Freedom of religion

===Early laws and legal guarantees for religious freedom===

====Principality of Transylvania====
{{main|Edict of Torda}}
In 1558, the [[Hungarian Diet]]'s [[Edict of Torda]] declared free practice of both Catholicism and Lutheranism. Calvinism, however, was prohibited. Calvinism was included among the accepted religions in 1564. Ten years after the first law, in 1568, the same Diet, under the chairmanship of [[List of Hungarian monarchs|King of Hungary]], and [[List of Princes of Transylvania|Prince of Transylvania]] [[John Sigismund Zápolya]] (John II), following the teaching of [[Ferenc Dávid]],<ref>{{cite book |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/109.html|title=History of Transylvania. Volume I. From the Beginnings to 1606|publisher=Hungarian Research Institute of Canada and A Research Ancillary of the University of Toronto|access-date=20 November 2016|isbn=0880334797}}</ref> the founder of the [[Unitarian Church of Transylvania]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=DESTINATION: ROMANIA/Unitarianism, a religion born in Cluj|url=http://www.agerpres.ro/engleza-destinatie-romania/2014/08/27/destination-romania-unitarianism-a-religion-born-in-cluj-13-23-02|date=27 August 2014|access-date=2023-01-02|website=www.agerpres.ro|language=ro|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225160554/https://www.agerpres.ro/engleza-destinatie-romania/2014/08/27/destination-romania-unitarianism-a-religion-born-in-cluj-13-23-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> extended the freedom to all religions, declaring that "''It is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expelling for his religion''".

{{Quotation|Act of Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience:<br><br>
''His majesty, our Lord, in what manner he{{snd}} together with his realm{{snd}} legislated in the matter of religion at the previous Diets, in the same matter now, in this Diet, reaffirms that in every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no one shall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the superintendents or others shall abuse the preachers, no one shall be reviled for his religion by anyone, according to the previous statutes, and it is not permitted that anyone should threaten anyone else by imprisonment or by removal from his post for his teaching. For faith is the gift of God and this comes from hearing, which hearings is by the word of God''.|Diet at Torda, 1568 : King John Sigismund<ref name=s2>Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council. [http://www.uupcc.org/docs/edict-of-torda.doc "Edict of Torda"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713112749/http://www.uupcc.org/docs/edict-of-torda.doc |date=13 July 2018 }} (DOC). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.</ref>}}

Four religions ([[Catholicism]], [[Lutheranism]], [[Calvinism]], [[Unitarianism]]) were named as accepted religions (religo recepta), having their representatives in the Transylvanian Diet, while the other religions, like the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodoxs]], [[Sabbatarians]] and [[Anabaptists]] were tolerated churches (religio tolerata), which meant that they had no power in the law making and no veto rights in the Diet, but they were not persecuted in any way. Thanks to the Edict of Torda, from the last decades of the 16th century Transylvania was the only place in Europe, where so many religions could live together in harmony and without persecution.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-11-25|author=Kovács Kálmán|title=Erdély és a Habsburg valláspolitika a 17. század utolsó évtizedeiben|url=https://mult-kor.hu/20051125_erdely_es_a_habsburg_vallaspolitika_a_17_szazad_utolso_evtizedeiben|access-date=2023-01-02|website=Múlt-kor történelmi magazin|language=hu}}</ref>

This religious freedom ended however for some of the religions of Transylvania in 1638. After this year the [[Szekler Sabbatarians|Sabbatarians]] begun to be persecuted, and forced to convert to one of the accepted Christian religions of Transylvania.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/192.html|title=History of Transylvania. Volume II. From 1606 to 1830|date=17 July 2002 |publisher=Hungarian Research Institute of Canada and A Research Ancillary of the University of Toronto|access-date=20 November 2016|isbn=0880334916}}</ref>

====Habsburg rule in Transylvania====
The Unitarians (despite being one of the "accepted religions") started to be put under an ever-growing pressure, which culminated after the Habsburg conquest of Transylvania (1691),<ref>{{cite book |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/290.html|title=History of Transylvania. Volume II. From 1606 to 1830|date=17 July 2002 |publisher=Hungarian Research Institute of Canada and A Research Ancillary of the University of Toronto|access-date=20 November 2016|isbn=0880334916}}</ref> Also after the Habsburg occupation, the new Austrian masters forced in the middle of the 18th century the [[Hutterite]] Anabaptists (who found a safe haven in 1621 in Transylvania, after the persecution to which they were subjected in the Austrian provinces and Moravia) to convert to Catholicism or to migrate in another country, which finally the Anabaptists did, leaving Transylvania and Hungary for Wallachia, than from there to Russia, and finally in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hutterites.org/history/hutterite-history-overview/|title=Hutterite History Overview|work=Hutterian Brethren}}</ref>

====Netherlands====
In the [[Union of Utrecht]] (20 January 1579), personal freedom of religion was declared in the struggle between the Northern Netherlands and Spain. The Union of Utrecht was an important step in the establishment of the Dutch Republic (from 1581 to 1795). Under Calvinist leadership, the Netherlands became the most tolerant country in Europe. It granted asylum to persecuted religious minorities, such as the Huguenots, the Dissenters, and the Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal.<ref>Karl Heussi, ''Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte'', 11. Auflage (1956), Tübingen (Germany), pp. 396–397</ref> The establishment of a Jewish community in the Netherlands and New Amsterdam (present-day New York) during the Dutch Republic is an example of religious freedom. When New Amsterdam surrendered to the English in 1664, freedom of religion was guaranteed in the Articles of Capitulation. It benefitted also the Jews who had landed on Manhattan Island in 1654, fleeing Portuguese persecution in Brazil. During the 18th century, other Jewish communities were established at Newport, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Charleston, Savannah, and Richmond.<ref>Clifton E. Olmstead (1960), ''History of Religion in the United States'', Prentice-Hall, Englewood Ciffs, NJ, p. 124</ref>

Intolerance of dissident forms of Protestantism also continued, as evidenced by the exodus of the Pilgrims, who sought refuge, first in the Netherlands, and ultimately in America, founding [[Plymouth Colony]] in Massachusetts in 1620. [[William Penn]], the founder of Philadelphia, was involved in a case which had a profound effect upon future American laws and those of England. In a classic case of [[jury nullification]], the jury refused to convict William Penn of preaching a Quaker sermon, which was illegal. Even though the jury was imprisoned for their acquittal, they stood by their decision and helped establish the freedom of religion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Krauss|first=Stanton D|date=1999|title=An Inquiry into the Right of Criminal Juries to determine the Law in Colonial America.|url=https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6989&context=jclc|journal=Journal of Criminology Law and Criminology.|volume=89|issue=1|pages=111–214|doi=10.2307/1144220|jstor=1144220}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/96/William-Penn-Criminal-Justice-and-the-Penn-Mead-Trial|title=William Penn, Criminal Justice, and the Penn-Mead Trial|publisher=Quakers In The World|accessdate=April 9, 2022}}</ref>

====Poland====
[[File:Konfederacja Warszawska.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Original act of the [[Warsaw Confederation]] 1573. The beginning of religious freedom in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]]]
The General Charter of Jewish Liberties known as the [[Statute of Kalisz]] was issued by the Duke of [[Greater Poland]] [[Bolesław the Pious|Boleslaus the Pious]] on 8 September 1264 in [[Kalisz]]. The statute served as the basis for the legal position of Jews in Poland and led to the creation of the [[Yiddish]]-speaking autonomous Jewish nation until 1795. The statute granted exclusive jurisdiction of Jewish courts over Jewish matters and established a separate tribunal for matters involving Christians and Jews. Additionally, it guaranteed personal liberties and safety for Jews including freedom of religion, travel, and trade. The statute was ratified by subsequent Polish Kings: [[Casimir III of Poland]] in 1334, [[Casimir IV of Poland]] in 1453 and [[Sigismund I the Old|Sigismund I of Poland]] in 1539. Poland freed Jews from direct royal authority, opening up enormous administrative and economic opportunities to them.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sinkoff|first=Nancy|title=Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-KmeZgY2hIC|year=2003|publisher=Society of Biblical Lit|isbn=978-1930675162|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=f-KmeZgY2hIC&dq=1539&pg=PA18 18]}}</ref>

====Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth====
{{Main|Warsaw Confederation}}
The right to worship freely was a basic right given to all inhabitants of the future [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] throughout the 15th and early 16th century, however, complete freedom of religion was officially recognized in 1573 during the Warsaw Confederation. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth kept religious freedom laws during an era when religious persecution was an everyday occurrence in the rest of Europe.<ref>Zamoyski, Adam. ''The Polish Way''. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1987.</ref>