Freedom of religion/Timelines

BC

• 399 Athens executes Socrates on charges including introducing new gods
• c. 250 Indian Emperor Asoka declares freedom of religion but bans animal sacrifice

AD

• 313 Edict of Milan grants freedom of religion throughout the dominions of Emperors Constantine and Licinius (by the end of the year this covered the whole Roman Empire)
• 843 Most Chinese Buddhist monasteries closed by imperial decree
• 1215 Canon 3 of the fourth Lateran Council orders extermination of heretics; rulers failing to implement this to be excommunicated and their subjects absolved from their allegiance
• 1290 Jews expelled from England
• 1492 Jews expelled from Spain; Muslims expelled soon after
• 1555 Peace of Augsburg: Holy Roman Empire adopts principle of "Cujus regio, ejus religio": subjects to follow the religion of the local ruler, Catholic or Lutheran, or else move
• 1568 Edict of Torda: Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania declares freedom for all forms of Christianity
• 1598 Edict of Nantes: Henry IV of France legalizes Protestantism
• 1685 Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes and expels Protestants from France
• 1687 James VII and II of Scotland and England declares suspension of laws restricting freedom of religion
• 1688/9 James overthrown; declaration annulled, toleration only for mainstream Protestants
• 1689 John Locke, Essay concerning Toleration argues for freedom for most religious groups; Catholics and Muslims excluded as subject to foreign powers; atheists also excluded
• 1778 Catholicism legalized in Great Britain
• 1791 First Amendment to the United States Constitution "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." (note that this refers only to Congress, i.e. the federal government, leaving individual states unaffected)