JANUARY 16

On this date it has become traditional for the American President to declare it Religious Freedom Day.  January 16 is the date that the Virginia General Assembly adopted Thomas Jefferson's famous Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom in 1786.  It was upon this statute that the First Amendment to our Constitution was based; to wit, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  

This year, the established day for honoring Martin Luther King Jr also falls on this date.  We will pay homage to both our great civil rights leader and a slave-holder's eloquent words which declared us a free people.  We can live with this dichotomy.  It is who we are - have been - always hope to be.
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