Subject:  American Minute - Jan. 24 - James Madison & Religious Freedom
Date:  Wed, 24 Jan 2007 07:09:00 -0600
American Minute with Bill Federer

January 24

James Madison's defense of religious freedom began when he stood
with his father outside a jail in the village of Orange and heard
Baptists preach from their cell windows.

He wrote of another incident to William Bradford, JANUARY 24, 1774:

"There are at this time in the adjacent Culpepper County not less
than 5 or 6 well meaning men in jail for publishing their religious
sentiments which in the main are very orthodox."

Madison helped pass the Virginia Bill of Rights, which stated:

"Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator, and the Manner of
discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Convictions, 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 practice Christian Forbearance, Love, and
Charity towards each other."

As President, Madison wrote July 23, 1813:

"If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the
favorable regard of the Holy and Omniscient Being to whom it is
addressed, it must be...guided only by their free choice...as proving
that religion, that gift of Heaven for the good of man, is freed from
all coercive edicts."



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