Catholic Transcript Online

Recent events within the body politic of our State awakened scores of fair-minded citizens of the need ever to remain alert, informed and ready to respond to any initiative that could negatively impact on the God-given right to religious freedom. At the center of the disturbances was a proposed bill which, if passed, would have trampled on the principle of religious liberty. Catholics were targeted.

That such a bill, S.B. 1098, could have emerged here in Connecticut is especially difficult to understand, given the historic record of our State. Connecticut was founded by a religious leader, Thomas Hooker, who, during a celebrated sermon in 1638, firmly anchored the American democratic concept within the principle of religious freedom, a principle later adopted in essence in the “Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,” itself an inspirational document for the magnificent Constitution of the United States of America.

Thomas Hooker did not argue that freedom of assembly or freedom of speech paved the way for freedom of religion; for him, it was the other way around. In other words, freedom of religion is the fundamental right; an innate right. Freedom of religion safeguards all the other God-given rights to citizens by virtue of human nature, including freedom of speech, assembly, and all the rest.

No wonder that our first President, George Washington, said: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness.” These words were recalled by Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson in an address on 19 March, 2007, on the 125^th anniversary of the Founding of the Knights of Columbus.

S.B. 1098 was an attempt to interfere in the governance of the Catholic Church. Indirectly, of course, every religious group was also placed in jeopardy. The thinking behind the bill was hardly that of America’s Founding Fathers. One is mindful of James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, presented before the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1785:

“We maintain … that in matters of Religion, no man’s right is abridged by the institution of Civil Society and that Religion is wholly exempt from its cognizance.

“…if Religion be exempt from the authority of the Society at large, still less can it be subject to that of the Legislative Body. The latter are but the creatures and vicegerents of the former. Their jurisdiction is both derivative and limited…” (Cited from American Religions, R. Marie Griffith. Oxford University Press, Princeton, 2008; italics added)

We must all be constantly alert, informed, and ready.