America鈥檚 founding promise of religious freedom long coexisted with prejudice
America鈥檚 founding promise of religious freedom long coexisted with prejudice
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its independence, old questions have returned about who belongs and whose religious practices are truly protected in the country.
At the start of the year, an significantly damaged the oldest synagogue in Mississippi. Two days later, local officials in Oklahoma rejected a proposal to build a mosque after opponents 鈥渉ostile to our Constitution.鈥� on social media that a Hindu festival was a 鈥渢hird world鈥� practice. These incidents come amid that the United States is a Christian nation.
All this has happened even as a particular idea of religious liberty throughout his second term. In his proclamation for Religious Freedom Day in 2026, familiar ideas of Americans鈥� 鈥淕od-given right to practice their faith, follow their conscience, and worship their God freely and without fear.鈥� But the statement also seemed to reflect a of lending government support to Christianity. The support for religious liberty with projects to eliminate 鈥渁nti-Christian bias.鈥�
The tension between embracing religious liberty and the marginalization of other religions in favor of Christianity is not new. Ideals of religious freedom have long coexisted with religious discrimination or outright bigotry, David Mislin, an assistant professor of intellectual heritage at Temple University, writes for . Importantly, however, history also offers a lesson for the present by showing the important role U.S. Christians have played in combating such bigotry.
Religious freedom in theory
As the founders built a new nation, many emphasized the importance of religious liberty. Shortly after independence in 1776, Thomas Jefferson began drafting the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. When enacted a decade later, that Virginians鈥� 鈥渃ivil rights鈥� did not depend on their 鈥渞eligious opinions.鈥� Civic participation was not limited to members of particular traditions, and there was no state-funded church. The law was a foundational step to prevent government from discriminating against citizens on the basis of their beliefs.
The Virginia statute provided a template for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791. The Congress from enacting laws that favor particular religions or interfering with free religious practice. It represents a key safeguard for personal belief against the power of the federal government.
Legal safeguards did not mean that all religious groups were treated equally, however. In reality, many Americans imagined the new nation to be a Protestant country.
Official and unofficial religious discrimination
Despite protections at the federal level and in some states, including Virginia, state and local governments were by First Amendment protections until the 1920s. Religious discrimination in civic life was commonplace for the nation鈥檚 first 100 years.
North Carolina and Jews from doing so until the 1860s. all non-Protestants from holding public office until 1877.
Smaller instances of religious bigotry abounded as well. In some public schools, including in large cities such as Philadelphia, to read the Bible and sing Protestant hymns. Jewish Americans were often forced to work on their Sabbath and from some hotels and resorts, especially in the second half of the 1800s.
At times, hostility to religious minorities even fueled outright violence. The of 1844 began when the city鈥檚 growing Catholic population challenged the use of a Protestant Bible translation in public schools. Anti-Catholic nativists responded with force, and the ensuing conflict left over a dozen people dead.
Toward a 鈥楯udeo-Christian鈥� America
Things slowly began to change soon after the nation鈥檚 centennial in 1876. As I , rising indifference toward religion among many Americans, as well as outright atheism, pushed many Protestant leaders to reevaluate how they treated their Catholic and Jewish neighbors.
Echoing a in U.S. history, these Protestants believed that any religion 鈥� even a non-Protestant one 鈥� was better for society than no religion at all. This conclusion prompted many Protestants to more fully affirm Catholicism and Judaism. By the early 1900s, it had become common for Protestant ministers to challenge religious bigotry, as one Minnesota clergyman did when he the 鈥渇alse notions and wretched prejudices鈥� held against Jews.
This attitude gained support among the nation鈥檚 leaders. President Theodore Roosevelt took a major step by Catholics and Jews. He insisted that their religious affiliations .鈥�
After appointing the first Jewish Cabinet member in U.S. history, 鈥渋n my cabinet at present, there sit side by side Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Jew.鈥�
There was soon a backlash to the growing acceptance of religious diversity. The 1920s witnessed the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. Its Catholics and Jews with particular force.
Still, the idea that Jewish and Catholic Americans were equal stakeholders in American society took root. By the 1950s, politicians, academics and religious leaders described the United States not as a Protestant country but a 鈥溾�� one.
Expanding multiculturalism
The opened a new chapter for religious pluralism in the United States. The law ended restrictions on immigration from non-European countries. Consequently, the number of practitioners of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam increased significantly.
Christian groups lobbied strongly for these changes. The National Council of Churches, which represented the country鈥檚 major Protestant denominations, lent its the legislation. U.S. Catholic organizations likewise endorsed the 1965 law. For many Catholics, their desire for a more welcoming, inclusive immigration policy.
After 1965, religious diversity became far more visible to ordinary Americans. Earlier generations of immigrants 鈥� including Catholics and Jews in the 1800s 鈥� typically settled in ethnic enclaves. By contrast, immigrants now settled in diverse . Newly arrived Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims often lived next door to Protestant, Catholic and Jewish families.
As in earlier periods, these developments were not entirely harmonious. The 1980s and 鈥�90s witnessed violent attacks against both the institutions and individual practitioners of minority religions. Islamic centers and Buddhist temples in places ranging from Massachusetts to Minnesota, to Tennessee. The large population of Hindu Americans in northern New Jersey against individuals. Despite these instances, scholar of religion chronicled in her 2001 book 鈥溾�� how fully the religious nature of the U.S. had been transformed as the nation became characterized by multiculturalism.
While religious minorities have often faced exclusion and hostility, many Americans have long believed that guarantees of religious liberty promise a more inclusive society. In its 250th year, that promise is being tested once again.
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