the “First Great Awakening” challenges the authority of ministers, enhances the power of the laity, and places emphasis on an individual’s religious experience. New denominations are founded, and young ones, like the Baptists, experience great growth. Native Americans and Africans (many of whom are enslaved) participate in the revivals.

1775

Read On

Baptists Petition Virginia Revolutionary Convention

Baptist leaders petition the third Virginia Revolutionary Convention requesting permission for Baptist ministers to preach to soldiers who did not wish to attend religious services conducted by chaplains from the Church of England.

1730s-1740s

Read On

The First Great Awakening

1776

Read On

American Independence

1779

Read On

End to Taxation Supporting Anglican Church

Baptists successfully petition the Virginia state government for an end to taxation supporting the Anglican Church.

1785

Read On

Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments

James Madison, in his “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments”, sets the philosophical framework for religious freedom and against taxation to support the established church in Virginia.

1786

Read On

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

The Virginia Assembly adopts the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which disestablishes the Church of England in Virginia and establishes freedom of religion, as follows: Be it enacted by 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 offer an account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

1788

Read On

United States Constitution Ratified

The United States Constitution is ratified, which prohibits any religious test for public office and permits the president to “affirm” rather than “swear” in the Oath of Office, allowing a religious exemption for those who take literally Jesus’ admonition not to swear (such as the Quakers).

1789

Read On

Chaplains in Congress

Chaplains established in the House and Senate, which have served continuously from this point to the current day.

1790

Read On

George Washington and Religious Liberty

George Washington writes the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, explaining that the new government will “give[s] to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens”, and thus lays out his hopes regarding religious liberty in this new country.

1791

Read On

Bill of Rights Ratified

The Bill of Rights is ratified, which includes as part of the First Amendment these very important clauses: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

1790

Read On

George Washington and Religious Liberty

1797

Read On

Treaty of Tripoli

The Treaty of Tripoli is ratified by the Senate and signed by President John Adams. Article 11 reads: As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

1800

Read On

Election of 1800

The Presidential campaign is seen as electing either Thomas Jefferson with atheism and chaos, or John Adams with religion and social order. Thomas Jefferson wins, perhaps because voters become wary that John Adams would establish the Presbyterian church as “the national church.”

1802

Read On

Separation of Church and State

Thomas Jefferson responds to the Danbury, CT, Baptist Association, stating that there is a “wall of separation” between church and state, and that he has no intention of hindering their religious beliefs and practices.

1833

Read On

Alabama Law Makes African-American Worship Illegal

Alabama passes a law making it illegal to educate enslaved Africans; the same law also makes it illegal for African-Americans (slave or free) to meet together for worship unless five slave owners are present or a duly licensed black preacher form a denomination leads the service.

1838

Read On

Missouri Executive Order 44

The Governor of Missouri issues Executive Order 44, which includes these instructions to state militia and other state authorities: hasten your operation with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peaces–their outrages are beyond all description.

President Van Buren declares that Missouri was within the constitutional rights of federalism to do so.

1840s-1850s

Read On

Nativist Movement

Driven in part by Irish immigration, the anti-Catholic “nativist” movement is at its peak, which includes mob violence, destruction of Catholic property, and Catholic loss of life. Many American Protestants feel that Catholics threaten American norms of democracy and liberty.

1864

Read On

National Reform Association

The National Reform Association begins a decades-long, unsuccessful campaign to insert the notion of American as a Christian Nation into the Constitution, by attempting to place the following words in the Constitution’s preamble:
“We, the People of the United States, [recognizing the being and attributes of Almighty God, the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, the law of God as the paramount rule, and Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord of all], in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

1878

Read On

Reynolds vs. United States

In Reynolds v. United States, a Supreme Court case that found polygamy not protected by the Free Exercise clause, Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” metaphor is cited for the first time in a legal opinion.

1883

Read On

Religious Crimes Code

The Bureau of Indian Affairs passes the “Religious Crimes Code” that targets specific Native American religious practices, including the sun dance.

1887

Read On

Edmunds-Tucker Act

The Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 disincorporates the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the grounds that it fosters polygamy.

1894

Read On

Wilson Tariff Act

The Wilson Tariff Act formally exempts religious organizations from federal taxes.

1916

Read On

Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis becomes first Jewish Supreme Court justice, and faces anti-Semitism not only in confirmation hearings, but also from fellow members of the court (Justice McReynolds refuses to speak to Brandeis and often leaves the room when Brandeis speaks).

1918

Read On

The Hutterites

Four young Hutterites, a Christian protestant sect that live according to the Acts of the Apostles and 2nd Corinthians in the Bible and who are pacifists, are drafted in to the U.S. army, refuse to wear uniforms or comply with orders for religious reasons. They are court-martialed and sentenced to twenty years’ hard labor at Alcatraz. They are mistreated and abused, and two die after being transferred to Fort Leavenworth.

1921

Read On

Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs issues order prohibiting Pueblo Indians from performing certain sacred dances.

1935

Read On

Gobitis v. Minersville School District

Two Jehovah’s Witness children, Lillian and William Gobitis, ages ten and twelve, are expelled from the Minersville, Pennsylvania, public schools in 1935 for failing to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

When Gobitis v. Minersville School District makes its way to the Supreme Court five years later their argument is framed in religious terms, claiming that any statute contrary to God’s law as given to Moses must be void. The Court rejects the Witnesses’ claim, holding that the secular interests of the school district in fostering patriotism are paramount. Violence against Jehovah’s Witnesses follow.

In Litchfield, Ill., an angry crowd spreads an American flag on the food of a car and watch while a man repeatedly smashes the head of a Witness upon it.

1940

Read On

National Council for Religious Conscientious Objectors

The National Council for Religious Conscientious Objectors is created by the three historic peace churches: Church of the Brethren; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); and Mennonite, in response to the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which introduced the first peacetime draft in the United States.