Thomas
Jefferson
wrote in
his
Autobiography,
1821:
"The
first
settlers
of
Virginia
were
Englishmen,
loyal
subjects
to their
King and
Church,
and the
grant to
Sir Walter
Raleigh
contained
an express
proviso
that their
laws
'should
not be
against
the true
Christian
faith, now
professed
in the
Church of
England.'"
Virginia,
so named
for the
"Virgin
Queen"
Elizabeth,
stated in
its 1st
Charter,
April 10,
1606:
"Greatly
commending...their
Desires
for the
Furtherance
of so
noble a
Work,
which may,
by the
Providence
of
Almighty
God,
hereafter
tend to
the Glory
of His
Divine
Majesty,
in
propagating
of
Christian
Religion
to such
People, as
yet live
in
Darkness
and
miserable
Ignorance
of the
true
Knowledge
and
Worship of
God."
On
APRIL 26,
1607,
English
settlers
landed at
the site
of Cape
Henry,
named for
Prince
Henry of
Wales.
Their
first act
was to
erect a
wooden
cross and
commence a
prayer
meeting.
They
ascended
the James
River,
named for
King
James, and
settled
Jamestown,
the first
permanent
English
settlement
in
America.
The
2nd
Charter of
Virginia,
May 23,
1609,
stated:
"The
principal
Effect
which we
can expect
or desire
of this
Action is
the
Conversion
and
reduction
of the
people in
those
parts unto
the true
worship of
God and
the
Christian
Religion...
It
shall be
necessary
for all
such our
loving
Subjects...to
live
together,
in the
Fear and
true
Worship of
Almighty
God,
Christian
Peace, and
civil
Quietness,
with each
other."
The
3rd
Charter of
Virginia,
March 12,
1611,
stated:
"Our
loving
Subjects...for
the
Propagation
of
Christian
Religion,
and
Reclaiming
of People
barbarous,
to
Civility
and
Humanity,
We
have...granted
unto
them...the
first
Colony in
Virginia."
The
Church of
England
was the
established
church in
Virginia
from 1606
till 1786,
though in
1699, the
Virginia
Assembly
did
adopted
William
and Mary's
statute
allowing
some
toleration
of
Protestant
dissenters.
James
Madison
wrote to
Robert
Walsh,
March 2,
1819:
"The
English
Church was
originally
the
established
religion...Of
other
sects
there were
but few
adherents,
except the
Presbyterians
who
predominated
on the
west side
of the
Blue
Mountains.
A
little
time
previous
to the
Revolutionary
struggle,
the
Baptists
sprang up,
and made
very rapid
progress...
At
present
the
population
is
divided,
with small
exceptions,
among the
Protestant
Episcopalians,
the
Presbyterians,
the
Baptists
and the
Methodists."
U.S.
Supreme
Court
Justice
Hugo
Lafayette
Black
wrote in
Engel v.
Vitale,
1962:
"As
late as
the time
of the
Revolutionary
War, there
were
established
Churches
in at
least
eight of
the
thirteen
former
colonies...
The
successful
Revolution
against
English
political
domination
was
shortly
followed
by intense
opposition...in
Virginia
where the
minority
religious
groups
such as
Presbyterians,
Lutherans,
Quakers
and
Baptists
had gained
such
strength...
In
1785-1786,
those
opposed to
the
established
Church...obtained
the
enactment
of the
famous
'Virginia
Bill for
Religious
Liberty'
by which
all
religious
groups
were
placed on
an equal
footing."
The
first
Catholic
Church in
Virginia,
St. Mary
Church,
was not
erected
until 1795
in
Alexandria,
and the
first
permanent
Jewish
synagogue,
Kehilah ha
Kadosh
Beth
Shalome,
was not
built
until 1820
in
Richmond.
