# Williamsburg Charter

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{{refimprove|date=May 2025}}
'''The Williamsburg Charter''' is a document that was drafted in 1986 to reaffirm the Religious Liberty clauses of the US Bill of Rights.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/1051253 |title= The Williamsburg Charter |last= |first= |date= 1990 |website= Jstor |publisher= Journal of Law and Religion, vol. 8, no. 1/2, pp. 5–22 |access-date= 24 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref>

The lead drafter was [Os Guinness](/source/Os_Guinness).<ref name=KU2>{{cite web |url= https://www.king.edu/about/office-of-the-president/honorary%20degrees/ |title= Honorary Degrees |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= King University |publisher= |access-date= 10 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref><ref name=OCCA1>{{cite web |url= https://theocca.org/author/os-guinness/?gad_source=5&gad_campaignid=23696937291&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6MCEn7DKkwMV75tQBh2e6iQGEAAYASAAEgLKhPD_BwE |title= Os Guinness |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics |publisher= |access-date= 10 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref> At the time he was the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Charter Foundation.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.gcc.edu/Home/News-Archive/News-Article/grove-city-welcomes-christian-thought-leader-os-guinness |title= Grove City welcomes Christian thought leader Os Guinness |last= |first= |date= 6 September 2016 |website= Grove City College |publisher= |access-date= 24 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://baylorlariat.com/2013/09/11/guinness-starr-chat-about-religious-freedom/ |title= Guinness, Starr chat about religious freedom |last= |first= |date= 11 September 2013 |website= Baylor News |publisher= |access-date= 24 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref>

The Charter was signed by almost 100 nationally prominent figures on June 22, 1988.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-25-me-4945-story.html |title= Leaders of Differing Views Agree on Religion Charter |last= Dart |first= John |date= 25 June 1988 |website= LA Times |publisher= |access-date= 24 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref> This was in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Virginia's call for a [Bill of Rights](/source/Bill_of_rights).{{cn|date=May 2025}} Among the signatories were Presidents [Gerald Ford](/source/Gerald_Ford) and [Jimmy Carter](/source/Jimmy_Carter); the late Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court [William Rehnquist](/source/William_Rehnquist); the late activist [Coretta Scott King](/source/Coretta_Scott_King) (wife of slain civil rights leader [Martin Luther King Jr.](/source/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.)) and [Focus on the Family](/source/Focus_on_the_Family) founder [James Dobson](/source/James_Dobson).<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> | date = 2022-01-25 | orig-date= 1988 |title= The Williamsburg Charter on the 1st Amendment (1988) |website= ReligiousTolerance.org |format= | location= |publisher= |url= https://www.religioustolerance.org/wil_burg.htm | url-status= usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220125041455/https://www.religioustolerance.org/wil_burg.htm |archive-date= 2022-01-25 |access-date= 26 May 2025 |via= |quote=| language= en}}{{primary source inline|date=May 2025}} Note, this is a web cover page to the full document, which is available from it, via links. This website itself contains neither the full text, nor the list of signatories.</ref> 

The document affirms the need for a lively and reasoned debate on the role of [religion](/source/religion) in the public life of the United States.{{editorializing|date=May 2025}}{{cn|date=May 2025}} 

Its primary focus is on the [Establishment Clause](/source/Establishment_Clause) and [Free Exercise Clause](/source/Free_Exercise_Clause), contained within the first amendment of the [United States Constitution](/source/United_States_Constitution).<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-and-religion/article/abs/williamsburg-charter-a-golden-rule-for-preserving-religious-freedom/5E240938271DEA60AE66350FB9E57B5B |title= The Williamsburg Charter: A Golden Rule for Preserving Religious Freedom |last= Flynn |first= W. J. |date= 1990 |website= Cambridge University Press |publisher= Journal of Law and Religion. 8(1-2):221-222. doi:10.2307/1051273 |access-date= 24 March 2026 |quote=}}</ref> The goal of the writers is to "affirm both their cardinal assumptions and the reasons for their crucial national importance".<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> | date = 1988 |title= The Williamsburg Charter, 1988 |website= CLCLibrary-org-works.angelfire.com |format= | location= |publisher= |url= https://clclibrary-org-works.angelfire.com/williamsbg.html |access-date= 26 May 2025 |via= |quote=| language= en}}{{primary source inline|date=May 2025}} Note, web page presents the full document and list of signatories, but it does not appear to be supported by the usual bona fides associated with quality publications. (The publishing organisation and its location, etc., are unknown, so the accurate rendering of the document is presently a matter of faith.)</ref>{{better source|date=May 2025}} 

The writers believe that the problems surrounding the religion clauses can only be solved by first understanding the nature of the clauses.{{says who|date=May 2025}} Among the points raised in the charter is that non-religious hostility towards religion is just as dangerous to a democracy as religious hostility towards non-religion or to other religions.{{or|date=May 2025}}{{cn|date=May 2025}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> | date = 2022-01-25 | orig-date= 1988 |title= The Williamsburg Charter on the 1st Amendment (1988) |website= ReligiousTolerance.org |format= | location= |publisher= |url= https://www.religioustolerance.org/wil_burg.htm | url-status= usurped |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220125041455/https://www.religioustolerance.org/wil_burg.htm |archive-date= 2022-01-25 |access-date= 26 May 2025 |via= |quote=| language= en}} Note, this is a web cover page to the full document, which is available from it, via links. This website itself contains neither the full text, nor the list of signatories.

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamsburg Charter, The}}
Category:Political charters
Category:United States documents
Category:1988 in American politics
Category:1986 documents
Category:1986 in religion

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Williamsburg Charter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg_Charter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg_Charter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.