““With its emphasis on stability and Christian unity, colonial Virginia was not a receptive place for religious dissenters. Catholic clergy were banned, and in 1640 the assembly required all officials to take an oath of allegiance and supremacy to the king and the Anglican church, effectively banning Catholics from office holding. Throughout the seventeenth century, colonial leaders harassed clergy and lay people with Puritan leanings. The assembly ordered all dissenters (Puritans) out of the colony in 1642, with Governor William Berkeley driving the more ardent believers from the colony several years later.””
![“There is no such thing as a Christian commonwealth…. [N]either Pagan nor [Muslim], nor Jew, ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the commonwealth because of his religion. John Locke, England, 1689” quote by Phyllis Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/638/phyllis-goldstein-7858_civil-rights_there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-christian-co_3195456.jpg)
