An Act for establishing Religious Freedom.
I. WHEREAS Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments
or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are
a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet
chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do; that the impious
presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible
and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and
modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others,
hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time;
that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves,
is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious
persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular
pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant
to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally
profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation,
yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude
his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition
of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he
being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn
the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough
for the rightful purposes of whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing
from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct,
are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind; that our
civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry;
that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy of the public confidence by laying upon him an
incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that
religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common
with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right, that it tends only to civil government, for its officers
to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that
truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to
error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural
weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict
them.
II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support
any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened
in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that
all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and
that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.
III. And though we well know that this assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation
only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our
own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet as we
are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind,
and that if any act shall hereafter be passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such
act will be an infringement of natural right. |
