Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307010047
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most days, anyway.
Hey, we're the country of Putt-Putt, the Three Stooges, potato chips, Disney World, "Citizen Kane," Mark Twain, Las Vegas, the Met, "Jeopardy!," Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, men on the moon, minivans, Monticello.
Even in the land of all that great stuff, however, not all is perfect. We have serious problems.
Far too many of our children lack access to medical care; our public education system fails too many of its students; our legal system too often favors the rich.
But. Most Americans have access to highly advanced, highly competent medical care. Dedicated women and men devote their lives to teaching children from every level of society - not only the privileged. Our Constitution and our courts protect an unsurpassed range of freedoms that most of us take completely for granted.
Our religious freedom is one of those.
It was no mistake that the first 16 words of the Bill of Rights are: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."
A year earlier, in 1786, the Virginia Senate had passed a Statute of Religious Freedom that influenced that first Congress. Though the words are not part of federal law, all Americans - and particularly we Virginians - owe a debt to Thomas Jefferson's illumination of this particular freedom.
He took a few hundred more words than the Bill of Rights to articulate the principle, but they are worth reading.
For instance: "our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than [on] our opinions in physics or geometry . . ."
The Virginia law declared "that the truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interpretation disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them."
In passing the statute, the Virginia General Assembly said "that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
That statute, in turn, had been influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which declared in its final section: "That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only 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 practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other."
Though we might now acknowledge that forbearance, love and charity are not exclusively Christian attributes, the sentiments remain valid.
On this day when we celebrate that first bold step toward founding this nation through a hopeful Declaration of Independence, it's a perfect time also to celebrate our religious freedom.
I have to admit that this is a day I often dread just a smidgen as a churchgoer. I'm a little uncomfortable singing the National Anthem in church; a bit uneasy if I'm in a sanctuary where the United States flag is hanging.
I do not object to displays of patriotism - fireworks and flags and songs of the mother/fatherland. When they are part of a worship service, however, I worry that some people will mistakenly believe that the Deity salutes only our flag, sings only our anthem, honors only our values.
I cannot believe that God can be thus confined.
So, this day I'll celebrate our freedom, express my thankfulness for it, and pray that all may be able one day to celebrate it with us.
Cody Lowe reports on issues of religion and ethics for this newspaper.
by CNB