Written by Thomas Jefferson and commemorated on his tombstone, the Article of Religious Freedom was passed by the Virginia Assembly on Jan. 16, 1786. It states:
"Almighty God hath created the mind free, and ... all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments ... tend only to begat habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almightypower to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone."