History of Religious Diversity in South Carolina

July 4, 2003

Source: The State

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/living/6228676.htm

On July 4, 2003 The State reported that "three hundred and thirty-three years after its English charter, the Palmetto State [SC] is home to more than 20 faiths, claiming memberships that exceed 2 million followers... That diversity reflects a long-standing commitment to religious freedom that goes back to the state's founding, historians and others say... While Jews were being persecuted and ostracized throughout Europe, the first known Jew elected to public office in the modern world was elected in South Carolina... Historians generally concede two points about South Carolina's past that have enabled its residents to enjoy their faiths unfettered through the centuries: the initial stab at a state constitution and its beginnings as a moneymaking colony."