George Mason Quotes
All men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.
Mason, George. "Proposed Amendments to the Constitution." 27 June 1788. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, edited by Jonathan Elliot, vol. 3, J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1891, p. 659.
Pen name: Jack Nipps
This quotation is extremely important because it was completely antithetical to the United States basic philosophy of freedom of religion. Anti-Catholic prejudice which already existed, seized on this quotation to demonstrate that the Catholic Church was a danger to Protestantism and the other religions that had come to America and the many that were created in America. It would take 70 years for the anti-Catholic prejudice had diminished sufficiently to elect a Catholic President—JFK.
Opponents of the strict separation of church and state use this quotation to support their view. However, Story herein describes public sentiment, not what was passed and ratified in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. See {614309} and {614310} for his statements from the same work that show that there was no question in his mind but that church and state are separated by the Constitution and the First Amendment.
The Senate was presented with James Madison’s Language for the First Amendment. These three alternatives were proposed and rejected. The rejected versions turn out to have been very important. Some have argued that the First Amendment does not prohibit Congress making laws regarding religion as long as it doesn’t favor one religion over another—for example pay for clerics of all religions. However, that was the third proposal and it was rejected in favor of the high wall of separation proposed by Madison.
There was freedom of religion for Protestants in early New Jersey. Note that Catholics and Jews were not allowed to hold office. This constitution was in force until 1844 when the prohibition was repealed by new constitution. Under the original constitution, men were convicted for blasphemy. See {621063} .
Abdul Rahman, Afghan citizen, had converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years before. Conversion from Islam is a capital crime under Sharia Law which was the law of Afghanistan even after the Taliban had been overthrown. He was jailed and threatened with death. Statements like this and others made directly to the government persuaded the Afghan politicians to go against their mullahs who demanded the death penalty as is proscribed by Islamic Law—Sharia. The judges tried to get Rahman to recant and he would not (see {589518}). So they finally decided that he must be mentally insane and therefore could not be tried, and the problem was solved that way.
George Mason IV was an American planter, politician and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and his Objections to this Constitution of Government (1787) opposing ratification, have exercised a significant influence on American political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for the United States Bill of Rights, a document of which he has been deemed a father.
