The day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it

Hear, O listeners, the words of Robert Jackson, a voice of justice in the highest court of the land, who proclaimed: “The day that this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion.” This saying is not the idle phrase of a jurist, but a warning carved in the bedrock of liberty. It tells us that freedom cannot be divided; that if one man is denied the right to believe nothing, another will soon be denied the right to believe anything. Freedom, like the air we breathe, must be granted to all, lest it be poisoned for all.

The origin of this truth comes from Jackson’s role as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, where he weighed matters of conscience and state. He had seen in the world beyond America what happens when governments demand uniformity of belief: tyranny arises, and both faith and doubt are shackled together. By speaking these words, Jackson reminded his people that liberty is a fragile treasure. To preserve it, one must protect not only the faith of the many, but the skepticism of the few, for both are bound together in the same destiny.

Consider the wisdom in this paradox: the safeguard of religion is found not in crushing irreligion, but in protecting it. For if the state can silence the skeptic, it can also silence the saint. If it can punish unbelief, it can one day dictate belief. Freedom of conscience is not a selective gift but a universal right, and only when extended universally does it endure. This is the essence of Jackson’s warning, that liberty divided is liberty destroyed.

History offers a stern example. In the old kingdoms of Europe, where faith was enforced by sword and decree, dissenters of every kind—whether they denied the church or followed a different path—were hunted, tortured, or burned. Yet such suppression did not strengthen faith; it hollowed it, turning devotion into fear and ritual into chains. By contrast, in the new land of America, where freedom was granted to worship or not worship, religion thrived, finding power in choice rather than compulsion. Thus we see that the liberty of the unbeliever and the liberty of the believer are not enemies but allies.

Reflect also upon the tyrannies of the twentieth century. In lands where ideology replaced faith, the state demanded absolute loyalty, crushing all independent thought. Both priest and atheist alike were silenced under the iron heel, for tyranny tolerates neither questioning nor devotion. Jackson’s words shine here with prophetic light: deny freedom to one, and soon freedom is denied to all. The sword that strikes at irreligion will not stop until it has struck at religion as well.

The lesson, then, is eternal. Guard the freedom of all consciences, not only your own. Defend the right of your neighbor to worship differently, or not at all, for in defending his liberty you safeguard your own. Do not be deceived by those who promise security by restricting another’s voice, for such security is an illusion. Freedom stands or falls as a whole; it cannot be halved, nor bartered, nor parceled out.

Practical wisdom shall guide you: listen without fear, even to those whose beliefs offend your own. Defend the rights of the few, even when you walk with the many. Resist any power that would enforce uniformity of conscience, whether it comes dressed in the robes of religion or the banners of irreligion. And above all, remember Jackson’s truth: that liberty, once divided, is soon lost entirely.

Thus let his words be carried like a torch: “The day this country ceases to be free for irreligion, it will cease to be free for religion.” For freedom is indivisible, and only in its fullness can nations and souls endure.