We explore real-life reformation here in this informed, online community.
The “Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom” was a law passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786 that protected the rights of its citizens to worship as they chose.
The bill was originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1779. Some years after the passage of the Statute, Jefferson wrote that during the earlier debate in the General Assembly there had been an effort to limit the protection to Christians. However, this effort was defeated, showing that, as Jefferson noted, “it’s protection of opinion was meant to be universal.” He wrote:
Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word “Jesus Christ,” so that it should read “a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion” the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of it’s [sic] protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.
-- Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson 1743 – 1790 (New York and London: G.P. Putnam’s and Sons, 1914), p. 71,
Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.
Psalm 116:15
Rod Dreher asks, "I don’t understand why the government doesn’t deploy the army and shoot rioters until they stop. Philippe Lemoine, a Frenchman, says it’s not that simple."
Excerpt:
"We have let things rot for so long that, at this point, relying primarily on force to restore order would require a degree of violence far greater than what people realize and what is politically feasible.
It's possible to contain a riot using only moderate force when the number of police officers is high relative to the number of rioters, but when riots are so widespread and involve so many people because you have allowed this kind of things to happen for so long, that's just not possible and you have to use extreme violence to make up for the lack of manpower.
I know people on the Internet will say that it doesn't matter and that we should just do it, but the reality is that most of the people in charge are not prepared to use that kind of force and neither would most ordinary people if they saw ...
Even Marine Le Pen’s recent statements track this line: personal Islamic practice is compatible with the Republic; replacing French law with Sharia is not. French Muslims who are simply citizens practicing their "religious faith" “have no reason to worry” about a Le Pen election victory.
But can one be a practicing Muslim without demanding and practicing Sharia?
