Some colonial and revolutionary era North Americans were less provincial. Some understood the Lockean realization that only by giving freedom of religion to all could the new states and later the United States avoid the perpetual, bloody wars of religion endemic to Europe, both continental and in the United Kingdom. 2/
Even fewer colonial and revolutionary era North Americans were robustly committed to freedom of conscience for atheists or believers in non-Christian faiths out of being atheists or non-Christians themselves. But the drafters of some state constitutions and of the U.S. Constitution were wise. They wrote capacious freedom of religion into bills of rights. They didn’t privilege Christian faiths over others. 3/
Whether they were committed to religious pluralism as a good in itself or as a prudent modus vivendi, the founders of the United States and many of the individual states in it not only enshrined in law freedom of religion, they enshrined the principle that people could not be deprived of other civil rights, e.g. right to vote, on the basis of their religious beliefs. 4/
Perhaps late 20th century Americans took for granted the deep and thoroughgoing religious pluralism protected by the federal constitution. We today certainly cannot. We must fight for it, with the grace and eloquent displayed by Abdul El-Sayed in his exchange with “Tommy”. 5/5
@heidilifeldman Yep. Roger Williams was kicked out of Massachusetts Bay Colony because the Puritans found his Christianity too intense! He left and established Rhode Island with religious freedom and separation of church and state as some of its founding principles. Really interesting guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams