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96-742: The Maryland Toleration Act , also known as the Act Concerning Religion , was the first law in North America requiring religious tolerance for Christians . It was passed on April 21, 1649, by the assembly of the Maryland colony , in St. Mary's City in St. Mary's County, Maryland. It created one of the pioneer statutes passed by the legislative body of an organized colonial government to guarantee any degree of religious liberty. Specifically,

192-649: A papal bull issued by Pope Boniface VIII on 18 November 1302. The bull laid down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Catholic Church , the necessity of belonging to it for eternal salvation ( Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus ), the position of the Pope as supreme head of the Church, and the duty thence arising of submission to the Pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation. The bull ends, "Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it

288-413: A "Christianity of Reason", in which human reason (initiated by criticism and dissent) would develop, even without help by divine revelation. His plays about Jewish characters and themes, such as "Die Juden" and " Nathan der Weise ", "have usually been considered impressive pleas for social and religious toleration". The latter work contains the famous parable of the three rings, in which three sons represent

384-452: A Christian delegation from the Sinai requested for the continued activity of the monastery, and regional Christianity per se . The original no longer exists, but a claimed 16th century copy of it remains on display in the monastery. While several twentieth century scholars accepted the document as a legitimate original, some modern scholars now question the documentary's authenticity. Since

480-459: A conversation about the nature of truth between seven cultivated men from diverse religious or philosophical backgrounds: a natural philosopher, a Calvinist, a Muslim, a Roman Catholic, a Lutheran, a Jew, and a skeptic. All agree to live in mutual respect and tolerance. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), French Catholic essayist and statesman, moderated between the Catholic and Protestant sides in

576-909: A deal with the colony's Protestants, and in 1657 the Act was again passed by the colonial assembly and remained in effect until 1692. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England, when the Catholic King James II of England was deposed and the Protestant William III ascended the throne, a rebellion of Maryland Puritan Protestants overthrew Calvert's rule. They quickly rescinded the Toleration Act and banned public practice of Catholicism, and it would never be reinstated under colonial rule. In fact,

672-561: A failure and traveled to the Colony of Virginia , where he found the climate much more suitable and temperate, but was met with an unwelcome reception from the Virginians' government and ruling class. In 1632, Baltimore returned to England , where he negotiated an additional patent for the colony of Maryland from King Charles I . However, before the papers could be executed, Baltimore died on April 15, 1632. On June 20, 1632, Cecil ,

768-531: A general edict of toleration of Christianity, in his own name and in those of Licinius and Constantine I (who converted to Christianity the following year). Saint Catherine's Monastery of the Sinai region of Egypt claims to have once had possession of an original letter of protection from Mohammed , known as the Ashtiname of Muhammad and traditionally dated to 623 CE. The monastery's tradition holds that

864-721: A group of companions founded Connecticut . They combined the democratic form of government that had been developed by the Separatist Congregationalists in Plymouth Colony ( Pilgrim Fathers ) with unlimited freedom of conscience. Like Martin Luther, Hooker argued that as faith in Jesus Christ was the free gift of the Holy Spirit it could not be forced on a person. In 1649 Maryland passed

960-607: A long tradition of religious freedom. The right to worship freely was a basic right given to all inhabitants of the Commonwealth throughout the 15th and early 16th centuries, however complete freedom of religion was officially recognized in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573 in the Warsaw Confederation . The Commonwealth kept religious-freedom laws during an era when religious persecution

1056-472: A nation where Catholicism was the state religion. The main concern was civil unity —the edict separated civil law from religious rights, treated non-Catholics as more than mere schismatics and heretics for the first time, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance. In offering general freedom of conscience to individuals, the edict offered many specific concessions to the Protestants, such as amnesty and

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1152-799: A number of Protestant theologians such as John Calvin , Martin Bucer , Wolfgang Capito , and Johannes Brenz as well as Landgrave Philip of Hesse opposed the execution of Anabaptists. Ulrich Zwingli demanded the expulsion of persons who did not accept the Reformed beliefs, in some cases the execution of Anabaptist leaders. The young Michael Servetus also defended tolerance since 1531, in his letters to Johannes Oecolampadius , but during those years some Protestant theologians such as Bucer and Capito publicly expressed they thought he should be persecuted. The trial against Servetus, an Antitrinitarian , in Geneva

1248-640: A settlement there. Following his brother's instructions, Leonard Calvert at first attempted to govern the country in an absolutist way, but in January 1635, he had to summon a colonial assembly , which became the foundation and first session of the modern General Assembly of Maryland , the third legislature to be established in the English colonies after the House of Burgesses in the Dominion of Virginia and

1344-649: Is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." In Poland in 1264, the Statute of Kalisz was issued, guaranteeing freedom of religion for the Jews in the country. In 1348, Pope Clement VI (1291–1352) issued a bull pleading with Catholics not to murder Jews, whom they blamed for the Black Death . He noted that Jews died of the plague like anyone else, and that

1440-526: Is an effort underway to find it. Archeologists based in the Historic St. Mary's City research complex believe that Leonard Calvert is buried somewhere in St. Inigoes, Maryland . The most likely spot has been narrowed down to somewhere on Webster Field, now a small U.S. Naval Aircraft facility located on the water on the Western side of St. Inigoes. Several archeological digs have been conducted but

1536-512: Is furthered by a more harmonious relationship between interlocutors." Although Erasmus did not oppose the punishment of heretics, in individual cases he generally argued for moderation and against the death penalty. He wrote, "It is better to cure a sick man than to kill him." Saint Thomas More (1478–1535), Catholic Lord Chancellor of King Henry VIII and author, described a world of almost complete religious toleration in Utopia (1516), in which

1632-709: The Council of Constance in 1414, presented a thesis, Tractatus de potestate papae et respectu infidelium (Treatise on the Power of the Pope and the Emperor Respecting Infidels). In it he argued that pagan and Christian nations could coexist in peace and criticized the Teutonic Order for its wars of conquest of native non-Christian peoples in Prussia and Lithuania. Vladimiri strongly supported

1728-616: The Diet of Worms (1521), Martin Luther refused to recant his beliefs citing freedom of conscience as his justification. According to Historian Hermann August Winkler, the individual's freedom of conscience became the hallmark of Protestantism . Luther was convinced that faith in Jesus Christ was the free gift of the Holy Spirit and could therefore not be forced on a person. Heresies could not be met with force, but with preaching

1824-491: The Edict of Torda decreeing religious toleration of all Christian denominations except Romanian Orthodoxy . It did not apply to Jews or Muslims but was nevertheless an extraordinary achievement of religious tolerance by the standards of 16th-century Europe. In 1571, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II granted religious toleration to the nobles of Lower Austria, their families and workers. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had

1920-574: The General Court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts . In 1638, the Assembly forced him to govern according to the common law of England , and subsequently the right to initiate legislation passed to the new General Assembly , representing the common "freeholders" (owners of freehold property) as subjects of the Crown. In 1638, Calvert seized a trading post at Kent Island established by

2016-710: The Maryland Toleration Act , also known as the Act Concerning Religion, a law mandating religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians only (excluding Nontrinitarian faiths). Passed on September 21, 1649 by the assembly of the Maryland colony, it was the first law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies. The Calvert family sought enactment of the law to protect Catholic settlers and some of

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2112-537: The Protestant Reformation began discussion of the circumstances under which dissenting religious thought should be permitted. Toleration "as a government-sanctioned practice" in Christian countries, "the sense on which most discussion of the phenomenon relies—is not attested before the sixteenth century". Centuries of Roman Catholic intoleration of other faiths was exemplified by Unam sanctam ,

2208-821: The Protestant Revolution in Maryland. As the first law on religious tolerance in the British North America, it influenced related laws in other colonies and portions of it were echoed in the writing of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution , which enshrined religious freedom in American law. The Province of Maryland was founded by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore in 1634. Like his father George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore , who had originated

2304-544: The Trinity . The law was very explicit in limiting its effects to Christians: ... no person or persons ... professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be anyways troubled, Molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within this Province ... Settlers who blasphemed by denying the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus Christ could be punished by execution or

2400-516: The Wars of Religion . Montaigne's theory of skepticism led to the conclusion that we cannot precipitously decide the error of others' views. Montaigne wrote in his famous "Essais": "It is putting a very high value on one's conjectures, to have a man roasted alive because of them...To kill people, there must be sharp and brilliant clarity." In 1568, King John II Sigismund of Hungary, encouraged by his Unitarian Minister Francis David (Dávid Ferenc), issued

2496-545: The gospel revealed in the Bible. Luther: "Heretics should not be overcome with fire, but with written sermons." In Luther's view, the worldly authorities were entitled to expel heretics. Only if they undermine the public order, should they be executed. Later proponents of tolerance such as Sebastian Franck and Sebastian Castellio cited Luther's position. He had overcome, at least for the Protestant territories and countries,

2592-539: The "weeds" (heretics) in the world, because civil persecution often inadvertently hurts the "wheat" (believers) too. Instead, Williams believed it was God's duty to judge in the end, not man's. This parable lent further support to Williams' belief in a wall of separation between church and state as described in his 1644 book, The Bloody Tenent of Persecution . In the Middle Ages , there were instances of toleration of particular groups. The Latin concept tolerantia

2688-502: The 19th century, Western intellectuals and spiritualists have viewed Buddhism as an unusually tolerant faith. James Freeman Clarke said in Ten Great Religions (1871) that "Buddhists have founded no Inquisition; they have combined the zeal which converted kingdoms with a toleration almost inexplicable to our Western experience." Bhikkhu Bodhi , an American-born Buddhist convert, stated: Buddhist tolerance springs from

2784-684: The Antichrist. Some Anglicans also opposed the law, believing that the Church of England should be the colony's sole established church. In 1654, five years after its passage, the Act was repealed. Two years earlier the colony had been seized by Protestants following the execution of King Charles I of England and the outbreak of the English Civil War . In the early stages of that conflict, the colonial assembly of Maryland and its neighbors in Virginia had publicly declared their support for

2880-676: The British Act of Toleration of 1689 , the Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania , and laws concerning religion in other colonies such as South Carolina , may have been influenced by its example. According to historian Robert Brugger, "...the measure marked a notable departure from Old World oppression." It was not until the passage of the signed First Amendment to the Constitution over a century later that religious freedom

2976-471: The Catholic Proprietor. Calvert was soon forced to flee southward to Virginia . He returned at the head of an armed force in 1646 and reasserted proprietarial rule. Leonard Calvert died of an illness in the summer of 1647. Before he died, he wrote a will naming Margaret Brent (the sister of Giles and a future, historically famous planter, lawyer, and female advocate for women's rights) as

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3072-487: The Catholics to practice their faith as privately as possible, so as not to disturb that peace. The Ordinance of 1639, Maryland's earliest comprehensive law, expressed a general commitment to the rights of man, but did not specifically detail protections for religious minorities of any kind. Peace prevailed until the English Civil War , which opened religious rifts and threatened Calvert's control of Maryland. In 1647, after

3168-449: The Church of England such as Baptists and Congregationalists. They were allowed their own places of worship and their own teachers, if they accepted certain oaths of allegiance. The Act, however, did not apply to Catholics and non-trinitarians, and continued the existing social and political disabilities of Dissenters, including their exclusion from political office and from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge . François-Marie Arouet,

3264-594: The Dominicans of Cologne, to confiscate all religious texts from the Jews as a first step towards their forcible conversion to the Catholic religion. Despite occasional spontaneous episodes of pogroms and killings, as during the Black Death, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a relatively tolerant home for the Jews in the medieval period. In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz guaranteed safety, personal liberties, freedom of religion , trade, and travel to Jews. By

3360-551: The French writer, historian and philosopher known as Voltaire (1694–1778) published his Treatise on Toleration in 1763. In it he attacked religious views, but also said, "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of

3456-699: The King. Parliament appointed Protestant commissioners loyal to their cause to subdue the colonies, and two of them, the Virginian William Claiborne and Puritan leader Richard Bennett , took control of the colonial government in St. Mary's City in 1652. In addition to repealing the Maryland Toleration Act with the assistance of Protestant assemblymen, Claiborne and Bennett passed a new law barring Catholics from openly practicing their religion. Calvert regained control after making

3552-559: The Tares , which speaks of the difficulty of distinguishing wheat from weeds before harvest time, has also been invoked in support of religious toleration. In his "Letter to Bishop Roger of Chalons", Bishop Wazo of Liege (c. 985–1048) relied on the parable to argue that "the church should let dissent grow with orthodoxy until the Lord comes to separate and judge them". Roger Williams used this parable to support government toleration of all of

3648-466: The United States. The Calvert family, who founded Maryland partly as a refuge for English Catholics , sought enactment of the law to protect Catholic settlers and those of other religions that did not conform to the dominant Anglicanism of Britain and her colonies. The Act allowed freedom of worship for all Trinitarian Christians in Maryland , but sentenced to death anyone who denied

3744-519: The Utopians "can hold various religious beliefs without persecution from the authorities." However, More's work is subject to various interpretations, and it is not clear that he felt that earthly society should be conducted the same way as in Utopia. Thus, in his three years as Lord Chancellor, More actively approved of the persecution of those who sought to undermine the Catholic faith in England. At

3840-514: The Virginian William Claiborne . In 1643, Governor Calvert went to England to discuss policies with his brother Lord Baltimore, the proprietor, leaving the affairs of the colony in charge of acting Governor Giles Brent , his brother-in-law (he had married Ann Brent, daughter of Richard Brent). Calvert returned to Maryland in 1644 with a new wife and children (William, born in 1643, and a daughter, Anne, born in 1644). That same year, Claiborne returned and led an uprising of Maryland Protestants against

3936-429: The bill, now usually referred to as the Toleration Act, granted freedom of conscience to all Christians. (The colony which became Rhode Island passed a series of laws, the first in 1636, which prohibited religious persecution including against non-Trinitarians; Rhode Island was also the first government to separate church and state.) Historians argue that it helped inspire later legal protections for freedom of religion in

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4032-545: The bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist". A passage Locke later added to An Essay Concerning Human Understanding questioned whether atheism was necessarily inimical to political obedience. Pierre Bayle (1647–1706) was a French Protestant scholar and philosopher who went into exile in Holland. In his " Dictionnaire Historique et Critique " and "Commentaire Philosophique" he advanced arguments for religious toleration (though, like some others of his time, he

4128-453: The bonds of peace, pending the day when we shall attain unity of faith." Castellio is remembered for the often quoted statement, "To kill a man is not to protect a doctrine, but it is to kill a man. Jean Bodin (1530–1596) was a French Catholic jurist and political philosopher. His Latin work Colloquium heptaplomeres de rerum sublimium arcanis abditis ("The Colloqium of the Seven") portrays

4224-582: The city provided "a useful example of what we might think of as the imperial version of multiculturalism." Before Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire , it encouraged conquered peoples to continue worshipping their own gods. "An important part of Roman propaganda was its invitation to the gods of conquered territories to enjoy the benefits of worship within the imperium ." Christians were singled out for persecution because of their own rejection of Roman pantheism and refusal to honor

4320-444: The colonial assembly was dominated by Protestants, and the law was in effect an act of Protestant tolerance for Catholics, rather than the reverse. From Maryland's earliest days, Cecil Calvert had enjoined its colonists to leave religious rivalries behind. Along with giving instructions on the establishment and defense of the colony, he asked the men he appointed to lead it to ensure peace between Protestants and Catholics. He also asked

4416-425: The colony and the title upon the death of their father George, April 15, 1632, appointed Leonard as governor of the Colony in his absence. Leonard Calvert was born in England to George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore and his wife Anne Mynne, and was named in honor of his paternal grandfather, Leonard Calvert of Yorkshire . In 1625, when Calvert's father was created Lord Baltimore and received letters patent for

4512-539: The colony established the Church of England as its official church in 1702 and explicitly barred Catholics from voting in 1718. The Calvert family regained control over the colony in 1715, but only after Benedict Calvert converted to Protestantism. His political control remained tense enough that he did not risk an attempt to reinstate protections for Catholics. It took until the era of the American Revolution for religious tolerance or freedom to again become

4608-536: The concept. A distinction began to develop between civil tolerance , concerned with "the policy of the state towards religious dissent"., and ecclesiastical tolerance , concerned with the degree of diversity tolerated within a particular church. John Milton (1608–1674), English Protestant poet and essayist, called in the Areopagitica for "the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties" (applied, however, only to

4704-465: The conflicting Protestant denominations, and not to atheists, Jews, Muslims or even Catholics). "Milton argued for disestablishment as the only effective way of achieving broad toleration. Rather than force a man's conscience, government should recognize the persuasive force of the gospel." In 1609, Rudolph II decreed religious toleration in Bohemia . In 1636, Roger Williams and companions at

4800-759: The contrary endeavoring each to crush and destroy the other by methods of Persecution. In a word, all the Mischief arises not from Toleration, but from the want of it." Following the Glorious Revolution , when the Dutch king William came to the English throne, the Toleration Act 1688 adopted by the English Parliament allowed freedom of worship to Nonconformists who had pledged to the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and rejected transubstantiation . The Nonconformists were Protestants who dissented from

4896-424: The creation of a Province of Avalon in the island of Newfoundland from James I of England , he relocated part of his newly converted Catholic family to Newfoundland. Leonard Calvert accompanied his father to the new colony of Newfoundland in 1628. The colony ultimately failed due to disease, extreme cold, and attacks by the French, and the family returned to England. After a few years, Baltimore declared Avalon

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4992-434: The death of Governor Leonard Calvert , Protestants seized control of the colony. Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, quickly regained power, but recognized that religious tolerance not specifically enshrined in law was vulnerable. This recognition was combined with the arrival of a group of Puritans whom Calvert had induced to establish Providence, now Annapolis , by guaranteeing their freedom of worship. Partially to confirm

5088-408: The disease also flourished in areas where there were no Jews. Christians who blamed and killed Jews had been "seduced by that liar, the Devil". He took Jews under his personal protection at Avignon , but his calls for other clergy to do so failed to be heeded. Johann Reuchlin (1455–1522) was a German humanist and a scholar of Greek and Hebrew who opposed efforts by Johannes Pfefferkorn , backed by

5184-496: The divine everywhere and in every way in accordance with our ancestral traditions, but also force all others to honour it. Those who attempt to distort our religion with strange rites you should hate and punish, not only for the sake of the gods … but also because such people, by bringing in new divinities, persuade many folks to adopt foreign practices, which lead to conspiracies, revolts, and factions, which are entirely unsuitable for monarch". In 311 CE, Roman Emperor Galerius issued

5280-408: The divinity of Jesus . It was revoked in 1654 by William Claiborne , a Virginian who had been appointed as a commissioner by Oliver Cromwell ; he was an Anglican, a Puritan sympathizer, and strongly hostile to the Catholic Religion. When the Calverts regained control of Maryland, the Act was reinstated, before being repealed permanently in 1692 following the events of the Glorious Revolution , and

5376-401: The earliest chronicler of the colony's history. But whatever Calvert's intentions, Maryland was a colony of an Anglican nation. Its charter had been granted by an Anglican king and seems to have assumed that the Church of England would be its official church. Eventually, Anglican and Puritan newcomers quickly came to outnumber the early Catholic settlers. Thus, by 1649 when the law was passed,

5472-431: The efforts that led to the colony's charter, he was Catholic at a time when the Kingdom of England was dominated by the Church of England . The Calverts intended the colony to function both as a haven for English Catholics fleeing religious persecution and as a source of income for themselves and their descendants. Many of Maryland's first settlers were Catholic, including at least two Catholic priests, one of whom became

5568-417: The emperor as a god. There were some other groups that found themselves to be exceptions to Roman tolerance, such as the Druids , the early followers of the cult of Isis , the Bacchanals , the Manichaens and the priests of Cybele , and Temple Judaism was also suppressed. In the early 3rd century, Cassius Dio outlined the Roman imperial policy towards religious tolerance: You should not only worship

5664-450: The executor of his estate. Calvert also named his friend and fellow passenger aboard The Ark and The Dove , Thomas Greene , as his successor to the governorship. In 1890, the State of Maryland erected an obelisk monument to Calvert and his wife at Historic St. Mary's City which had a historical district created to commemorate the colonial origins of the colony. The location of Leonard Calvert's grave has been lost to history, but there

5760-508: The foundation of Rhode Island entered into a compact binding themselves "to be obedient to the majority only in civil things". Williams spoke of "democracie or popular government." Lucian Johnston writes, "Williams' intention was to grant an infinitely greater religious liberty than what existed anywhere in the world outside of the Colony of Maryland." In 1663, Charles II granted the colony a charter guaranteeing complete religious toleration. Also in 1636, Congregationalist Thomas Hooker and

5856-443: The idea of conciliarism and pioneered the notion of peaceful coexistence among nations—a forerunner of modern theories of human rights . Throughout his political, diplomatic and university career, he expressed the view that a world guided by the principles of peace and mutual respect among nations was possible and that pagan nations had a right to peace and to possession of their own lands. Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (1466–1536),

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5952-457: The key to a well-functioning civil society, Locke argued that more religious groups actually prevent civil unrest. In his opinion, civil unrest results from confrontations caused by any magistrate's attempt to prevent different religions from being practiced, rather than tolerating their proliferation. However, Locke denies religious tolerance for Catholics, for political reasons, and also for atheists because "Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are

6048-423: The mid-16th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was home to 80% of the world's Jewish population. Jewish worship was officially recognized, with a Chief Rabbi originally appointed by the monarch. Jewish property ownership was also protected for much of the period, and Jews entered into business partnerships with members of the nobility. Paulus Vladimiri (c. 1370–1435) was a Polish scholar and rector who at

6144-411: The more readily accept them with full confidence and conviction." English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) published A Letter Concerning Toleration in 1689. Locke's work appeared amidst a fear that Catholicism might be taking over England, and responds to the problem of religion and government by proposing religious toleration as the answer. Unlike Thomas Hobbes , who saw uniformity of religion as

6240-403: The mouths of the intersecting James , Nansemond , and Elizabeth Rivers , in the colony of Virginia on February 24, 1634 (also later the site of the cities of Norfolk , Portsmouth and Virginia Beach on the south side and Newport News and Hampton on the northern peninsula). After exploring the area, a few weeks later they sailed up the Potomac River , north of the Virginia shoreline and

6336-528: The other denominations that did not conform to the dominant Anglicanism of England and her colonies. In 1657, New Amsterdam , governed by Dutch Calvinists , granted religious toleration to Jews. They had fled from Portuguese persecution in Brazil. In the Province of Pennsylvania , William Penn and his fellow Quakers heavily imprinted their religious values of toleration on the Pennsylvania government. The Pennsylvania 1701 Charter of Privileges extended religious freedom to all monotheists, and government

6432-420: The point where the Potomac meets the Bay at what is now St. Mary's City , then the site of a Native American village of the Yaocomico branch of the Piscataway tribe , whom the paramount chief had moved away to accommodate the new English settlers, so as to take advantage of the trading opportunities of their more powerful technology: industries, weapons and implements, and they began the work of establishing

6528-435: The practice in Maryland. While the law did not secure religious freedom, and while it included severe limitations, it was nonetheless a significant milestone. It predates the Enlightenment , which is generally considered to be when the idea of religious freedom took root, and stands as the first legal guarantee of religious tolerance in American and British history. Later laws ensuring religious tolerance and freedom, including

6624-413: The promises he made to them, Calvert wrote the Maryland Toleration Act and encouraged the colonial assembly to pass it. They did so on April 21, 1649. The Maryland Toleration Act was an act of tolerance, allowing specific religious groups to practice their religion without being punished, but retaining the ability to revoke that right at any time. It also granted tolerance to only Christians who believed in

6720-414: The recognition that the dispositions and spiritual needs of human beings are too vastly diverse to be encompassed by any single teaching, and thus that these needs will naturally find expression in a wide variety of religious forms. The Edicts of Ashoka issued by King Ashoka the Great (269–231 BCE), a Buddhist, declared ethnic and religious tolerance. His Edict in the 12th main stone writing of Girnar on

6816-462: The reinstatement of their civil rights, including the right to work in any field or for the State, and to bring grievances directly to the king. The edict marked the end of the religious wars in France that tore apart the population during the second half of the 16th century. The Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685 by King Louis XIV with the Edict of Fontainebleau , leading to renewed persecution of Protestants in France. Although strict enforcement of

6912-538: The restoration of the sacred places of various cities. In the Old Testament , Cyrus was said to have released the Jews from the Babylonian captivity in 539–530 BCE, and permitted their return to their homeland. The Hellenistic city of Alexandria , founded 331 BCE, contained a large Jewish community which lived in peace with equivalently sized Greek and Egyptian populations. According to Michael Walzer ,

7008-495: The revocation was relaxed during the reign of Louis XV , it was not until 102 years later, in 1787, when Louis XVI signed the Edict of Versailles —known as the Edict of Tolerance —that civil status and rights to form congregations by Protestants were restored. Beginning in the Enlightenment commencing in the 1600s, politicians and commentators began formulating theories of religious toleration and basing legal codes on

7104-463: The same father and creatures of the same God?" On the other hand, Voltaire in his writings on religion was spiteful and intolerant of the practice of the Christian religion, and Orthodox rabbi Joseph Telushkin has claimed that the most significant of Enlightenment hostility against Judaism was found in Voltaire. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), German dramatist and philosopher, trusted in

7200-467: The second Lord Baltimore , received from the king the charter for the colony of Maryland that his father had negotiated. The charter consisted of 23 sections, but the most important conferred on Lord Baltimore and his heirs, besides the right of absolute ownership in the soil, certain powers, ecclesiastical as well as civil, resembling those possessed by the nobility of the Middle Ages. Leonard Calvert

7296-498: The seizure of their lands. That meant that Jews , Unitarians , and other dissenters from Trinitarian Christianity who practiced their religions risked their lives. Any person who insulted the Virgin Mary , the apostles , or the evangelists could be whipped, jailed, or fined. Otherwise, Trinitarian Christians' right to worship was protected. The law outlawed the use of "heretic" and other religious insults against them. The law

7392-417: The southern border of their new colony and landed on the northern shore at Blakistone Island (later renamed St. Clement's Island ) on March 25, 1634, erected a large cross, gave thanks and celebrated a Mass with Fr Andrew White who had accompanied them (later to be celebrated as " Maryland Day ", an official state and local holiday). Two days later, on March 27, they returned further south down-river near

7488-473: The supposed grave has not been discovered. Members of the Calvert family in the settlement were known to be buried in lead coffins. It is not known if this is how Leonard Calvert was buried. His death, due to disease, happened suddenly and unexpectedly after a period of religious warfare had wracked the colony. Soon after his death, one of the first laws requiring religious tolerance was written and enacted in

7584-458: The suppression of this freedom", and defending, "as a political ideal, the tolerant, secular, and democratic polity". After interpreting certain Biblical texts , Spinoza opted for tolerance and freedom of thought in his conclusion that "every person is in duty bound to adapt these religious dogmas to his own understanding and to interpret them for himself in whatever way makes him feel that he can

7680-624: The third century BCE which state that "Kings accepted religious tolerance and that Emperor Ashoka maintained that no one would consider his / her is to be superior to other and rather would follow a path of unity by accuring the essence of other religions". However, Buddhism has also had controversies regarding toleration. In addition, the question of possible intolerance among Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, primarily against Muslims, has been raised by Paul Fuller. The books of Exodus , Leviticus and Deuteronomy make similar statements about

7776-535: The three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each son believes he has the one true ring passed down by their father, but judgment on which is correct is reserved to God. Leonard Calvert Leonard Calvert (1606 – June 9, 1647) was the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland . He was the second son of The 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), the first proprietor of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil (1605–1675), who inherited

7872-457: The treatment of strangers. For example, Exodus 22:21 says: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt". These texts are frequently used in sermons to plead for compassion and tolerance of those who are different from us and less powerful. Julia Kristeva elucidated a philosophy of political and religious toleration based on all of our mutual identities as strangers. The New Testament Parable of

7968-585: The violent medieval criminal procedures of dealing with heretics. But Luther remained rooted in the Middle Ages insofar as he considered the Anabaptists ' refusal to take oaths, do military service, and the rejection of private property by some Anabaptist groups to be a political threat to the public order which would inevitably lead to anarchy and chaos. So Anabaptists were persecuted not only in Catholic but also in Lutheran and Reformed territories. However,

8064-519: The ways in which such a paradoxical concept has developed into a guiding one, illuminates its contemporary use as political, social, religious, and ethnic, applying to LGBT individuals and other minorities, and other connected concepts such as human rights . Religious toleration has been described as a "remarkable feature" of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Cyrus the Great assisted in

8160-563: Was a "highly-developed political and judicial concept in medieval scholastic theology and canon law." Tolerantia was used to "denote the self-restraint of a civil power in the face of" outsiders, like infidels, Muslims or Jews, but also in the face of social groups like prostitutes and lepers. Heretics such as the Cathari , Waldensians , Jan Hus , and his followers, the Hussites , were persecuted. Later theologians belonging or reacting to

8256-481: Was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic whose works laid a foundation for religious toleration. For example, in De libero arbitrio , opposing certain views of Martin Luther , Erasmus noted that religious disputants should be temperate in their language, "because in this way the truth, which is often lost amidst too much wrangling may be more surely perceived." Gary Remer writes, "Like Cicero , Erasmus concludes that truth

8352-583: Was a French Protestant theologian who in 1554 published under a pseudonym the pamphlet Whether heretics should be persecuted (De haereticis, an sint persequendi) criticizing John Calvin 's execution of Michael Servetus : "When Servetus fought with reasons and writings, he should have been repulsed by reasons and writings." Castellio concluded: "We can live together peacefully only when we control our intolerance. Even though there will always be differences of opinion from time to time, we can at any rate come to general understandings, can love one another, and can enter

8448-633: Was an everyday occurrence in the rest of Europe. The Warsaw Confederation was a private compact signed by representatives of all the major religions in Polish and Lithuanian society, in which they pledged each other mutual support and tolerance. The confederation was incorporated into the Henrican articles , which constituted a virtual Polish–Lithuanian constitution. The Edict of Nantes , issued on April 13, 1598, by Henry IV of France , granted Protestants—notably Calvinist Huguenots —substantial rights in

8544-468: Was appointed by his brother as the colony's first governor . Two vessels, The Ark and The Dove , carrying over 300 settlers, sailed from the harbour of Cowes , England , on November 22, 1633, arriving at just inside the huge harbor and bay (later to be named " Hampton Roads ") at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay , between Cape Charles and Cape Henry and passed off " Point Comfort " at

8640-454: Was enshrined as a fundamental guarantee, but even that document echoes the Toleration Act in its use of the phrase, "free exercise thereof". Thus, despite its lack of a full guarantee of religious freedom or broad-based tolerance, the law is "a significant step forward in the struggle for religious liberty." Religious tolerance An overview of the history of toleration and different cultures in which toleration has been practiced, and

8736-554: Was given full citizenship as a condition of the restoration of Calvert's rule following the English Civil War. The law had its detractors, even among those groups protected by it. Puritans were concerned that the act and the proprietary government in general were royalist. They were also concerned that by swearing allegiance to Calvert, who was Catholic, they were being required to submit to the Pope , whom they considered to be

8832-515: Was not a case of church discipline but a criminal procedure based on the legal code of the Holy Roman Empire . Denying the Trinity doctrine was long considered to be the same as atheism in all churches. The Anabaptists made a considerable contribution to the development of tolerance in the early-modern era by incessantly demanding freedom of conscience and standing up for it with their patient suffering. Sebastian Castellio (1515–1563)

8928-400: Was not anxious to extend the same protection to Catholics he would to differing Protestant sects). Among his arguments were that every church believes it is the right one so "a heretical church would be in a position to persecute the true church". Bayle wrote that "the erroneous conscience procures for error the same rights and privileges that the orthodox conscience procures for truth." Bayle

9024-565: Was open to all Christians. Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. He published the Theological-Political Treatise anonymously in 1670, arguing (according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) that "the freedom to philosophize can not only be granted without injury to piety and the peace of the Commonwealth, but that the peace of the Commonwealth and Piety are endangered by

9120-687: Was repelled by the use of scripture to justify coercion and violence: "One must transcribe almost the whole New Testament to collect all the Proofs it affords us of that Gentleness and Long-suffering, which constitute the distinguishing and essential Character of the Gospel." He did not regard toleration as a danger to the state, but to the contrary: "If the Multiplicity of Religions prejudices the State, it proceeds from their not bearing with one another but on

9216-485: Was used in at least one attempt to prosecute a non-Christian. In 1658, a Jew named Jacob Lumbrozo was accused of blasphemy after saying that Jesus was not the son of God and that the miracles described in the New Testament were conjuring tricks. Lumbrozo did not deny having said such things but argued that he had only responded to questions asked of him. He was held for trial, but the case was later dismissed, and he

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