The Williamsburg Charter

The Global Charter of Conscience was published in Brussels at the European Parliament in June 2012, with the endorsement of the United Nations Rapporteur for Religious Freedom. It was drafted to reaffirm and support Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As such, it affirms the rights and responsibilities of freedom of thought and conscience for people of all faiths, all societies, and all times. The open assumption of this declaration is that freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief is universal, mutual and reciprocal, and therefore, without exception, for the good of all. Indeed, the full imperative for such freedom and such a right is that they are about nothing less than the freedom and responsibility to be fully human. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.

On September 27, 2021, Os issues a statement protesting anti-semitism in commemoration of the Holocaust Remembrance Day. The piece reminds readers that the roots of anti-Semitic sentiment and its myriad manifestations are as old as humanity and must be challenged through every generation.

The Williamsburg Charter, described here in an NPR Morning Edition interview, was published on June 22, 1988, as a celebration and reaffirmation of the Religious Liberty Clauses of the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights. It was signed in Williamsburg by one hundred national prominent Americans, including former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and leaders from many spheres of American life. The lead drafter was Os Guinness.