freedom of religion

(noun)

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.

Related Terms

Examples of freedom of religion in the following topics:

  • Quaker Liberty

    • The Quaker colony of Pennsylvania emphasized freedom of religion through its Charter of Privileges.
    • The Charter of Privileges extended religious freedom to all monotheists, and government was initially open to all Christians.
    • Pennsylvania embraced freedom of religion and welcomed religious and political refugees, including German immigrants, to the Pennsylvania Dutch Country frontier.
    • The Charter of Privileges also mandated fair dealings with Native Americans.
    • George Fox was the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers

  • Principles of Freedom

    • The republican and democratic ideology of the American Revolution grew out of the unique culture of the American colonies.
    • While fewer than one percent of British men could vote, a majority of White American men were eligible.
    • Thirdly, the American colonies were exceptional in the context of the European world because of the growth and representation of different interest groups.
    • Freedom of religion: The government can neither support nor suppress religion.
    • Freedom of speech: The government cannot restrict through law or action the personal, nonviolent speech of a citizen; a marketplace of ideas should prevail.

  • Classical Liberalism

    • Classical liberalism is a philosophy committed to the ideals of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals.
    • These liberties include freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets.
    • Classical liberalism places a particular emphasis on the sovereignty of the individual and considers property rights an essential component of individual liberty.
    • Classical liberals extended protection of the country to protection of overseas markets through armed intervention.
    • Protection of individuals against wrongs normally meant protection of private property.

  • Deism

    • Deism played a major part in inspiring enlightenment philosophy and in the creation of the principle of religious freedom.
    • Deism is a religious philosophy that holds that reason and observation of the natural world in a form other than organized religion can determine that the universe is the product of (an) intelligent creator(s).
    • In the United States, Enlightenment philosophy (which itself was heavily inspired by Deist ideals) played a major role in creating the principle of religious freedom, which is expressed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
    • The principle of religious freedom, guaranteed in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights, was inspired partially by Deist ideas.
    • Though the influence of Deism on Jefferson's thought is debated, some of his writings on religion contain Deist ideas.

  • Paine's Common Sense

    • Common Sense presented the colonists with an argument for freedom from Britain when the question of independence was still undecided.
    • First published anonymously in January 1776, before the American Revolution, Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided.
    • The Continental Conference would then meet and draft a Continental Charter that would secure "freedom and property to all men, and… the free exercise of religion. " The Continental Charter would also outline a new national government, which Paine thought would take the form of a Congress.
    • Except for a few radical thinkers, the people of the colonies were undecided about freedom.
    • Evaluate how the writings of Thomas Paine shaped American thought at the start of the Revolution

  • Separating Church and State

    • Stuyvesant had formally banned all religions other than that of the Dutch Reformed Church from being practiced in the colony, in accordance with the laws of the Dutch Republic.
    • Some opposed support of any established church at the state level; for instance, Thomas Jefferson's influential Statute for Religious Freedom was enacted in 1786 to ensure religious freedom in Virginia.
    • It stated: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
    • The establishment clause has generally been interpreted to prohibit: 1) Congress' establishment of a national religion, and 2) US governmental preference of one religion over another.
    • A US postage stamp commemorating religious freedom and the Flushing Remonstrance, a petition for religious freedom circulated in American colonies in 1657 and considered a precursor to the Constitution's provision on the separation of church and state.

  • The American Enlightenment

    • The American Enlightenment was an era of prolific discourse in which Anglo-American intellectuals studied human nature, society, and religion.
    • Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, key Enlightenment thinkers applied scientific reasoning to studies of human nature, society, and religion.
    • Attempts to reconcile science and religion led to the growing appeal of Deism, often resulting from a rejection of prophecy, miracle, and revealed religion.
    • Drawing on Locke, Smith, and Paine, the Declaration of Independence thus asserted to Britain and other contemporary observers that both George III and Parliament were violating colonial rights and freedoms and the American colonies intended to sever ties with Britain.
    • Essentially, the Declaration of Independence, heavily inspired by Enlightenment political theory, proclaimed that the American people were fighting to maintain their essential freedoms and liberties by overthrowing despotic, irrational tyranny.

  • The Political Revolution

    • Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century and the humanist period during the Renaissance, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature, society, and religion.
    • Attempts to reconcile science and religion led to the growing appeal of Deism, often resulting from a rejection of prophecy, miracle, and revealed religion.
    • It was seen as hostile to the development of reason and the progress of science, and it was incapable of verification.
    • An alternative religion was Deism, the philosophical belief in a deity based on reason, rather than religious revelation or dogma.
    • " (1784), Immanuel Kant described it simply as freedom to use one's own intelligence.

  • Blue Water Imperialism

    • The dominant 17th- and 18th-century British ideology of blue water imperialism was founded on the values of commerce and freedom—for some.
    • The dominant 17th- and 18th-century British imperialist ideology was founded on a liberal conception of freedom and commerce—however, this freedom was only conceptualized in terms of white Anglo-Saxon men.
    • Furthermore, Catholicism was the traditional state religion of Spain and France—nations that, according to British liberals, were traditionally ruled by authoritarian, despotic, monarchical power.
    • They perceived their own religion of Protestantism, on the other hand, to be the religion of liberty.
    • Freedom in blue water empire ideology was the defining characteristic that reconciled the inherent tensions between the notion of empire and liberty for 18th-century British liberals.

  • The Great Awakening

    • Each of these "Great Awakenings" was characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, an increase in evangelical church membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations.
    • The First Great Awakening began in the 1730s and lasted to about 1743, though pockets of revivalism had occurred in years prior especially amongst the ministry of Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards's grandfather.
    • The evangelical movement of the 1740s played a key role in the development of democratic thought, as well as the belief of the free press and the belief that information should be shared and completely unbiased and uncontrolled.
    • These concepts ushered in the period of the American Revolution.
    • This helped create a demand for religious freedom.