Jefferson believed that the Statute guaranteed religious freedom for “the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.” He believed that such broad freedom and toleration was essential in a republic with people from such different religions, ethnicities, and races.

Jefferson’s commitment to religious freedom grew from several inter-related sources. Jefferson wanted a strict separation of church and state, but he fully expected a vibrant, public religion on the “other” (non-governmental) side of that wall.

The statute disestablished the Church of England in Virginia and guaranteed freedom of religion to people of all religious faiths, including Christians of all denominations, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.

In the 1780s, Jefferson’s ally James Madison—then a member of the Virginia House of Delegates—had worked to secure the Baptists’ right to worship freely. Jefferson’s proposed bill was the right antidote to the attempt to impose religious uniformity in Virginia, Madison believed.

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and accepted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786, the bill was, as Jefferson explained, an attempt to provide religious freedom to “the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian, the Mahometan, the Hindoo, and [the] infidel of every denomination.” In effect, it was the first attempt in …

3. How did the ideas in Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom differ from previous ideas held by the government? Thomas Jefferson felt the government had no right to control religious choice. It made education a basic right by providing public education for all citizens.

An important change came in 1786 when Virginia passed the Statute for Religious Freedom. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the new law served as a model for the First Amendment. It established a clear separation of church and state and was one of Jefferson’s proudest accomplishments.

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a statement about both freedom of conscience and the principle of separation of church and state. To Jefferson, “Nature’s God,” who is undeniably visible in the workings of the universe, gives man the freedom to choose his religious beliefs.

Declaration of Rights

The initial Virginia colonists were not anti-religious; they considered religion to be a fundamental part of both life and government. They assumed the Anglican church would be the “established” church, supported by taxes that were imposed by governmental authority.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish “inadequate” government. It influenced a number of later documents, including the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the United States Bill of Rights (1789).

A call for American independence from Britain, the Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted by George Mason in May 1776 and amended by Thomas Ludwell Lee and the Virginia Convention. Thomas Jefferson drew heavily from it when he drafted the Declaration of Independence one month later.