The Bible, God, and the Constitution
Submitted By : (Frederick H. Spoerl) fredspoerl (at) yahoo (dot) com
There has been a lot of misinformation about what role religion played in the history of our great country, from many who claim that our constitution was inspired by Christianity… Here are a few facts that you might not have known.
The United States was the first nation in history to introduce the separation of church and state. The Christian principles that the Puritan had of burning witches and King George III’s mandate that subjects worship in a manner approved by the Church of England, made our Founding Fathers aware of the problems of having any religion involved in our new country.
Thomas Paine, one of our Founding Fathers, was the one, through his publication of “Common Cause” to instill in our country the movement to gain our independence from England . He was also the one who coined the phrase “ United States of America ”. Paine was a deist, who wrote the book “Age of Reason” which attacked and rejected Christianity and the Bible, stating, “The Christian system of religion is an outrage to common sense”.
Deism was a popular belief held in the 18th century by many of our Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Deism was a belief that a supernatural power created the universe, though this creator did not intervene in personal human affairs.
Thomas Jefferson, the main writer of the Declaration of Independence, was also critical of Christianity and all religions. In a Letter to Dr. Wood, he stated, “They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies”. In 1802, while president; he was the one that coined the phrase “wall of separation between church and state”.
The treaty of Tripoli , which stated, “the government of the United States is not in any sense, founded on the Christian religion”, was drafted under Washington ’s presidency and signed by the new president John Adams in 1797.
Nowhere in the Bill of Rights or the Constitution does it mention God, Christianity, Heaven, Hell or The Ten Commandments or any religion. We are a nation based on the authority of “We the People”, not a god, ruler or dictator. The Constitution guarantees religious liberties to all religions, atheists and agnostics alike. The phrase “they are endowed by their Creator”, in the Declaration of Independence referred to the Deist Creator not the God of Christiany…
The presidential oath of office, as quoted in our constitution, does not end in “so help me god”. This is a phrase added by some of the presidents.
The Pledge of Allegiance was first published in 1892 and only in 1954 was the phrase “under God” inserted. In 1955 Congress passed the law to have “In God We Trust” appear on our coins and currency. These events happened during the McCarthy era and during the cold war. I could not think of any congressperson, at that time, who would dare vote against God. Our government represents all off the people even those who do not believe. So why should our government have these pledges and mottos that don’t represent all of the people?
Many think that our Constitution was based on the Ten Commandments. If we look at the first, nowhere in the Constitution does it mention having any gods nor in the second about making graven images. There is no Constitutional law that says we can’t swear or curse, in reference to the third. Show me one person who practiced the fourth of keeping the Sabbath holy, not in the Constitution. The fifth, could you actually honor a father who molested you, abuses or beats you, no I don’t think so, again not in the Constitution. The sixth, thou shall not kill. To kill in self defense or in war to protect you country I think would be justified. The seventh, committing adultery, though not a nice thing to do to your spouse doesn’t rate being in the Constitution… The eighth, thou shall not steal is a natural law of existence, although if you were to steal a loaf of bread to feed a starving child, I think it could be overlooked. The ninth, not to lie. Sometimes it could save hurting persons feelings. This is the one that is most violated by our politicians. The tenth not to covet the neighbor’s wife etc, again not in the Constitution. I wonder if it might be alright for the wife to covet the neighbor’s husband. You see monuments of the Ten Commandments in front of some of our court houses and federal buildings. They have nothing to do with how we are governened. Why are they there?
Slowly the religious right is trying to get their agenda into our public schools and government institutions, with such statements as our government was founded upon Christianity. This is completely erroneous. If you think it would be right to have religion in government and have our country become a theocracy, look at some of the Muslim countries.
For the sake of our great country let’s keep religion out of our schools and government.
By, Frederick H. Spoerl, Somers , MT. You may send comments to me at fredspoerl@yahoo.com
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Control the past, control the present. I love it when the conservatives act like the Brotherhood of Nod- it just gets nice and downright creepy.
One of my old friends recently gave me a book about how the supreme court is changing laws in unconstitutional ways, and so I took the book and though yeah they are making some pretty messed up laws. The first half of the book uses the one line in the declaration of independence about the creator to justify that we’re a christian nation and the founders were all christian and keeps bringing up that one line, barely mentioning the constitution or the bill of rights. I would not want to live in the world the author wants. Sad…just sad.