Article I, section
16
That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and
the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not
by force or violence; and, therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free
exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is
the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity
towards each other. No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any
religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced,
restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise
suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but all men shall be free
to profess and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion,
and the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil
capacities. And the General Assembly shall not prescribe any religious test
whatever, or confer any peculiar privileges or advantages on any sect or
denomination, or pass any law requiring or authorizing any religious society, or
the people of any district within this Commonwealth, to levy on themselves or
others, any tax for the erection or repair of any house of public worship, or
for the support of any church or ministry; but it shall be left free to every
person to select his religious instructor, and to make for his support such
private contract as he shall please.
Article II, section
7
All officers elected or appointed under or pursuant to this
Constitution shall, before they enter on the performance of their public duties,
severally take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly
swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and
the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and
impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as ..................,
according to the best of my ability (so help me God)."
Article IV, section
16
The General Assembly shall not make any appropriation of
public funds, personal property, or real estate to any church or sectarian
society, or any association or institution of any kind whatever which is
entirely or partly, directly or indirectly, controlled by any church or
sectarian society. Nor shall the General Assembly make any like appropriation to
any charitable institution which is not owned or controlled by the Commonwealth;
the General Assembly may, however, make appropriations to nonsectarian
institutions for the reform of youthful criminals and may also authorize
counties, cities, or towns to make such appropriations to any charitable
institution or association.
Article VIII, section
10
No appropriation of public funds shall be made to any
school or institution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the
State or some political subdivision thereof; provided, first, that the General
Assembly may, and the governing bodies of the several counties, cities and towns
may, subject to such limitations as may be imposed by the General Assembly,
appropriate funds for educational purposes which may be expended in furtherance
of elementary, secondary, collegiate or graduate education of Virginia students
in public and nonsectarian private schools and institutions of learning, in
addition to those owned or exclusively controlled by the State or any such
county, city or town; second, that the General Assembly may appropriate funds to
an agency, or to a school or institution of learning owned or controlled by an
agency, created and established by two or more States under a joint agreement to
which this State is a party for the purpose of providing educational facilities
for the citizens of the several States joining in such agreement; third, that
counties, cities, towns, and districts may make appropriations to nonsectarian
schools of manual, industrial, or technical training, and also to any school or
institution of learning owned or exclusively controlled by such county, city,
town, or school district.
Article X, section
6
a) Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the
following property and no other shall be exempt from taxation, State and local,
including inheritance taxes:
(2) Real estate and personal property owned and exclusively
occupied or used by churches or religious bodies for religious worship or for
the residences of their ministers . . .
(6) Property used by its owner for religious, charitable,
patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural, or