News & Commentary
Did the Founders really “forget” to mention God in the Constitution?
False! The first law to protect freedom of religion in America was drafted by a Catholic, Lord Baltimore, and enacted in Maryland in 1634. Known as the Maryland Toleration Act, the law provided that no one should be “troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof.” The law was repealed fifteen years later, when Protestant assemblymen controlled the Maryland Assembly, and replaced with a law expressly barring Catholics from practicing their faith.
2. Anne Hutchison, an early Puritan settler of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was celebrated by Puritan officials for her strong religious convictions and her leadership on religious liberty.
False! Anne Hutchison was reviled by Puritan authorities for her strong religious convictions and her opposition to state-enforced orthodox
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