Faith of Our Fathers

By Drew Fink on 19 July 2002

The American Founding Fathers created something unique — the freest nation the eighteenth century world had ever seen. Among the many freedoms agreed upon by the founders of this new renegade nation-state was religious freedom. In striving for this commonly-held principle, many of the Founding Fathers had widely divergent — even conflicting — views of why the goal was desirable in the first place. Today, we look back at that era as a model of peaceful transition from an established state religion to a state marked by religious liberty, paying special attention to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, a notable pair of spokespersons on behalf religious liberty. Unwavering in their support of what Jefferson called the "first freedom," their agreement on the principle of religious freedom was equally matched by their disagreement on the fundamental basis for these freedoms. As such, they serve as excellent examples of cooperation between conflicting belief systems towards the establishment of a free, civil society.

Thomas Jefferson

When Jefferson wrote his own epitaph, he insisted that three of his accomplishments be mentioned: "Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." Jefferson considered freedom of conscience the most important human freedom,¹ devoting much of his life to, and enduring his most bitter conflicts on account of, his cherished belief in religious liberty. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Jefferson did not think that creating an "established church" would necessarily bring social stability. He believed in total disestablishment of all religion. In his Notes on Virginia he stated, "The legislative powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."² As a Deist, Jefferson believed that religion stemmed, not from reason, but from the affections, and reflected little more than inclinations of private citizens.

The original preamble for the Bill for Religious Freedom in Virginia began, "Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds…"³ This statement, conspicuous in its use of the term "opinions" rather than "faith," was not popular among Jefferson's Christian colleagues. The bill also included a passage in the third clause of the Preamble asserting "that all attempts to influence [the mind] by temporal punishments, or burthens [sic], or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and area 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 in his Almighty power to do," the draft continues "but to extend it by its influence on reason alone…"⁴ The assembly struck this last portion.

In his fight for religious freedom, Jefferson forged strategic alliances with strangely theistic bedfellows, Baptists and Presbyterians, who were the largest dissenting denominations in Virginia. Although Jefferson believed that the Presbyterian clergy were "the most intolerant of all sects, the most tyrannical,"⁵ he willingly joined with them against the establishment of religion. Jefferson had no fear of free thinking, believing as a devotee of the "Age of Reason" that:

Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.⁶

Jefferson continued to hold this hard line on religious disestablishment for his entire life, refusing even to write a Thanksgiving Day proclamation during his presidency — the only president ever to do so. Had Jefferson been at the Constitutional Convention, the religious history of the United States might have been quite different. He may well have demanded a "Separation of Church and State" clause that he later supported as president — a proposition which would indeed have made him very unpopular with his colleagues. Jefferson's outspoken Deism and ardor for total "freedom of conscience" gained him little popularity among his contemporaries. The Philadelphia Public Library refused to circulate the books of this "infidel" until 1830.⁷

James Madison

As the "Father of the Constitution" and one of the authors of the Federalist papers, James Madison had a significant influence on the fledgling American nation's policy on religion. Madison's views on religious freedom arose not out of a skeptical Jeffersonian Deism, but out of deep Christian conviction. As Madison noted himself "[We Christians] assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yielded to the evidence which has convinced us."⁸ To Madison, both freedom of religion and disestablishment were patently Christian tenets. Many of Madison's Anglican contemporaries believed that the Church needed state support. Madison argued, in contrast, that this was "a contradiction to the Christian Religion itself; for every page of it disavows a dependence on the powers of this world: it is a contradiction to fact; for it is known that this Religion both existed and flourished, not only without the support of human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them."⁹

The original Constitution, a document strongly influenced by Madison, is strangely silent on the question of religion. The only reference to God in the entire document is the prohibition of religious tests for public officials. If Madison advocated religious freedom so outspokenly, why was religious language so conspicuously absent in Philadelphia? Madison explained the reasoning behind this silence in a letter to Jefferson, who was in Paris at the time. There he expressed his concern that restraining the government in the sphere of religious freedom implied that the government had power in this area in the first place. He also feared that by "forcing" religious freedom onto the states, particularly in New England, he would discourage ratification of the document. Madison was a political realist, realizing that many would not respect the right of religious freedom, even if it was enacted nationally. "Repeated violations of these parchment barriers have been committed by overbearing majorities in every State."¹⁰

Nevertheless, when Madison found an opportunity to amend the Constitution he quickly jumped at the chance to protect religious liberty. In 1789, he proposed an amendment to the Bill of Rights, which was passing through Congress at the time. His draft read, "The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or under any pretext infringed."¹¹ This draft was reduced in committee to "No religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed."¹² Even this left many unpleased. Some, such as Benjamin Huntington of Rhode Island, feared that this statute would keep the state from arbitrating disputes between or within churches over salaries or land, since a ruling might constitute the "establishment" of a group the state ruled in favor of. To address this concern, Madison suggested simply changing "no religion" to "no national religion." But this, as Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts pointed out, would imply that the government was not federal, but rather consolidated.¹³ In the end, the bill which passed the House and Senate became what we now know as the First Amendment. Madison's amendment was struck down in the Senate.

Madison continued to promote the cause of liberty and disestablishment of religion. In 1820 he surmised,

Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States, is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect. And it is particularly pleasing to observe in the good citizenship of such as have been most distrusted and oppressed elsewhere, a happy illustration of the safety and success of this experiment of a just and benignant policy. Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.¹⁴

Although Madison and Jefferson had similar commitments regarding religious freedom, they approached the issue from very different worldviews — Madison from the doctrines of an ancient monotheistic faith, Jefferson from more Deistically-influenced agnostic principles. Despite their significant theological differences, they were able to work together towards the same goal — religious liberty. Today, a variety of nations suspicious of religious liberty might well learn a simple, but valuable, lesson from this chapter in American history, namely: religious freedom depends not on philosophical or theological agreement, but on the pragmatic benefits which the "first freedom" affords societies who grant it.

Last updated 12 January 2009