The thing that most people miss is that When the American founders wrote protections for religious liberty in documents like the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, they were very aware of centuries of European laws where Christians jailed other Christians over doctrinal differences. The American colonies themselves had seen some of this as well.
Refusing to baptize infants was one of the most common criminalized beliefs.
In England after the English Reformation, the state required participation in the Church of England.
Refusal could bring fines or jail.
This targeted:
Puritans
Separatists
Quakers
Laws such as the Act of Uniformity 1662 forced ministers to use the Book of Common Prayer, and thousands of pastors were removed or imprisoned for refusing.
Many governments required ministers to be licensed by the official church.
Unauthorized preaching could result in prison.
For example:
John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, spent about 12 years in jail in England for preaching without permission from the Church of England.
People in the colonies had firsthand knowledge of these conflicts. Many settlers came specifically to escape them.
Thinkers like:
James Madison
Thomas Jefferson
argued that civil government should not punish doctrinal disagreement among Christians. That principle was written into the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which strongly influenced the First Amendment.
Their basic idea was simple:
Government should not decide which Christian doctrines are correct or punish people for holding the wrong one.
They NEVER had in mind Islam or Satanism or any other totalitarian or destructive ideology when this was written.
In fact the supreme Court even affirmed that America is a Christian nation in the case Holy Trinity v United States.
They also knew the difference between true religion and false religion.
The thing that most people miss is that When the American founders wrote protections for religious liberty in documents like the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, they were very aware of centuries of European laws where Christians jailed other Christians over doctrinal differences. The American colonies themselves had seen some of this as well.
Refusing to baptize infants was one of the most common criminalized beliefs.
In England after the English Reformation, the state required participation in the Church of England. Refusal could bring fines or jail. This targeted: Puritans Separatists Quakers Laws such as the Act of Uniformity 1662 forced ministers to use the Book of Common Prayer, and thousands of pastors were removed or imprisoned for refusing.
Many governments required ministers to be licensed by the official church. Unauthorized preaching could result in prison. For example: John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, spent about 12 years in jail in England for preaching without permission from the Church of England.
People in the colonies had firsthand knowledge of these conflicts. Many settlers came specifically to escape them. Thinkers like: James Madison Thomas Jefferson argued that civil government should not punish doctrinal disagreement among Christians. That principle was written into the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which strongly influenced the First Amendment. Their basic idea was simple: Government should not decide which Christian doctrines are correct or punish people for holding the wrong one.
They NEVER had in mind Islam or Satanism or any other totalitarian or destructive ideology when this was written.
In fact the supreme Court even affirmed that America is a Christian nation in the case Holy Trinity v United States.