Madison on the religious

With the celebration of the 4th of July at hand, dignitaries across the country have waxed eloquent on the meaning of our glorious liberty and the responsibility we each have to maintain it. I can make that statement with great confidence, even though I have not listened to any 'speechifying' leading up to July 4th, and I shall not listen to any on that glorious day.

One component of our liberty as Americans that is near and dear to my heart is religious liberty. Here is one thing concerning the relationship between religion and government and the independence of each written by Madison in 1821.

The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity.

As with Madison, I firmly believe that the 'mutual independence' is the best context for both the religious side and the political/governmental side. May it ever be so.