Charter of Virginia, 1606: Mission Is to Propagate Christian Religion

Texas recently had to undergo a long debate about including more of the religious history of our country in the history books their public schools would use. To some extent I suspect this was "push back" because many of our textbooks are leaving out some of that very important aspect of our founding and history. No matter what you think about "separation of church and state" or public prayer or influence of religious leaders in politics, surely there is no harm in teaching our children about the nature of our founding. Consider the following, which is part of the founding document of one of our earliest colonies:

The First Charter of Virginia; April 10, 1606

"We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government: DO, by these our Letters Patents, graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires..."



Read the entire document on the Yale Law site:

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/va01.asp