Jefferson was assuring the Baptists their freedom to practice their religion wouldn't be infringed, that the government would not prohibit, restrict, or limit their religious expression. BTW Jefferson was in France serving as a diplomat when the Constitution and First Amendment were adopted.
We owe the Bill of Rights to the anti-Federalists like George Mason, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry. It was to satisfy their concerns that a Bill of Rights was added. The father of the Bill of Rights is George Mason, who wrote the earlier Virginia Declaration of Rights, which inspired the Bill of Rights. The Virginia Declaration of Rights worded its freedom of religion clause like this:
"That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other."
The purpose of the first amendment was to protect religious expression, not banish it lest sensitive atheists be offended. |
