Thomas Jefferson's The Virginia Statue For Religious Freedom

Religion has been a very critical and somewhat scary topic to talk about for as long as people can remember. Even dating back to the times of Jamestown and colonial days, people had at first been scared to go against any ruling the king established and ended up being scared to worship their own faith and practice their own religious views. Around the 1700s, documents became established and prominent religious figures came into the limelight to promote religious acceptance. Although not all leaders and well known figures of the time may have been Christians, they all at least had a certain idea of what faith was and who the almighty God was and His capabilities.
Thomas Jefferson was very adamant on his stance toward religion and prayer during his lifetime. He has been regarded as the best spokesperson we have for American liberty, faith, and equality for all men and women alike. In the Declaration of Independence the opening line says that all people have equal rights to the Laws of Nature and also the freedoms that Nature’s God allows them. There are certain truths that the Declaration of Independence mentions such as Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness that nobody is allowed to take away from us. He wrote The Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom about people’s freedom of conscience and also the principle separation of the church and state. He believed there is a God and He allows us humans
the freedom and right to believe in whatever religion we would like. Jefferson also believed that people should not need to pay the taxes for church and state and that it is everybody’s own right to determine where and how they worship and for how long. Jefferson also mentions that the Virginians had the right to choose their own particular faith to worship and that it would “be an infringement of human rights” if another government were to come along and change any of the rules Jefferson and the other men of independence had come up with although they do have the right to do so if they deem it necessary. Jefferson first wrote a bill to establish religious freedoms back in 1777, although it was very overlooked at the time until James Madison revived it. The Declaration of Independence says all of these rights we have been given are from the Creator, which is Christ, which is just another example of how prominent of a thing religion was back in the day. Although it should be that way in today’s society as well, todays documents are based on things such as guns and how terrible they are to us and how we need to start building walls to keep out illegal immigrants.
Religion has been a very hot topic of conversation all over the world in the past few years. In the early 1970s, there were many spiritual revivals across the world (most notably the Billy Graham revival in Dallas) but there was also one just down the road in Birmingham at Woodlawn as documented in the movie. With all of these revivals taking place, religion seemed to become extremely prominent again and seemed to be coming back into the light of modern day. However, over the past five to ten years it has taken a drastic turn. Prayer has been taken out of public schools and although it was taken out fifty plus years ago, there has not been as much of an impact from it until today. People who went to public schools fifty or so years ago would still go to church Wednesday nights and Sundays and would be in connection with the Lord. Nowadays instead of kids going to church, they are out on the streets killing each other. Instead of parents trying to reign in their children and bring them back into a faith centered home, they are trying to do their best being a single parent of multiple children and running out on the streets talking about their inequalities and how they are treated unfairly and how they should get what they want without lifting a finger. Today’s society needs to be filled with more men and women of faith. We need more Billy Graham type evangelists and more people who are not scared to represent their faith. All people seem to care about now are the latest fashions and latest trends such as Pokémon GO or the latest snapchat filter or whatever else it may be. I am not saying any of those are bad things by any means, but in my opinion people in today’s society, whether they be young or old, have trouble with being themselves. Everyone is so scared of not fitting in and being ridiculed for wearing out of style jeans they will give up anything including their religious views which is something people, even as recently as the 1960’s and 70’s, would be willing to go as far as death for.
Persecution due to religion has also now become more dominant and more of a problem as of late in the world as well. With Isis coming to fruition, they will go and kill anyone just because they heard that a certain person may be a Christian. Persecution is not always done in a violent manner though. Some persecutions we face in America are done by our friends, family or even coworkers. Friends will shun you and make fun of you. No matter what religion you associate yourself with, you will most likely be looked down upon in today’s society. Whether it is Christian, Muslim, atheist or whatever else you may classify yourself as, people will judge you. If you say you are a Christian, people are going to ridicule you and call you a hypocrite or a bigot for not being “accepting” of gays and trans genders. If you say you are a Muslim, people are going to automatically associate you with 9/11. Some jobs may discriminate against you due to your religious beliefs as well. If you walk into a job interview with a cross around your neck and your employer is another religion or just against Christianity, there is a very high chance you may not get the job. You could be the most qualified person and have the best interview, but either you could be denied the job or be hired and asked to either not mention your religious beliefs or not be as outspoken with them.
In my opinion, Thomas Jefferson was a man who was at least aware of the Christian faith and who knew of God and of the powers He possess.
In many of his writings, Jefferson mentioned of God giving us certain abilities and certain rights that cannot be taken away from us in any form or fashion and that we have the ability to choose what we do with these rights. I cannot say for sure if Jefferson was a Christian and a man of faith but I do strongly believe he was a man very well versed in the Christian faith and very aware and humbled by Gods power and
righteousness.