In an essay for RealClearPublicAffairs' 1776 series, Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and a Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, explores the Founders' understanding of religious liberty and how this should influence contemporary debates on the subject. Muñoz describes how, despite popular belief, "freedom from religion and the freedom to practice one’s religion are, in fact, both aspects of the Founders’ understanding" of religious liberty. Ultimately, he concludes that the Founders' "more modest" approach to resolving issues of religious liberty should be pursued given the polarized nature of our politics.

Some excerpts from the piece:

"The Founders have much to teach us, but the lessons they offer do not neatly fit into our current political categories. Freedom from religion and the freedom to practice one’s religion are, in fact, both aspects of the Founders’ understanding of our inalienable natural right of religious liberty."

"For the Founders, the right of religious liberty imposes limits on the state’s authority. 'Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise' of religion because political authorities cannot legitimately exercise direct authority over religious exercises as such. For the Founders, 'no law' really means no law; since government lacks authority to regulate religious exercises or license ministers, it can never legitimately do so. The Founders understood the inalienable natural rights of religious liberty only to require the state to remain within its proper sphere. When it does so, legislation can affect religion in ways that religious citizens (just like other citizens) might find either advantageous or unwelcome."

"It’s possible that (the Founders') approach would only inflame more political disagreement, that religious and nonreligious citizens are so far apart that the best we can hope for is to vigorously assert one’s own conception of rights and defeat the other side in court. But that approach hasn’t worked well for anyone. For more than three generations, we’ve attempted to ignore the Founders’ wisdom on these questions. Given the current state of our partisan divisions, isn’t their approach worth another try?"

Read the full article here.