Oil and water, booze and tattoos, laxative and sleeping pills: some things just don't mix. We don't combine business and pleasure. We keep Kanye West away from fish sticks. Most importantly, we need to keep the state out of religion and vice versa. Yet there are so many of us who wish to do away with the separation of church and state.
The nation's largest group of atheists, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based non-profit, recently filed several law suits to prevent "In God We Trust" from being engraved on the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. Their argument is that "taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion," according to a Minneapolis Star Tribune July 14 article.
Opponents have rallied together in the name of their god(s). "This lawsuit is another attempt by liberal activists to rewrite history and deny that America's Judeo-Christian heritage is an essential foundation stone of our great nation," said Rep. Steve King, R-IA.
Ah, yes, the classic go-to "Judeo-Christian heritage" argument. While Congressman King has a point, he is gravely mistaken.
First off, let's clarify what the Freedom From Religion Foundation wants. According to their website, they "protect the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church." Simple enough.
Although they do have an atheist edge, they aren't handing out copies of Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion" to strangers passing by. Nor are they asking for the Visitor Center's engraving to read "In No God We Trust Because There Isn't One!"
Not only is what they are asking for not unreasonable, it is 100 percent correct.
"Many of the Framers [of the constitution] were religious men, but they knew what evils could arise if the new nation was not founded with religious freedom as one of its core ideals," according to my textbook "Essentials of American Government." True in the past and true in the present as well.
The Framers also wrote, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," also known as the Establishment Clause aka the First Amendment to the Constitution. And lesser quoted is Article VI, "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States."
That seems like a good idea to me. Yet it is a common practice for a politician to be sworn in on a holy book. This really doesn't help with the whole separation of church and state thing.
"But what about the money? ‘In God We Trust' is on there! God is in the Pledge of Allegiance, too! What about that, you snarky columnist, you?"
"In God We Trust" became our national motto in 1956, during the Cold War, which was mostly a war of ideologies. Communism was anti-religion, and we were anti-communism, thus the U.S. pushed god into the Pledge of Allegiance and printed God on our cash.
Having "god" as a motto gave the U.S. the illusion of being more moral than those "godless commies." Prior to the late 1950s, god was part of neither.
Half a century ago it was understandable. Stalin and Khrushchev were scary dudes.
However, it is unacceptable that our current Congress let the Capitol Visitor Center case pass on a 410-8 vote in the House of Representatives and unanimously in the Senate. Come on, Congress, you're supposed to be a bunch of godless liberals! I'm disappointed.
One would hope, for the integrity of our nation, the Supreme Court will get involved.
Celebrity and one-liner factory Chuck Norris has thrown his two cents into this whole situation. "I'm a fighter for the freedoms of speech and religion. They are our constitutional rights – what the First Amendment is all about. But those freedoms don't give atheists the entitlement to eliminate or revise America's religious heritage in the new $621 million taxpayer-provided Capitol Visitors Center," Norris said. Oh boy, Chuck, you're mistaken.
What is more striking about this quotation is the venomous tone towards atheists. Do you, Chuck Norris, mean that religious people have the right to shove religion down the throats of those who want no part of it? You don't think atheists have basic civil liberties?
There are about 1.1 billion (yes, BILLION) atheists, which makes it the third major perspective in the world, according to adherents.com. Its third rank is just under Islam's 1.5 billion and a little more than half as much as the 2.1 billion Christians. Yet "atheist" is still a dirty word in our culture.
I ask you for just a moment about substituting another word for "god" in the engraving. How about Allah, Vishnu, Xenu, or Zeus? Is your stomach curling awkwardly? Yeah, that's what it's like for the atheists.
Christians are the majority. This position gives Christians a certain amount of privilege. It must be nice getting Christmas and Easter off. It must be nice having entire radio stations programmed to worship and discuss your perspective on god. Enjoy it, but here's all I ask in return: Be gracious enough to let the rest speak without drowning them out.
Religion was not meant to be a vital part of our nation. The context in which the Framers designed our government was not to mix church and state. It is not a Reese's peanut butter cup; it's more like slathering coconut frosting on a medium rare steak.
Let's keep the two separate so those who wish to enjoy one, the other or both can, while neither will be compromised.
Rhiannon Root is a sophomore journalism major. Reach her at rhiannonroot@dailynebraska.com.
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"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such just and eclual laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the reign of our sovereign lord King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620." because it didn't all get sent the first time at least I think thats the case and it deserves full mention
"Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people; We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined,, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. [. . . ]
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln.
"In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the General Government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercise suited to it; but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of state and church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies".
"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes....No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. . . . We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked on the experiment...."
The Connecticut Constitution (until 1818):
"The People of this State...by the Providence of God. . .hath the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State. . . and forasmuch as the free fruition of such liberties and privileges as humanity, civility, and Christianity call for, as is due to every man in his place and proportion...hath ever been, and will be the tranquility and stability of Churches and Commonwealth; and the denial thereof, the disturbances, if not the ruin of both." The Delaware Constitution (1831):
"...no man ought to be compelled to attend any religious worship..." but it recognized "the duty of all men frequently to assemble together for the public worship of the Author of the Universe." The following oath of office was in force until 1792: "I. ..do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration." The Maryland Constitution (until 1851):
"That, as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such a manner as he thinks most acceptable to him; all persons professing the Christian religion, are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore no person ought by any law to be molested...on account of his religious practice; unless, under the color [pretense] of religion any man shall disturb the good order, peace or safety of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality. . .yet the Legislature may, in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax, for the support of the Christian religion." The Constitution of 1864 required "a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion" for all State officers. The Massachusetts Constitution (until 1863):
This state Constitution included the "right" of "the people of this commonwealth to. . . invest their Legislature with power to authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntary." The North Carolina Constitution (until 1876):
"That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State."
"In 1679, NEW HAMPSHIRE, was separated from Massachusetts and organized as an independent province. The colonists, having been so long a part of the Christian commonwealth of Massachusetts, constituted their institutions on the same Christian basis. Its legislature was Christian, and the colony greatly prospered and increased in population". Pennsylvania
"The first legislative act, December, 1682, "announced the ends of a true civil government. 'Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and end of government, and, therefore, government in itself is a venerable ordinance of God..."' And it is the purpose of civil government to establish "laws as shall best preserve true Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Caesar his due, and the people their due, from tyranny and oppression".
". . . . . But religion, as a life, as an inward principle, though specially developed and fostered by the Church, extends its domain beyond the sphere of technical worship, touches all the relations of man, and constitutes the inspiration of every duty. The service of the Commonwealth becomes an act of piety to God. The State realizes its religious character through the religious character of its subjects; and a State is and ought to be Christian, because all its subjects are and ought to be determined by the principles of the Gospel. As every legislator is bound to be a Christian man, he has no right to vote for any laws which are inconsistent with the teachings of Scriptures. He must carry his Christian conscience into the halls of legislation" (The Collected Writings of James Henley Thomwell, Vol. IV, p. 517). From the "First Charter of Virginia:"
"We, greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires for the furtherance of so noble a work, which may, by the providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian religion to such people, as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God, and may in time...."
New England
"The synod of the New England churches met at Cambridge, Mass, Sept 30, 1648, and defined the nature of civil government, the functions of the civil magistrate, and the duties of the citizens, as follows:
I. God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, and for his own glory and the public good; and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword for the defense and encouragement of them that do well, and for the punishment of evil-doers.
II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of magistrate when called thereunto. In the management whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of the Commonwealth, so for that end they may lawfully now, under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions.
III. They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercises of it, resist the ordinances of God,. . .may be called to account and proceeded against by the censure of the church and by the power of the civil magistrate.
IV. It is the duty of the people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority for conscience's sake." Massachusetts
"In the charter granted to Massachusetts, in 1640, by Charles I., the Colonies are enjoined by 'their good life and orderly conversation to win and invite the natives of the country to a knowledge of the only true God and Savior of mankind, and the Christian faith which, in our royal intention and adventurer's free possession, is the principal end of this plantation"' Connecticut
"In Connecticut the first organization of civil society and government was made, in 1639, at Quinipiack, now the beautiful city of New Haven...A constitution was formed, which was characterized as 'the first example of a written constitution; as a distinct organic act, constituting a government and defining its powers."' Listed below are some of the articles which made up the constitution of Connecticut:
I. That the Scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealths as in matters of the church.
II. That as in matters which concerned the gathering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all public offices which concern civil order,-as the choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature,-they would all be governed by those rules which the Scripture held forth to them.
III. That all those who had desired to be received free planters had settled in the plantation with a purpose, resolution, and desire that they might be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ.
IV. That all the free planters held themselves bound to establish such civil order as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and peace of the ordinance to themselves, and their posterity according to God.'
"The governor was then charged by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, in the most solemn manner, as to his duties, from Deut. i. 16, 17:-'And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it'. The General Court, established under this constitution, ordered,-'That God's word should be the only rule for ordering the affairs of government in this commonwealth"'.
Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence
These "truths that are selfevident are handed down by God, the Judeo-Christian God who also created all men and who presented them with unaliable rights, life liberty, the the pursuit of happiness. These were given to man by the Judeo-Christian God and can not be tampered with by any human power. This is not just my view. Of these words. Your Jeffersonian quotes are intresting but they prove primarily that Jefferson did not wish to create a religious theocray but a democratic republic nor does it refut my correct claim that this nation was built on Christian principals. For example:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ." - Patrick Henry "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." - U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, John JayThe Constitution contains Christian references. For example, the Constitution acknowledges Sunday as a day of rest: "If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law. . ." (Article I, section 7). Moreover, there is a direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Constitution: "DONE in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names."
How about, The Mayflower Compact, from William Bradford's "History of Plymouth Plantation":
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such just and eclual laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the reign of our sovereign lord King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
Or pehaps I should state that in our infant republic that you so poorly understand that if can be safely said that 98.8% of the population professed to being Christian and that most of the other .2 percent were Jewish. Thus their religious and moral viewpoints were Judeo-Christian. Perhaps I should remind you that since their religious view points were the basis of the moral standards and since our nations founders believe it was imperative that we establish a just and moral government that it would be inevitiable that they would base such a government on a Judeo-Chrsitan basis.
What God do you supose Jefferson refers to? Zues, Vishna? the Easter Bunny? How can you asume that a man who once wrote his own version of the bible would be ignorant or condeming of the Christian religion? Why in your desire to poopah something that is so obvious to everyone else to you need to seek and misconscrue some obsure treaty? This confirms the feeblness and falicy of your warped and twisted reasoning. I find you ignorance and inanity amusing.
If you want I can proceed to quote from our nations founders on their emphasis on the importantance of a Judeo-Christian basis for governent. I could write a book on the subject. Many have.
For example Benjamin Franklin:"I have lived sir, a long time. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth---that God governs the afairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall on the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can not rise without his aid? We have assumed sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reporoach and a byword down to future ages." (note biblical references)
"No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example."
Jefferson also held Christian church services at the White House and appropriated the Senate Chamber for Sunday services. While the treaty you alude to is a law of the land no one has been able to determine wheither Article XI was writen at the time or whether a "copy" was produced in the 1930s.
The concept of Christian nation was ruled by in 1892 the US Supreme Court made this ruling in a case. (Church of The Holy Trinity vs. The United States.) "No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people. This is a Christian nation."
Do try to read what I wrote some time and try for once to understand what you read.
I'm not sure why I need to quote Biblical verses concerning this since this is about national law and not theology. I supose if our nation's founders were establishing a chuch that would be a different matter. But the arguement here is that the United States was founded on Christian principals, and our rights are inalienable give to us by God and unalterable by man.
I hope Mr. Lacy didn't find my historical understanding disturbing.