Handout D: Religious Liberty or Religious Toleration Quote Cards

Directions: For each of the following quotes, identify whether they express Religious Liberty (RL) or Religious Toleration (RT) and place the quote cards into the respective boxes.

1. Maryland Legislature, 1649
   “[N]o person or persons…professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, Molested, or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof with this Province.”
2. James Madison, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
   “All men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience.”
3. George Mason, Draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
   “All Men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.
4. Massachusetts Constitution, 1780
   “And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience, or for his religious profession or sentiments, provided he doth not disturb the public peace or obstruct others in their religious worship.”
5. James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785
   “Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right.”
6. First Amendment, 1791
   “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
7. Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1786
   “All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities…we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted, are of the natural rights of mankind.”