George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, asked British King Charles I for a colony in the New World. George Calvert died before his wish was granted. The King gave the Charter of Maryland to George Calvert's son, Cecil, second Lord Baltimore.

One reason George and Cecil Calvert wanted a colony in America is that they were Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics were not free to practice their religion in England. The Calverts decided that everyone in Maryland would be free to practice whatever religion they wanted. The King gave the Maryland colony to the Calverts as a gift. The charter for what became Maryland was granted in 1632.

In a very interesting turn of events, one only needs to look at a United States Supreme Court decision in 1961 to see a vast change in attitude in the State of Maryland. Some store owners at a mall in Anne Arundel County, Maryland were fined for selling items on Sunday that were not on the prescribed list. There was a Sunday closing law in effect in Maryland, which inherently favored Sunday-keeping Christians. This came about after the Calverts decided that everyone in Maryland would be free to practice whatever religion they wanted.

The McGowan Vs. Maryland Case established a precedent that can be dangerous in the future. It simply said that the Sunday closing law was legal if it sought to establish secular goals and not religious goals. If the law met that condition, it did not violate the separation of church and state. In other words, Sunday closing laws were deemed constitutional, and are constititional today.

Created on ... March 19, 2002