The Bishop, The Statesman, And the Wren Cross: A Lesson in American Secularism (College of William and Mary‪)‬

HALFWAY DOWN ONE WALL of the Wren Chapel at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is a plaque in honor of Bishop James Madison, who is often confused with his more famous cousin, James Madison, author of the U.S. Constitution, co-author of the Federal ist Papers, and the fourth President of the United States. Though they pursued separate careers--Bishop Madison as an Anglican minister, a leading scientist, and an extraordinary academic administrator, and Founder Madison as a secular reformer, a superb statesman, and one of the most sophisticated democratic theorists in history--the plaque could hardly honor one without the other, so interlinked were both their legacies to the College, religious freedom, and American democracy. Juxtaposed to the Madison plaque at the front center of the Chapel on a table behind the altar, there has stood until very recently a two-foot, bronze-plated Christian cross.