The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: Its Evolution and Consequences in American HistoryMerrill D. Peterson, Robert C. Vaughan Cambridge University Press, 1988 M04 29 - 373 pages This book colourfully examines a famous Jeffersonian document which set the precedent for the US Constitution's guarantee of religious liberty. Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute, shepherded it through a decade-long struggle to adoption, and included it in his epitaph (along with the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the University of Virginia). The Statute's history reflects two key revolutionary principles: absolute freedom of religious conscience; and the separation of church and state. Both principles remain lively topics of debate on the contemporary religious and political scene. Papers collected here were presented at a conference sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy. Among the contributors are several of America's most prominent religious and political historians and experts on jurisprudence. |
Contents
Colonial Religion and Liberty of Conscience 233 | 23 |
The Political Theology of Thomas Jefferson | 75 |
James Madison the Statute for Religious Freedom | 109 |
Quota of Imps | 171 |
Jeffersonian Religious Liberty and American Pluralism | 201 |
Jeffersons | 237 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aguilar Amendment American Anglican argued argument Assembly assessment authority Baptists bill Brief Amicus Burger Caldor Catholic Christ Christian civil claim clergy colonies Congress conscience Constitution convention County Declaration Detached Memoranda disestablishment dissenting doctrine England Enlightenment establishment clause faith free exercise gious Grand Rapids human Ibid Isaac Backus Jaffree James Madison Jefferson and Madison Jefferson's statute Jeffersonian Jews John John Adams Justice legislative legislature Lemon test Leo Pfeffer liberal majority Massachusetts Memorial and Remonstrance ment minister moral natural rights Notes on Virginia opinion Papers of Jefferson parish petitions philosophical political Presbyterian President principle Protestant public schools Quoted Rawls reason reli religion religious belief Religious Freedom religious liberty republican sects secular Secular Humanism separation of church society Spirit Statute for Religious Supreme Court theological Thomas Jefferson thought tion toleration tradition Unitarian United University Virginia Statute Wallace William Word worship York