Why was freedom of religion added to the first amendment? the colonists wanted prayer taken out of schools. the colonists suffered persecution for their religious beliefs. the colonists wanted catholicism to be the country’s main religion. the colonists thought the government needed to have religious control.

The reason that freedom of religion was added to the first amendment was because some of the colonists suffered persecution for their beliefs. Due to the fact that the American colonists were such a diverse group of people coming from all over the world, it was very important that all religions were tolerated equally.