Anniversary of an Awful Law – 1647
“You
guys can't be here,” the Massachusetts lawmakers said to Jesuit
(Catholic) priests on this date in 1647. “So leave. And if you come
back, we're going to kill you!”
Of
course, the new Massachusetts law didn't say those exact words (and
also featured ye olde fashioned spellings), but that was the gist
of the law. We in the United States have enjoyed freedom of religion
for so long that we sometimes forget why our nation's founders wrote
the First Amendment in the first place. But before our U.S. Constitution, the norm was for each government to dictate the
religion of that nation. If you weren't the “right” religion, you
were considered a sinner, religiously speaking, but you were often considered a second-class citizen, too. Or you were killed
or ejected, beat up or rejected.
So
today is a very good day to be thankful for the separation of
church and state. The U.S. Constitution states that the government
cannot establish a national religion, cannot institute a religious
test before granting citizenship or voting rights, and cannot show
preference for one religion over another.
And
that's a very, very good thing. Just ask those priests!
Learn more...
Here
is a rather advanced treatment or “lesson” on freedom of religion, meant
for high school age or older.
And here is a quiz on the same subject, again for advanced or older
students.
Teaching Tolerance has some good discussion questions.
Also
on this date:
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