FREEDOM OF FAITH
In America we are proud of the fact that the Church is separate from the
State, and justly so! Our freedom of faith is our most precious heritage, a
thing of priceless worth. Too often we take it for granted, forgetting what it
cost and to whom we are indebted for it. The right of each man to worship God in
the way his heart loves best is so in keeping with the idea and spirit of
Masonry, so much a part of its genius, that we need to celebrate it anew in the
150th year of our National Life. If for no other reason, because both directly
and indirectly, our Craft had much to do with it becoming a part of our
Constitution.
Our fathers founded our Republic upon a new basis, reversing the whole
history of mankind. Before that time a country without its National Church with
its Official Creed, was quite unknown. But America broke new ground, made a new
adventure which must be recognized, by far, the most important since the
Reformation, and even more far-reaching. Such a thing was not done without
difficulty.
Even in Colonial Times, Church and State were one. In New England the ideal
was theocracy, a Church which included the State. In the South, if the State
included the Church, they were none the less united. Religious liberty was
almost unknown, except by those who defied the law and endured the persecution
to enjoy it.
Few realize that prior to the Revolution it was against the law not to go to
Church. It was a crime not to Baptize a child in the established Church. It was
a crime to bring a Quaker into the colony, and there was a law on the statute
books - though, happily not enforce - that permitted the burning of heretics.
Witches had been burned in New England; Quakers had been hung. Everybody was
required to pay tithes to maintain the Church, and that regardless of their
religious affiliations. Those who failed to do so were thrown into prison.
Smarting under these infringements on religious liberty, Jefferson led, and
Madison followed, in the fierce struggle to separate Church and State. To
Jefferson, more than to any other man, we owe our liberty of faith today. The
famous law which first forbade any religious tests for public office was written
by Jefferson, and its principles were embodied in the first amendment to the
National Constitution. The heart of that stature, couched in noble language, is
as follows:
"We, the General Assembly of Virginia, do enact that no man shall be
compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry
whatsoever, nor shall he be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his
body or goods, or shall he otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions
or beliefs; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by arguments, to
maintain their opinions in matters of religion; and that the same shall in no
wise diminish, enlarge, or effect their civic capacities."
What seems a natural and inalienable right of man to us today, was a daring
demand in those days. It is a curious fact that while Jefferson did not differ
widely in his religious views from Franklin, Adams and even Washington; he was
singled out for the most savage attacks for his part in writing the above law,
and pressing for its passage in Virginia - and later, in the Nation. Throughout
his life he was a target of bitter abuse, nor did it cease after his death. Even
the casual reader of the newspapers and pamphlets of that day knows how
Jefferson was lampooned for his fight for liberty of faith. He was called a
"Skeptic," an "Infidel," an "Atheist" - names which had terrifying meanings in
those days - all because he demanded that each man have the right to hold such
religious faith as seemed to him right and true and good. So much our liberty of
faith cost; against such odds the spirit of tolerance had to make its way.
The writings of Jefferson abound in allusions to his religious views, which
he made no effort to conceal. They also show his familiarity with the Bible, in
which he surpassed any leading man of his time, not excepting Franklin who was a
student of it. The ethics of Jesus fascinated him. During his first term in the
White house he found time to make a syllabus of the teachings of Jesus compared
with the moral codes of other religions, in which he made a strong case for the
superiority of the ethics of Jesus. In 1816 he wrote to his friend Thompson of
what he had been doing:
"I have mad a wee little book, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus. It is
paradigm of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book and
arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time and
subject. A more beautiful; and precious morsel of ethics I have never seen. It
is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is, a disciple of the
doctrines of Jesus."
Yet this was the man denounced as an "Atheist," and held up to scorn as enemy
of God and man, because he held that others had a right to disagree with him and
yet enjoy the honors of citizenship. No wonder he wrote his confession of faith
in the word: "I have sworn upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Ignorance and intolerance were the
two enemies which he fought all his days, without truce.
From Paris he wrote to George Wythe in 1786: "Preach, my dear sir, a crusade
against ignorance, establish and improve the law for educating the people." To
that end he himself had founded the University of Virginia, in which there were
no religious tests for professors or pupils. Students of theology were invited
to attend and enjoy the lectures and the library. As he said: "By bringing the
sects together and mixing them with the mass of other students we shall soften
their aspirates. liberalize and neutralize their prejudices and make the general
religion a religion of peace, reason and sanity."
In his own life Jefferson was brought up in a Church, and was a fairly
regular attendant on its services. As an Architect he planned at least one
church, and gave freely to the erection of others and to the support of public
worship. A lover of the Bible, he gave freely to Bible Societies. No one ever
heard him use an oath, and his magnanimity was such that he placed a marble bust
of his political antagonist. Hamilton, in the hall of Monticello. Such was the
man who, dying murmured with his last breath, as he sank into sleep the old,
beautiful Bible Prayer: "Now Lettest Thy Servant Depart In Peace."
While it has not been shown that Jefferson was a Mason, as was at one time
thought, all Masons will honor in the Lodge, and in their hearts, the man to
whom, more than to any other of the men who laid the foundation of our Republic,
we are indebted for the religious freedom - that is, for the glory of a free
Church in a free country. For it was as much an emancipation for the Church as
for the State, and it has been an unmixed blessing to both.
To have written the Declaration of Political Independence was a great honor,
but not a few will think it an even greater honor to have led in the achievement
of religious independence. It closed a long and bloody chapter of history; it
marked a new era, second only to that of the advent of Christ among men.
As has been said, Masonry had much to do with it, directly and indirectly.
Directly in that the leaders with whom Jefferson worked and without whom he
would have failed were, most of them, Masons. And indirectly by virtue of the
fact that Masonry does its greatest work, not by laws and edicts, but by its
teachings and influence. If any one will read the Virginia Statue on religious
liberty, and the first amendment of the Constitution, along side the article on
God and Religion in the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England in 1732, he
will discover that the spirit and purpose of all three documents are the same.
The Masonic Constitution, written more than fifty years earlier, was one of the
ancestors of the other statements.
Thus by our history, no less than by our Constitution and genius, Masons are
pledged to keep Church and State separated, and to watch vigilantly every
insidious effort to unite the two. Such efforts are always afoot, disguised in
all sorts of ways, but we ought to be able to detect the wolf even when it wears
the white rode of a lamb. It asks for clear thinking and tireless vigil, but
Masons will not fall asleep and let the work of our fathers be undone.
Just now the whole set of the old world is against the spirit and ideals of
our Republic. Dictators strut to and for, declaring themselves supermen born to
rule their fellows. Heretofore the loss of political liberty has always been
followed by a loss of religious freedom. The two go together, as our fathers
joined them; and what God hath joined man must not put asunder.
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