The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, passed by the Virginia legislature in 1786 is both a statement on religious conscience and the concept of the separation of church and state. A conversation with John Ragosta, author of Wellspring of Liberty , historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, which maintains a great database of Jefferson materials, on the topic of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and on why Jefferson and Patrick Henry were political foes.