Last week, on Wednesday, Jan. 16, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom turned 222 years young. It was enacted by the Virginia General Assembly on that date in 1786. Virginia had just passed through a paradigm shift, moving from a state-sponsored and supported religion — the Anglican Church — to a free society. In Thomas Jefferson's words, the Statute stated: “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.”
Our Baptist forebears were among those who had groaned under a state religion. They had known open and sometimes violent persecution. Some of their best preachers and even a few laypersons were imprisoned for expressing their faith. They all had been subject to the whispered persecutions of neighbors who resented folks who did not follow the established order.
Fred Anderson
Jefferson knew of the persecution of the Baptists and others and he may have been thinking of them when he wrote, “[No man] shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief.” The sheriffs could find plenty of actual criminals to fill the jails vacated by God-fearing Baptists. The arrests, whippings and beatings would cease.
The essence of the Statute is found near the close of the enacting clause. “All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of Religion.” It was a revolutionary thought in revolutionary times. It was the height of enlightenment. It also — once incorporated into the Bill of Rights — was the one glorious idea which America gave to the world.
Sometime prior to the Statute's bicentennial in 1986, a small group of Richmonders began to meet and discuss ways in which to commemorate the Statute's importance. There were public programs, including one sponsored by the Virginia Baptist Historical Society. The group wanted a continuing remembrance and eventually the Council for America's First Freedom was created. As it developed, the Council — headquartered in Richmond — took the lead in promoting an understanding of religious liberty.
In 2004, another small group of Richmonders with religious history interests coalized into a loose partnership called the Consortium for Richmond's Religious History. The impetus was the 400th anniversary of Jamestown in 2007. The group met for endless bag lunches and roundtable discussions. A few programs — a lecture, a panel discussion, a concert — were held last year. The jewel of the Consortium was a public education initiative to reacquaint Richmonders with the Statute and ask them to sign a petition reaffirming the basic ideal “of religious freedom in maintaining a civil society.”
Over the course of last year, numerous groups and individuals on the streets were approached for a brief chat, a leaflet and a solicitation for a signature. Richmond Baptist churches were sent leaflets and petitions and many responded. When this columnist spoke to the seniors fellowship group at West End Assembly of God, the story of religious liberty was told and their signatures were added to the petition. A Muslim member of the Consortium got her children to sign the petition as she told them about its background and meaning. The Jewish community participated. And probably some non-believers themselves added their thanksgiving for such a document as the Statute for Religious Freedom. In all, some 1,200 individuals signed the petition. The finances needed for the petition project were provided through a generous corporate donor, the Ukrop's First Market Bank.
Last Thursday, the petition was presented by the Consortium to Gov. Tim Kaine. The governor made some impromptu remarks which clearly indicated his own high regard for the Statute and the freedom which it protects. He spoke of the importance of remembrance and reflection in regard to the struggle for religious liberty and the significance of the separation of church and state.
The Consortium fulfilled its mission. An unexpected by-product of the three years of greeting, eating and meeting was the forging of a relationship between diverse organizations which basically had religious liberty as their cohesive glue. The organizations included the Jewish collection, Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives; the Presbyterians, with their Historic Polegreen Church Foundation; the new Museum of Virginia Catholic History; the Episcopalians, rather represented through the Patrick Henry Committee of St. John's Episcopal Church; the African-American Baptists, rather represented through the historian of Sixth Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which is the keeper of the legend of the famous black preacher, John Jasper; the Buddhists, represented through a person associated with Soka Gakkai, an American Buddhist association; an individual from the Islamic Center of Virginia; and, yes, Virginia Baptists through their Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage & Studies. Also involved were the Council for America's First Freedom and the Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond as well as a diversity organization known as A More Perfect Union. Whew!
The diversity of the group begs a further comment. When people meet and dialogue as individuals, the prejudices and false assumptions sometimes paraded by religious faith groups and denominations often dissipate as friendships are forged. It is difficult to dislike someone with whom you break bread, share personal concerns and rejoice over good news. And in-between bites of sandwiches and snippets of conversation, there often is an easy sharing of faith at work in a believer's life.
One of the friendships which came from the Consortium was made with Benjamin Ross, the exuberant motivator behind the John Jasper Museum at Sixth Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Richmond's Jackson Ward. At the beginning of the project, Ross was still commuting everyday from Richmond to his workplace in Washington. By the close of the project, he had retired. We enjoyed learning of his adventures, including speaking at the Smithsonian and before the meeting of the Baptist History & Heritage Society at its conference last year on African-American history. Whenever Benjamin Ross hosted us, we knew that, “free to profess,” he would share something of his faith. Perhaps Mr. Jefferson eavesdropped on us and smiled.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.