Does religious freedom create a stronger society?

America's most influential writer in the late 1700s was Thomas Paine. He had a way of making complex ideas easy for everyone to understand, even those who could not read. Paine felt that religious faith should exist between an individual and God. He thought that large, organized religions were too interested in gaining power and money. Of course, not all of the new nation's leaders agreed. When it came time to write the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the influence of religion in matters of government became a subject of intense debate ... Thomas Paine was one of the first political figures to shape opinion on church and state.

Thinking Independently

Many influential leaders shared the views of Paine. That was apparent when the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. The word "God" appeared only once, and not in a way that promoted any religious ideas. This was a significant departure from official documents of European countries, which typically made reference to "Christianity" or "The Lord" or "Jesus." Something else caught the eye of many people. The term "Laws of Nature" was included in the Declaration of Independence, and it was capitalized. This was a signal that Americans considered freedom a human right, not a religious one.

The authors of the Declaration of Independence did not deny the existence of God. In fact, they thought of God as a supreme being who created the world and the laws of nature. Many considered themselves Deists. Deists believed in God. However, they did not accept the notion that God delivered knowledge to people, that God was the source of all religious knowledge, or that the miracles described in the Bible were real. Deists thought that life followed the laws of nature, not the laws of any one religion. The laws of nature, they said, were enough to prove the existence of God.

Deism began in the late 1600s and was popular among the educated upper classes in America and Europe. It appealed to those who had a thirst for scientific knowledge. Thomas Jefferson probably counted himself as a Deist. That would explain some of the wording in the Declaration of Independence. In his original draft, Jefferson made a reference to Christianity in a very negative way. It was edited out of the final version.

Many believe that Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, along with other founding fathers, thought of themselves as Deists. This belief system remained popular until the early 1800s, but it was very much in play when the nation's key documents were being written. Later, many Deists gravitated toward the Unitarian branch of Christianity, which embraced many of their basic ideas.

A Framework for Governing

After the Revolutionary War, when the founding fathers began writing the Constitution, they were careful to exclude religion from official matters. For example, elected or appointed officials no longer had to pass "religious tests." This had not been the case in colonial America. Also, when being sworn in, the word "God" was not a part of the President's official oath.

The Constitution mostly covered what the government could and could not do. The Bill of Rights added amendmentsto the Constitution. These addressed the rights of United States citizens. In the First Amendment, Congress was prohibited from making a law that prevented the establishment of a religion or kept people from worshiping in whatever way they wanted.

In the years that followed, many of the founding fathers wrote about or discussed the separation of church and state. They were aware that important Christian groups wanted a society similar to colonial times, when the churches held more power. Political leaders such as Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin made the point again and again that mixing government and organized religion would damage both. In a letter written in 1802, Jefferson talked about a "wall of separation between church and state." This was actually the first time the phrase "church and state" appeared in any kind of document.

America's unique position in the world as a government without a state religion came into play in the 1790s. During this era, Barbary Pirates based in North Africa presented a constant threat to shipping in the Mediterranean. Hoping to avoid war, the U.S. signed the Treaty of Tripoli. In it was a section that made it clear that America was not a "Christian nation" and that it respected the Muslim religion of the Ottoman government. Today, America is viewed by some people in the Islamic faith as a threat — despite the fact that it still has no official religion, and millions of Muslims enjoy the rights and freedoms of American citizenship. Why might some Muslims feel threatened by a country with no official religion?

Should there be limits to religious freedom in our society?

The founding fathers thought it was important that the Constitution protect all religious beliefs and practices. But when they approved the First Amendment, they may not have expected that it would deal with belief systems that strayed far from Christianity. By the same token, it was also understood that any religious belief or practice that violated the rights of another person — or that broke a law — would be covered by other parts of the Bill of Rights. By the mid-1800s, however, some openly challenged this assumption, triggering the first great debate about church and state ...

The Mormons

In 1878, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that brought up questions about how the Constitution was worded. At the time, the Mormon religion believed in polygamy — that its male members could have more than one wife. A federal law passed in 1862 made this a crime. George Reynolds, a high-ranking member of the Mormon church, was married to two women. He decided to test the constitutionality of this law.

Reynolds claimed that having more than one wife was his religious duty. In this case, all seven Supreme Court justices agreed that his argument was weak. They made reference to the fact that Thomas Jefferson had actually addressed this point of religious duty when he wrote that religious belief was indeed protected by the Constitution. However, actions that are encouraged by religious belief do not necessarily deserve the same protection.

At the time, most Americans applauded this decision. They may have felt that the Mormons deserved to worship as they pleased, but this was a case where the "greater good" had to be considered. Clearly, the government and its laws took precedent over religious freedom. For instance, what if a religion believed in human sacrifice? Should the Constitution protect that practice? In the end, the court decided that the First Amendment protected the ideas and opinions of...