James Madison, like his friend and colleague, Thomas Jefferson, had a low opinion of Christianity. Jefferson failed to get the Virginia General Assembly to pass his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and, when he was sent to Paris, he asked Madison to see if he could get it passed. In 1785, to promote the statute, Madison wrote the Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
The statute was enacted in 1786. The following year, 1787, Madison's work at the Constitutional Convention led him to become known as the "Father of the Constitution." He was the author of The Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, which he based on the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.