RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — A Virginia legislative panel killed an amendment that would have altered one of the nation's oldest religious-freedom laws Feb. 21.
On a bipartisan 10-5 vote, members of the Virginia Senate's courts of justice committee rejected a proposal that would have amended wording, written by some of the nation's founding fathers, that has remained essentially unchanged since 1786.
The proposal, by Delegate Charles Carrico (R-Grayson Co.), would have amended the Virginia Constitution to “secure further the people's right to acknowledge God” and to allow prayer and recognition of “religious beliefs, heritage and traditions on public property, including public schools.”
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, whose words Carrico's amendment would have altered. Those provisions are commonly cited as the model for the religious-freedom clauses of the federal Constitution.
Earlier, the Virginia House of Delegates — the state legislature's lower chamber — approved Carrico's amendment on a 69-27 vote.
Carrico said the alteration was necessary to clarify the views of the founding fathers for new times, because Christians in the United States experience persecution at the hands of religious minorities. “Recently, it's been to the point where the secular world has said you can only profess your faith within the four walls of your church — or you can pray in a closet,” he said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
But opponents said the amendment would open the state to litigation by aggressive religious activists and would defile Jefferson and Madison's intent.
“Jefferson wanted each individual to be free to choose his religious path, without interference of any sort from the state or pressure from people in the majority,” read a Feb. 13 editorial on the subject from the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. “Jefferson knew well that it is not majorities who need fear trampling.”