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The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was written
in 1779 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1786, the Virginia
General Assembly enacted the statute into the state's law. The Statute for
Religious Freedom is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson
instructed be put in his epitaph.
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
[Sec. 1] Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind
free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments 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 it was in his Almighty
power to do; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil
as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible and
uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up
their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible,
and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and
maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and
through all time; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money
for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and
tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of
his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty
of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he
would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to
righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary
rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct,
are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the
instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our
religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry;
that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public
confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of
trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious
opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages
to which in common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right; that
it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant to
encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments,
those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed
these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are
those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil
magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to
restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of
their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all
religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will
make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the
sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his
own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government,
for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts
against peace and good order; and finally, 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:
[Sec. 2] 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; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by
argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the
same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
[Sec. 3] And though we well know that this assembly elected by the people
for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain
the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our
own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of
no effect in law; yet 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 act shall be an infringement of natural right.
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