The University of Mary Washington commemorated the anniversary of the enactment of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom with a lecture by author and historian David L. Holmes. Holmes presented “Nothing Miraculous, All Things Ethical: A President and His Bible” on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.

David L. Holmes

Holmes, the Walter G. Mason Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the College of William & Mary, is a noted expert in American religious history. He is the author of “The Faiths of the Founding Fathers” and “The Faiths of the Postwar Presidents: From Truman to Obama.”

The UMW Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion has sponsored the annual Jefferson Lecture on Religious Freedom since 2002. The lecture brings a wide range of public figures and distinguished scholars to discuss the importance of religious freedom and the legacy of Jefferson’s ideas.

The Virginia General Assembly enacted Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Freedom on Jan. 16, 1786. The law established the legal right to complete freedom of worship in the Commonwealth of Virginia and was a significant step toward the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

For more information about the lecture, contact Craig Vasey, professor and chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion, at (540) 654-1342.