I spent my elementary school years in a private, Christian school. So if you ask me why this nation was established, I would tell you that the original settlers came here for the freedom to worship. I was taught from the beginning that this country was founded on Christian principles. Today, as we celebrate the 234th anniversary of our independence, I challenge anyone to refute that premise.
My textbooks from grammar school were written from a Christian perspective. Prayer, worship, and thanksgiving to God were told to be a part of our founding fathers’ daily lives. These men were persecuted for their religious beliefs in Great Britain and found refuge in the land that would later be known as the United States of America.
At the founding of our country, there was no “separation of church and state.” Ironically, many of those today with a public school education (where prayer is “banned”) may not know about the prayer sessions that were held before those original meetings of Congress. The founding fathers, in spite of their human flaws and failings, turned to God for guidance.
A strong Christian influence helped shape the documents and decisions that affect us to this very day. From the first lines of the Declaration of Independence—which acknowledge the Creator—to the inscription on the Liberty Bell, which is cited from Leviticus 25:10, Christian imagery and references can be found embedded in almost everything from the first days of our nations’ founding. Including our currency, which is imprinted with the covenant, “In God We Trust.”
Christian principles were a significant part of the belief system that established this nation. Today, as we celebrate our nation’s independence, let’s especially celebrate our freedom to worship. And please, remember to pray for our political leaders at all times, so that they may make wise decisions and forward the beliefs that established our nation and helped make it great.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
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While many founders were Christian of some sort, care should be taken not to make too much of the founders' individual religious beliefs. Given the republican nature of our government, it is only natural that laws enacted by our government--in both the founders' time and today--largely reflect Christianity's dominant influence in our society. That said, there is no reason to suppose that Christianity or theism is an inherent aspect of our government. Indeed, any such claim is antithetical to the constitutional principle of separation of religion and state.
ReplyDeleteIn assessing the nature of our government, the religiosity of the various founders, while informative, is largely beside the point. Whatever their religions, they drafted a Constitution that plainly establishes a secular government on the power of the people (not a deity) and says nothing substantive of god(s) or religion except in the First Amendment where the point is to confirm that each person enjoys religious liberty and that the government is not to take steps to establish religion and another provision precluding any religious test for public office. This is entirely consistent with the fact that some founders professed their religiosity and even their desire that Christianity remain the dominant religious influence in American society. Why? Because religious people who would like to see their religion flourish in society may well believe that separating religion and government will serve that end and, thus, in founding a government they may well intend to keep it separate from religion. That, indeed, is just what the founders did.
James Madison, for instance, who had a central role in drafting the Constitution and the First Amendment, confirmed that he understood them to "[s]trongly guard[] . . . the separation between Religion and Government." Madison, Detached Memoranda (~1820). He made plain, too, that they guarded against more than just laws creating state sponsored churches or imposing a state religion. Mindful that even as new principles are proclaimed, old habits die hard and politicians could tend to entangle government and religion (e.g., "the appointment of chaplains to the two houses of Congress" and "for the army and navy" and "[r]eligious proclamations by the Executive recommending thanksgivings and fasts"), he considered the question whether these actions were "consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom" and responded: "In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the United States forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion."
While some draw meaning from the reference to "Nature's God" and "Creator" in the Declaration of Independence and try to connect that meaning to the Constitution, the effort is baseless. Apart from the fact that these references could mean any number of things (some at odds with the Christian idea of God), there simply is no "legal" connection or effect between the two documents. Important as the Declaration is in our history, it did not operate to bring about independence, nor did it found a government. Nothing in the Constitution depends on anything said in the Declaration. Nor does anything said in the Declaration purport to limit or define the government later formed by the free people of the former colonies; nor could it even if it purported to do so. Once independent, the people of the former colonies could choose whatever form of government they deemed appropriate. They could have formed a theocracy if they wished--or, as they ultimately chose, a secular government founded on the power of the people (not a deity) by the Constitution as described above.