Question

Which best expresses the explicit meaning of this excerpt from Jefferson’s Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom?

Answer 1

When the State enforces religious beliefs, individual legislators inevitably favor their own beliefs at the expense of others.

Answer 2

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a state law on religious freedom in what was then the colony of Virginia, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1777. Initially rejected by the Virginia General Assembly in 1779, it became law in 1786 at the instigation of James Madison.

For Jefferson and Madison it was important, among other things, that followers of the dominant faith were free to decide to what extent they supported their religious community financially.

The law said that no one might be forced to participate in religious acts or pay church tax; everyone could confess their faith and use arguments to promote them; and no one might be favored or discriminated against by the state due to its confession.