Brien Pittman

The men who fought the Revolution may have thanked Providence and attended church regularly—or not. But they also fought a war against a country in which the head of state was the head of the church. Knowing well the history of religious warfare that led to America’s settlement, they clearly understood both the dangers of that system and of sectarian conflict.

In newly independent America, there was a crazy quilt of state laws regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only Christians were allowed to hold public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing papal authority. In 1777, New York State’s constitution banned Catholics from public office (and would do so until 1806). In Maryland, Catholics had full civil rights, but Jews did not. Delaware required an oath affirming belief in the Trinity. Several states, including Massachusetts and South Carolina, had official, state-supported churches.

The real story of religion in America’s past is an often awkward, frequently embarrassing and occasionally bloody tale that most civics books and high-school texts either paper over or shunt to the side. And much of the recent conversation about America’s ideal of religious freedom has paid lip service to this comforting tableau.

A separation of Church and State was a cornerstone of their vision for this country, ensuring the biases of the dominant ideology, whichever it might be, could not hinder the State’s ability to effectively govern a nation comprised of many different cultural and religious backgrounds. Our First Amendment rights, which include the freedom of religion, allows us to worship however we see fit. But it also ensures the freedom from religion — an individual’s right to refuse any unwanted religious ideology or denomination.

Last month the world stopped turning to focus on the recent debut of Caitlyn Jenner, who took a bold step in announcing her completed transition into the woman she always felt she was

Our Pledge of Allegiance was written a full 116 years after the Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence. The phrase “Under God” wasn’t even in the original text of our pledge: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Instead of allowing others to manipulatively interpret our lives, our gods, our spirituality and our religious beliefs—interpretations that are much too small, elitist, repressive and oppressive—we must assume responsibility for interpreting them ourselves.