{"id":3211,"date":"2026-07-04T15:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3211"},"modified":"2026-07-04T15:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:05:21","slug":"opinion-the-declaration-of-independence-set-the-stage-for-religious-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3211","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: The Declaration of Independence set the stage for religious freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it\u2019s worth taking a few minutes to reflect on what that momentous document has meant for freedom of religion. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3209\">Deseret News archives: The day the presidents died<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Princeton Professor Robert George has described religious liberty as \u201cthe right to be who we truly are as human beings.\u201d It guarantees us the ability to \u201cponder life\u2019s deepest questions and to seek meaningful, truthful answers.\u201d It also protects our ability to gather with others in a shared community of faith and belonging, where we can both seek reinforcement and help others find their way through life\u2019s many challenges. The right to live one\u2019s faith openly and honestly is one of the most important rights any person can enjoy.<\/p>\n<div>\n<h5>More guest opinion pieces relating to America 250<\/h5>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Opinion: On America\u2019s 250th anniversary, don\u2019t take our courts for granted<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Opinion: The Declaration of Independence is more than America\u2019s birth certificate<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Opinion: Exploring what patriotism means ahead of America 250<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Opinion: Moving beyond metaphors \u2014 reclaiming the Declaration of Independence for the next generation<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Opinion: The founders bet their future on the American experiment<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Declaration of Independence typically is thought of in terms of its immediate political effects. Through it the 13 colonies renounced allegiance to Great Britain and declared themselves \u201cFree and Independent States.\u201d The declaration led to the Revolutionary War, the British surrender at Yorktown, and the founding of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>But it also marked an important moment for the cause of religious liberty in at least three ways.<\/p>\n<p>First, the Declaration of Independence expressly recognized the concept of natural, unalienable rights, including the rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those natural rights are inextricably bound up with freedom of religion. Second, the declaration laid the groundwork for the Constitution a decade later, including its guarantee of the \u201cfree exercise\u201d of religion. Third, it opened the door to a new form of government in which individual rights would stand at the fore and government would be understood as a protector, not a source, of rights.<\/p>\n<h3>How the Declaration of Independence promoted religious freedom<\/h3>\n<p>Start with the first point. The phrase \u201creligious liberty\u201d does not appear in the Declaration of Independence. Nor does the Declaration list infringements on religious exercise as one of the \u201clong train of abuses\u201d committed by the Crown. But the declaration does expressly recognize two key concepts that are central to freedom of religion.<\/p>\n<p>The first is that all men and women have unalienable rights that come from God, not government. Our leaders cannot lawfully abridge those rights because they do not depend upon civil authority for validity.<\/p>\n<p>The second is that those unalienable rights include the rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As Jeffrey Rosen, the former president of the National Constitution Center, has explained, the pursuit of happiness at the time of the founding was understood as \u201cthe pursuit of lifelong virtue,\u201d that is, the effort to develop \u201chabits of industry, temperance, moderation and sincerity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Religious liberty, of course, is one of our foundational natural rights. And religious exercise is rightly associated with efforts to improve oneself and society according to the precepts taught by one\u2019s faith. By recognizing the concept of natural rights and affirming that those rights include both liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the declaration laid an important foundation for religious freedom in the new republic.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3207\">Beware of out-of-state recruiters chasing Utah talent. Oklahoma and Michigan just upped efforts<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The declaration of Independence was a momentous step in our country\u2019s journey toward greater legal protections for religious liberty.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Turn now to the second way the Declaration of Independence marked an important moment for religious liberty. A little over a decade after the declaration announced our nation\u2019s independence, delegates returned to Philadelphia to \u201cform a more perfect Union\u201d through creating a new national charter, the Constitution. <\/p>\n<p>Although we typically think of the First Amendment as our federal guarantee of religious freedom, Article VI of the Constitution also contains an important prohibition on religious tests for office. And two years later Congress passed and submitted for ratification the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment\u2019s promise that religious exercise would be \u201cfree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Without the declaration, there would have been no Constitution. Equally important, the Constitution built on the declaration\u2019s recognition of natural rights by spelling out for our young country those rights that would receive clear federal protection. And the first right listed was freedom of religion.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the Declaration of Independence was the first step toward a new government that derives its power from the people and that exists to protect their fundamental rights. <\/p>\n<h3>Early American leaders continually emphasized religious liberty <\/h3>\n<p>George Washington identified religious liberty as one of those rights in his famous 1790 letter to a Jewish congregation in Rhode Island. Washington wrote that religious \u201ctoleration\u201d is no longer \u201cspoken of as if it were [through] the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.\u201d To the contrary, \u201cthe Government of the United States\u201d gives \u201cto bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,\u201d and \u201crequires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Jefferson, while president, offered similar assurance to another religious minority \u2014 a group of Ursuline nuns in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Responding to the nuns\u2019 concerns that the new U.S. government would not be as accommodating of their religious practices as the French had been, Jefferson affirmed that \u201cthe principles of the constitution and government of the United States are a sure guarantee to you that [your property] will be preserved to you sacred and inviolate.\u201d Jefferson promised the nuns that \u201cyour institution will be permitted to govern itself according to it\u2019s [sic] own voluntary rules, without interference from the civil authority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These are but two statements among many by our nation\u2019s early leaders that affirm the primacy of religious liberty. Their work after the Revolution to fortify freedom of religion was an outgrowth of the document adopted in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The declaration of Independence was a momentous step in our country\u2019s journey toward greater legal protections for religious liberty. On this 250th anniversary, let us remember \u2014 and be grateful \u2014 for that important contribution.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3205\">Utah Jazz Summer League primer: When the Jazz will play, who will play, and what to expect along the way<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During America 250 it\u2019s worth taking a few minutes to reflect on what the Declaration of Independence has meant for freedom of religion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Opinion: The Declaration of Independence set the stage for religious freedom - 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