The Virginia Statue For Religious Freedom Essay

The Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom Written by one of the United States of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a declaration of the right to religious freedom and separation of church and state. Jefferson first drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1777 but the bill was not passed into law until January of 1786, seven years after being initially introduced to the Virginia General Assembly. Backed by dissenting sects, such as the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., Jefferson gave voice to the grievances of those paying taxes to fund the Church of England, to the many religions that demanded legal protection to practice their desired religion, and to the people petitioning for the separation of church and state. This statute eradicated the legal power to tax the Church of England held over the citizen of Virginia. Jefferson strongly believed the God who create man had entitled man to freedom of thought and conscious, therefore providing the liberty to decide which religion to support. Jefferson’s bill for establishing religious freedom was foreshadowed by the Declaration of Independence, primarily …show more content…
Many credited the statute as one of the most influential pieces of legislation that enabled the First Amendment to be included in the Bill of Rights. Quickly becoming one of the most heavily relied upon pieces of legislature, especially during church-state conflict, the “Bill to Establish Religious Freedom” prevented the unjust taxation and persecution of non-Anglicans and open the doors for more dissenter to actively pursue careers without the fear of their rights being negated. In addition to serving as a model for the First Amendment, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom established the separation of church and state, a separation many states adopted soon