Friday, July 3, 2015

To whom did Maryland's toleration act grant religious freedom?Please answer, asap. Thank you.

The short answer to this is that the Maryland Act of
Toleration gave religious freedom to all Christians but not to anyone
else.


This law was meant to protect the religious freedom
of various Christian sects.  Maryland was settled by Catholics wanting to escape
religious animosity in England.  They realized they would need Protestant settlers as
well in order to have a viable colony.  This was a major reason for the creation of the
Act of Toleration.


In this act, all Christians were given
religious freedom.  The act said that no one


readability="8">

... professing to beleive in Jesus Christ, shall
from henceforth bee any waies troubled, Molested or discountenanced for or in respect of
his or her religion...



This
protected the right of all Christians to believe and to worship as they
wished.


However, those who were not Christian were not
protected.  In fact, they were at least officially subject to the death penalty.  The
act said that anyone who would


readability="7">

... deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the
sonne of God, or shall deny the holy Trinity the father sonne and holy
Ghost...



would be subject to
penalties such as


readability="5">

... death and confiscation or forfeiture of all
his or her lands and
goods...



From this, it is
clear that religious toleration was extended only to Christians.

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