Atheists and agnostics are glad to be included, but . . . Let’s truly honor Jefferson’s secular principles Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.” -Thomas Jefferson; excerpted from “Notes On Virginia” Many of the individual state constitutions replicate or echo the heart of the statute, which reads: “[T]hat no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested.” President Barack Obama’s proclamation yesterday calling Jan. 16 “Religious Freedom Day” garnered favorable attention for explicitly recognizing “atheists and agnostics” as equal to believers: Today, America embraces people of all faiths and of no faith. We are Christians and Jews, Muslims and Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, atheists and agnostics. Our religious diversity enriches our cultural fabric and reminds us that what binds us as one is not the tenets of our faiths, the colors of our skin, or the origins of our names. What makes us American is our adherence to shared ideals — freedom, equality, justice, and our right as a people to set our own course. Id.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 19:26:55 +0000
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