The story of American Religious tolerance

According to this article at the Smithsonian, America is not quite the bastion of religious freedom that it is so often portrayed to be, and it never was.

America can still be, as Madison perceived the nation in 1785, “an Asylum to the persecuted and oppressed of every Nation and Religion.” But recognizing that deep religious discord has been part of America’s social DNA is a healthy and necessary step. When we acknowledge that dark past, perhaps the nation will return to that “promised…lustre” of which Madison so grandiloquently wrote.

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Avatar of Jim Razinha
    Jim Razinha

    I've always had a problem with the word "tolerance" when used in the social sense and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized it's because it implies superiority. Like the people being tolerant can afford to because the tolerees can't help the way they are. Perhaps that's unfair, as most people don't even know that's how the come off, but then these are the people asking what the harm is in displaying one of the sets of ten commandments.

    I prefer "acceptance". One can still feel morally superior without seeming so.

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