On Jan. 16, 1786, the General Assembly passed the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson, which stated that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” This was the forerunner of the religious protections that were later enshrined in the First Amendment, whose “free exercise” clause guarantees all Americans both the right and the freedom to follow their consciences in matters of religion in both their public and private lives. But every so often, that lesson has to be relearned, as recently happened in Fredericksburg to retired Lutheran minister Ken Hauge and his wife, Liv, both in their mid-80s. In July 2018, the Hauges were shocked to receive an eviction notice for holding a nondenominational Bible study in their two-bedroom apartment at the Evergreens at Smith Run, and […]
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