Celebrate religious freedom daily

Richard A. Sokerka

Did you know that Religious Freedom Day is celebrated in America annually?

It has been observed on Jan. 16 by every U.S. president since 1993 and is marked on that specific day for good reason. On Jan. 16, 1786, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, authored by Thomas Jefferson, was enacted. This law was the foundation on which principles were developed that would later shape many state constitutions as well as the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on religious freedom.

Our nation’s founders understood what many today have forgotten: the importance of religion freedom — that is, the freedom of all to exercise religion as America’s “first freedom.” They were so convinced religious freedom was necessary for the well-being of all citizens, for the common good and for public virtue, they believed the new republic would crumble without it being a cornerstone of the nation.

Flash forward to the present where many of our elected representatives on the local, state and national level seek to impose legal restrictions on our religious freedom and beliefs. Added to this is the fact that in our secular society today, religion is increasingly falsely equated with racism and bigotry and it has resulted in attacks not only to destroy houses of worship but also to kill believers.

These deranged events are becoming more frequent and all the more dangerous for our nation and all religions.

This behavior would astound our Found­ing Fathers. They wanted to ensure that religion played a central role in our public life, not that it be banned from the public square and eradicated to protect the public from religion as some in our secular society think.

Every single day in our nation must be Religious Freedom Day. It is critical and our responsibility to ensure that the will of our Founding Fathers on the importance of religious freedom lives on and is rightly understood and protected for all future generations if our democracy is to survive.