When the General Association met at Depuy's meetinghouse on the second Saturday in August 1775, the ferment in the colony of Virginia, as well as in the other colonies, in determining to resist the oppression of the political and religious establishment, produced a very favorable season for the Baptists. They were, to a man, in favor of any revolution by which they could obtain freedom of religion, having been ground under by Virginia's interpretation of toleration under British laws. They resolved at this session to circulate petitions to the Virginia Convention, or General Assembly, throughout the colony, asking that the state church establishment be abolished and that religious societies be protected in the peaceable enjoyment of their own religious principles and modes of worship.

May we never forget and may we pass on to our posterity that a vital part of our Baptist heritage involves religious liberty in America. Thanks be unto God for great statesmen, such as Madison, who were sensitive and knowledgeable of the needs of our oppressed forefathers and that they had the wisdom to devise or develop a constitution that has enabled us to evangelize our nation. May other peoples of the world be as blessed. God help us to be thankful and instill biblical principles of salvation and government into the hearts of future generations.

This Day in Baptist History, ©1993 by E. Wayne Thompson and David L. Cummins. Used by permission.

 

 

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