Maryland, the Land of Religious Liberty
By C. E. HOLMES
It is plainly taught by encyclicals of the popes that freedom to believe whatever the conscience dictates is a serious error. Whenever anything is said questioning the position of the Roman Church in regard to religious liberty, Catholics immediately refer to the early history of Maryland. It is claimed that Lord Baltimore, a Roman Catholic, was the first to give religious liberty in this country. As a contribution to this controversy, we quote the following statement from a man who was in a position to know whereof he spoke:— “Even in Maryland, so loudly praised for freedom of opinion in religion, this worse than Draconian code was enacted in 1649, in ‘An act concerning religion:’— “ ‘Be it ordained and enacted by the Right Honorable Cecilius, lord baron of Baltimore, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly, that whatsoever person within this province shall blaspheme God, that is, curse him, or shall deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to be the Sonne of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said three persons of the Trinity, or the Unity of the Godhead, or shall utter any reproachful speeches, words, or language concerning the said Holy Trinity, or any of the said three persons thereof, shall be punished with death, and confiscation of all his land and goods to the Lord Proprietor and his heires.’ “This act proceeds to provide that if any one shall disturb or molest any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of his religion, or the free exercise thereof, such offender shall pay treble damages to the person so wronged or molested, besides the sum of twenty shillings sterling in money, one half to the lord proprietor and the other half to the party wronged or molested. “Thus we find this so-called ‘act of toleration,’ which punished by fine any one who interfered with another’s free exercise of his religion, also punished with death any one who preferred to doubt the doctrine of the Trinity, or the Godhead of Christ. It gave religious freedom with one hand, and took it away with the other [italics mine]. Need we wonder that it was called by some ‘a cursed intolerable toleration’?”—Ainsworth R. Spafford, LL. D., librarian of Congressional Library (1864-97). Read before the Washington Academy of Sciences, April 15, 1899, and printed in the Proceedings Washington Academy of Science, January, 1900. Printed in the government report of the “Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Seat of Government in the District of Columbia, 1800-1900,” page 232.