"Religion"

From Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, I’d like to explore the value of religion and curiosity as a part of the declaration of rights from the convention of May 1776 as applied to our current system.

If the ability to exercise religion as a free and natural right is protected, one should not be labeled heretical if their beliefs contradict that of the majority. Jefferson mentions several acts of the Virginia assembly of 1659, 1662, and 1693, which condemned parents refusing to have their children baptized. Later in 1705, “if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are more Gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offense by incapacity to hold any office or employment ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator, and by three years imprisonment, without bail.” This seems shocking to me that prior to the declaration of rights in May 1776, the refusal to follow the legislative ruling on religion would result in the above punishment.

Naturally, I’m comparing my own current understanding of the separation between church and state to that of Jefferson’s time period. Often, we are limited by comparing current knowledge and understanding of the times to literature from a different historical perspective. Yet, much of Jefferson’s commentary on the need for free enquiry and curiosity is warranted from his own historical understanding of the Roman government and the introduction to Christianity or later from the area of reformation to purge the corruptions of Christianity. Therefore, we should be able to apply the need for such ‘deviant’ curiosity from Jefferson’s time to better our own society. He admits that “it does [him] no injury for [his] neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god.”

To permit the ability of free thinkers to explore will purge our current system of corruption, not just within the church, but also within structures of oppression that perpetuate inequity in our society. Uniformity of opinion is not desirable, but the ability to think for oneself to challenge the current perceptions will free our minds and protect the free and natural rights granted by the convention of May 1776.