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By DAN TELVOCK at The Fredericksburg Freelance Star

Marion Brooks Robinson was 6 years old when her father tried to explain to her the monument he had built in 1932 that symbolizes religious freedom.

St. Clair Brooks grabbed her by the hand and walked her to James Monroe High School, which is now Maury Stadium, to show her the stone monument that was later moved to its current location on Washington Avenue.

"I remember him showing me his handiwork and telling me he had been commissioned to build it to represent the fact that Thomas Jefferson and some other famous statesmen had met here in 1777 to draft the statute of religious freedom for the state of Virginia," she said to a crowd of about 150 people yesterday during Religious Freedom Day.

Together in cold weather but under a sunny sky, they celebrated the 232nd anniversary of the drafting of the statute. The Rappahannock Assembly of the Knights of Columbus hosted the event, with help from Knights Templar, St. Matthew's Catholic Church, Islamic Center of Fredericksburg and St. George's Episcopal Church, among others.

Her father's words meant very little to her at that age, so he tried again. He told her that the monument and the statute of religious freedom meant that all Americans are free to worship who, when and where they choose, and they could even choose not to worship, without any dictate from the state or federal government as to how they should live their religious lives.

"I remember translating it again into 6-year-old language, which meant that I could go to Falmouth Baptist Church with my mother and father or to St. George's Church with my cousin, which I was already doing both of, and I didn't even know I had Thomas Jefferson's approval of it," she said.

Robinson said that later in her life she came to understand the full scope and power of what Jefferson helped create.

"It is a freedom that we should hold very dear and pledge ourselves to uphold for the generations that follow us," she said.

Keynote speaker, Rep. Rob Wittman, the 1st District congressman, said the country was founded on the desire to have religious freedom, and Jefferson understood its importance.

"He made it his life's work to make sure we preserved our religious freedoms, and we understood the need for protecting our natural rights, those given to us by God," Wittman said.

Wittman said Jefferson's work on the statute was so important to the third president that it is listed on his epitaph. The statute facilitated the path to religious freedom for all Americans, and it was eventually included in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

"I encourage you, each and every day, to think about the effort that went into preserving our religious freedom and make sure you thank those men and women in uniform who are doing their job to make sure they protect the freedoms and liberties of this country, including our religious freedoms," Wittman said.

Date published: 1/12/2009

(copied with permission of FreeLance Star)