Religious Freedom

3034 Words7 Pages

The United States of America was founded with a credo of religious freedom. They hoped to change the vicious cycle of religious persecution and intolerance that had been swirling through Europe for centuries. Over the last two hundred years this legacy has been shredded and stained. Our religious freedoms have been taken away by people who have twisted what our country was founded to protect. The North American continent was settled by thousands of refugees from different religious persecutions from all around the globe. An excellent example is that of the Pilgrims, who fled from England after they were persecuted for starting their own church instead of attending the official Church of England. Although it was nearly two hundred years from the arrival of the Pilgrims in North America until the founding of the United States, their experiences and the experiences of may like them factored in a huge part of the mindset of the founding fathers. George Washington made this mindset exceedingly clear in his precedent setting letter to some Jews of Rhode Island. He wrote, “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean Mershon 2 themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.” This letter unmistakably... ... middle of paper ... ...epartment of the Treasury. 3/10/10 . Kahle, Mitchell. "Spending Godless Money". 3/10/10 . "Lee v. Weisman". The Religious Freedom Page. 2/15/10 . "Lemon v. Kurtzman". Wikipedia. 3/10/10 . Mount, Steve. "Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letters". U.S. Constitution Online. 03/07/10 . "Religious Liberties and the Bill of Rights ". The George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom. 2/15/10 . "Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe". Wikipedia. 03/31/10 .

Open Document