Yeah, absolutely, Liz. But they sure defined tolerance differently. Some states had laws requiring that tithes be paid, and supported churches in that way. There were, besides Deists, at least two different brands of Puritans (initially)--some of them coming over not so much to found a country based upon the principal of religious tolerance, but to "do it right this time," to found something like a New Jerusalem. This is a bit earlier than the Constitutional period, but we still see some of that even then. Religious tolerance, for them, meant being left alone to pursue their vision, but within the context of their community, well, It Wasn't Very Tolerant at all... The founding fathers did set the stage for what we have now, however. Jim > > Most of the fathers of the Constitution were diests, especially Thomas Jefferson. So the founding of this country was founded on religious tolerance. -Liz Friedman>> ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]