RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Despite evidence of some dissent, the Williamsburg Charter displays unity on religious liberty.
Two hundred years ago this summer, Virginia delegates meeting in the colonial capital of Williamsburg ratified the U.S. Constitution and called for provisions that would protect religious liberty. Those provisions became the substance of the First Amendment.
As part of the continuing festivities surrounding the bicentennial of the Constitution, several hundred people representing diverse sectors of American society gathered last month in Williamsburg for the “First Liberty Summit.”
The summit was convened by the Williamsburg Charter Foundation, a nonprofit, nonsectarian group formed last year to commemorate the Constitution’s religious liberty provisions. Central to the celebration was the Williamsburg Charter, a document that hails “the genius of the First Amendment,” while making assertions on the “place of religion in American life” and on how people of differing faiths (and no faith) “contend with each other’s deepest differences in the public sphere.”
Because input for the document came from people with varying—and often competing—political and religious beliefs, there were several revisions along the way to the final version. The introduction to the final product acknowledges “continuing differences” among participants. It states, “Signing this Charter implies no pretense that we believe the same things or that our differences over policy proposals, legal interpretations, and philosophical groundings do not ultimately matter.”
The 23-page document avoids pronouncements on divisive issues of the day, while outlining ten general areas of agreement, including:
• That religious liberty, or freedom of conscience, “is a precious, fundamental and inalienable right,”
• That religious liberty “is founded on the inviolable dignity of the person,” and “undergirds all other rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights,”
• That the “No Establishment” clause “separates church from state, but not religion from politics or public life,”
• That the “Free Exercise” clause “guarantees the right to reach, hold, exercise, or change beliefs freely,”
• That a “common vision must embrace a shared understanding of the place of religion in public life and of the guiding principles by which people with deep religious differences can contend robustly but civilly with each other,” and
• That rights “are best guarded—and responsibilities best exercised—when each person and group guards for all others those rights they wish guarded for themselves.”
Celebrating Unity
At a ceremony in front of the restored capitol building in Williamsburg, evangelist Billy Graham highlighted the importance of the First Amendment in an increasingly pluralistic society. Graham noted that “pluralism in America now goes beyond the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish to include other great world religions, such as Islam and Buddhism.” He emphasized that the First Amendment “guarantees freedom for all.”
Participants agreed that one of the most significant aspects of the Williamsburg Charter project was bringing together people who had previously been in the same room only when arguing on different sides of a court case or debate. Williamsburg Charter Foundation executive director Os Guinness said the effort to keep the coalition together became easier as participants overcame mutual suspicions and prejudices.
Representatives of the nation’s major faiths who signed the charter publicly during the ceremony included: Robert Dugan, National Association of Evangelicals; Arie Brouwer, National Council of Churches; James Dunn, Baptist Joint Committee; Samuel Rabinove, American Jewish Committee; Dallin Oaks, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and Warith Deen Muhammad, of the Muslim American Community. A representative of Archbishop John May of the U.S. Catholic Conference and representatives from Greek and other Eastern Orthodox churches also signed.
Among the more than 100 additional signatories of the document are: William Flynn, chief executive officer of Mutual America and chairman of the “First Liberty Summit” committee; Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis; former Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger; Chief Justice William Rehnquist; Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.); Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Oreg.); former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter; People for the American Way Chairman John Buchanan; Christian Legal Society Executive Director Samuel Ericsson; and Americans United for Separation of Church and State Executive Director Robert Maddox.
Hints Of Friction
Despite the wide-ranging consensus, however, not all of the original participants in the effort signed the final document, including conservative activist Tim LaHaye and representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union. Moral Majority Chairman Jerry Falwell was unable to attend the summit because of a schedule conflict. A spokesman said Falwell had not yet decided whether to sign.
Neither President Reagan nor likely Republican presidential candidate George Bush has signed, although Guinness said he is hopeful both will do so by the end of the year.
Interior Secretary Donald Hodel, an original member of the foundation’s board of trustees, resigned that position just prior to the summit and declined to sign the document. Hodel spokesman David Prosperi said Hodel had “found some ambiguities and uncertainties about … portions of the document which could not be clarified before the signing ceremony.” As a result, Prosperi said, Hodel “felt it inappropriate” to sign or participate further in any way. He declined to provide details of Hodel’s concerns about the document except to say that “some areas concerned [Hodel] with how they could be perceived in terms of the First Amendment.”
Though also declining to elaborate on Hodel’s concerns, Guinness called them unfounded but important. “If I shared them,” said Guinness, “I would have resigned as well.” Guinness stressed that the document is based solidly on the Constitution, pointing to the endorsements of Judge Robert Bork, former Chief Justice Burger, and current Chief Justice Rehnquist, in addition to those of several constitutional scholars and attorneys.
U.S. Sen. William Armstrong (R-Colo.) to date has also elected not to sign the document, although he has remained on the foundation’s board of trustees.
Despite the lack of unanimity, leaders of the project say they were pleased by the broad-based cooperation the effort produced. They believe that base will broaden even further in coming months. Before closing its doors on December 30, the foundation plans to sponsor a series of civic forums around the nation and to produce educational materials for use by churches, synagogues, and civic groups.
By Kim A. Lawton in Williamsburg.
