Religious Freedom in America

A piece in Smithsonian Magazine attempts to clarify while expounding on religious freedom in America, possibly in the name of "balance."

As writer, Kenneth C. Davis states it:

"The idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom is reassuring—and utterly at odds with the historical record."

Well, "the idea that the United States has always been a bastion of religious freedom" is simply false and absurd, too.

Religious freedom in America has been earned after much trial and error and continues as an example of a great work in progress.

The historical record is clear for those who care to delve into it fully.

But please, let us all be diligent in that.

Davis concludes with:

America can still be, as Madison perceived the nation in 1785, “an Asylum to the persecuted and oppressed of every Nation and Religion.” But recognizing that deep religious discord has been part of America’s social DNA is a healthy and necessary step. When we acknowledge that dark past, perhaps the nation will return to that “promised...lustre” of which Madison so grandiloquently wrote.

The Madison "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments" of 1785 (eight years before Jefferson's first draft of their arguably joint and monumental Statute on Religious Freedom) is worth a closer look here.

Meanwhile, Carl Pearlston, an attorney in the Los Angeles area today attempts to answer the question whether America can [still] be called a Christian nation.

In summary, he states:

"We live, not under a Christian government, but in a nation where all are free to practice their particular religion, in accommodation with other religions, and in accordance with the basic principles of the nation, which are Christian in origin. It is in that sense that America may properly be referred to as a Christian nation."

. . . ever onward and continuing