To: Michael M who wrote (16252 ) 7/1/2002 5:29:34 PM From: Win Smith Respond to SI's lame-o search facility being semi-operable for the moment, I dug up an article. I'm sure the canonical "moral clarity" holy roller interpretation of what "original intent" really means is at variance with this, but what the heck. I suppose just because the Founding Fathers were in general students of the Enlightenment and not particularly religious themselves doesn't mean they weren't holy rollers too, when properly interpreted by current "scholars". How did Madison acquire this understanding of rights? In large part, through his powerful commitment to freedom of conscience. For Madison, as for Thomas Jefferson, the horrific religious persecutions of the 16th and 17th centuries were the equivalent of what the history of racial slavery and discrimination has been for us: the most compelling example of the systematic denial of fundamental rights to unpopular minorities. Their radical solution to the religion problem was to recognize that every individual retains a sovereign right to accept or reject the claims of religion, entirely free of the coercive authority of the state or community.nytimes.com
