Today is Religious Freedom Day.
This day was developed from Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom, written in 1777. It declared that the United States of America would not have any official religion. It became a part of the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is one of 3 things Jefferson wanted on his epitaph. For copyright reasons I have not reprinted it here, but I strongly recommend you Google it. It’s beautiful, powerful writing.
In today’s global culture it is increasingly important for us to remember how important religious freedom is and how lucky we are to have it. There are many countries where citizens don’t have that right.
It’s also increasingly important to us to remember this freedom encompasses ALL religions, not just the one we choose. We must all be kind to one another- virtually all religions preach that.