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On
Religious Liberty
An Act For Establishing Religious
Freedom
Jefferson's perceptive masterpiece of
legislation, written on the heels of Madison's Memorial,
supports free-market religion, and opposes government intrusion
into religious beliefs and practices. The Act was passed in
Assembly of Virginia in December of 1785, and approved in
January of 1786.
I. Whereas Almighty God hath created the
mind free; that all attempts of 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 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 other,
setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only
true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on
others, hath established and maintain false religions over the
greatest part of the world, and through all time: that to compel
a man to furnish contribution of money for the propagation of
opinion 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 conduce, are and additional
incitement to earnest and unremitting labors for the instruction
of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our
religious opinions, any more than our 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 principle of that religion it is meant
to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honors 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, the truth is great and will
prevail if let to herself, 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 seizing to be dangerous when it
is permitted freely to contradict them:
II. 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
good, 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 matter of
religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge,
or affect their civil capacities.
III. 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 will
be an infringement of natural right.
Julian Boyd,
ed., Papers of Thomas Jefferson, (Princeton, N.J.,
1950),Vol.II,546
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