No "Separation of Church and State" in a Deistic Nation


The Freedom From Religion Foundation claims that America is not a Christian nation. But their arguments don't prove it, if they prove anything at all. In the left-hand column is another attempt to buttress the myth of "separation of church and state." In the right-hand column is our response.

Home > Freethought Today > 2004 > January/February > America--Not a Christian Nation The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a hopeless confused organization. The only way for Jones to be "free" of Smith's religion is for Smith to be banished to the catacombs. Freedom "FROM" Religion means government suppression of the freedom OF religion. For example, Vermont denied a personalized license plate which read "SHJ BVM" on the grounds that it might "offend" someone. The "stay-at-home mom" who requested the plate revealed the meaning to Vermont authorities who denied her request. In other words, if you have the right to be "free from" all religious references, then I have a duty never to express any religious references in your presence. What this really means, of course, is freedom only for the religion of Secular Humanism.

Freethought Today

Vol. 21 No. 1 - Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. -
January/February 2004

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America--Not a Christian Nation

America's Founding Fathers did not intend this kind of secularist fascism. America's Founding Fathers intended to create a Christian nation, which can be summed up in three words: Liberty Under God.
 
"The United States of America is a Christian nation" is standard propaganda parroted by fundamentalist politicians and it is demonstrably false. This assertion is central to the national fundamentalist agenda that has the larger goal of rewriting American history from a biblical perspective. 100 years after the ratification of the Constitution, The United States Supreme Court declared that America is a Christian nation. (Holy Trinity Church vs. U.S.) The Court, in a lengthy opinion, set forth American history from a Biblical perspective. That should be the end of the debate. But now, 200 years after ratification, that decision and the real history of America have been flushed down the Orwellian "Memory Hole."
Several strategies have been implemented to disseminate the Christian nation myth, including the dishonest Christian Heritage Week proclamations, the sabre-rattling God and Country Day services on July Fourth, the evangelical Mayor's Prayer Breakfasts, and most recently, the highly divisive "cities of character" campaigns. I'm not a big fan of "sabre-rattling," but I think the "Cities of Character" campaign is a good idea. I can't imagine a single Signer of the Constitution who would have objected to inculcating "character" in our cities. None of these other events would have been condemned by the Founders. They likely would have participated.
This article summarizes the religious beliefs of 10 prominent founders of the United States, overviews the religious philosophies of Deism and Unitarianism, outlines all references to religion in three basic U.S. political documents, and analyzes the motivational roots of religious fundamentalism. Reliable historical sources list some 200 people that exerted a noteworthy influence on America's founding. It would be a mistake to discount the sources that those people relied on, and which continued to exert an influence on American law (such as Blackstone, Locke, etc.) It should also be appreciated that some Founders, like Jefferson, wore one hat in public and another in private. A person might have theological doubts about something but not express those doubts in public out of a recognition that social order was better preserved by a public religion.
Each of the Founders below is characterized by Bolton as "deist" or "unitarian." This proves absolutely nothing with regard to the opening question ("Is America a Christian Nation"). Unitarians can believe that America is a Christian nation. Deists can be emphatic and passionate opponents of the myth of "separation of church and state." I have never met an atheist/separationist who is able to grasp this pont.

More information about deism and unitarianism.

  George Washington was nominally an Episcopalian. Because he seldom attended church and was not a communicant, he was accused of being an agnostic and even an atheist. He denounced the Calvinist doctrine of original sin, he never mentioned Jesus in his writings, and he used the term Providence as synonymous with destiny or fate. His prayer at Valley Forge (kneeling in the snow) is now acknowledged to be a fabrication. He was a Deist. I am not a member of any church and do not attend "services" (though I sometimes sing in church services, such as a member of the California Desert Chorale). I was once "excommunicated," which means "formally declared to be not a Christian." Some have accused me of various names for denouncing the Calvinist doctrine of the State. (I am in fact an anarchist.) These facts roughly parallel facts in Washington's life. Does that mean I believe in "freedom from religion?" No, and neither did Washington.

Washington did in fact mention Jesus in his writings. Read more about Washington. There is absolutely, unequivocally, no doubt whatsoever that Washington believed that America was a Christian nation, and did not believe in the modern myth of "separation of church and state." More here. It is pure propaganda to claim otherwise. Washington could have been an atheist, but his public proclamations are what determine the legal effect of George Washington's life, not his private doubts, if any.

John Adams studied for the ministry at Harvard. Doubts about his Christian convictions led him to shift to the law. Although he wrote favorably of Christianity and Jesus throughout his life, he rejected orthodox Christian dogma. He was a Unitarian. It doesn't matter one tiny bit what Adams believed about "orthodox Christian dogma." There is absolutely, unequivocally, no doubt whatsoever that Adams believed that America was a Christian nation, and did not believe in the modern myth of "separation of church and state." More here. It is pure propaganda to claim otherwise. Although Jerry Falwell is a Trinitarian, Falwell's entire public life has been dedicated to teaching Unitarianism in public schools. Falwell's public efforts would have been heartily supported by all Unitarians in Adams' day.
Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and coined the oft-repeated phrase, "the wall of separation between church and state." Political opponents called him a "champion of atheism and immorality" because he denied the deity of Jesus, he did not think the bible was God's word, and he rejected the Christian concept of hell as a state of everlasting punishment. Yet, he greatly admired Jesus' moral teachings and assembled them into a booklet referred to as Jefferson's Bible. He was a Deist. "The Jefferson Bible" was a textbook for teaching Christianity to the Indians.

Political opponents called him a "champion of atheism and immorality" because they were Federalists. Such attacks were more frequently political rather than theological.

If Thomas Jefferson did not believe that America was a Christian nation, and if Jefferson actually believed that America should be a secular nation (a highly debatable assumption) he was overruled by the rest of America's Founding Fathers.

James Madison is known as the father of the U.S. Constitution. He did not attend church, but he spoke out repeatedly on behalf of freedom of conscience, which he believed was a basic right of citizenship. He opposed any form of government support for religion, because history demonstrates that established churches tend to produce "superstition, bigotry, and persecution." He opposed the appointment of a chaplain for the U.S. Congress. In his writings, he used the terms Governor of the Universe and Universal Sovereign. He was a Deist. I am not a member of any church. I would like to see churches disappear. None of the Founders believed in pure "freedom of conscience." If your "conscience" tells you to be a cannibal or Aztec and engage in human sacrifice, not a single Signer of the Constitution would say you had a legally-protected right to "freedom of your religion." I do not support any government funds for religion. The most fanatic Calvinists and fundamentalists of the day referred to God as "Governor of the Universe." Absolutely nothing in the column at left proves that Madison did not believe that America was a Christian nation. Madison believed that all laws should advance Christianity. He repeatedly endorsed Christianity, which the modern Supreme Court says you can't do under the "separation of church and state." But Madison did not believe in the modern myth of "separation of church and state."
James Monroe attended an Episcopal church, but never talked about his religious beliefs because he considered religion to be a private matter. A reference to the Divine Author of All Good in his second annual message to Congress suggests that he may have been a Deist. In his Fourth Annual Message, Monroe approved of the policy that existed since at least the Jefferson administration of federally-funded missionaries to deal with the problem of terrorists -- I mean Indians -- on the Western Frontier by converting them from heathen savagery to Christian Civilization:

The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part of the report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our relations with the Indian tribes. At the establishment of the Federal Government under the present Constitution of the United States the principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent powers and also as proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered as savages, whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of civilization.

As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude and ignorant, we [p.982] endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of religion and of letters. The ultimate design was to incorporate in our own institutions that portion of them which could be converted to the state of civilization. In the practice of European States, before our Revolution, they had been considered as children to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to be dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be indemnified by trifling concessions for removal from the grounds from which their game was extirpated. In changing the system it would seem as if a full contemplation of the consequences of the change had not been taken. We have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in imparting to them the principles or inspiring them with the spirit of civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of teaching them the arts of civilization and the doctrines of Christianity we have unexpectedly found them forming in the midst of ourselves communities claiming to be independent of ours and rivals of sovereignty within the territories of the members of our Union. This state of things requires that a remedy should be provided--a remedy which, while it shall do justice to those unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the members of our confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As the outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the consideration of Congress.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents, John Quincy Adams, vol. 2, p.981-82

See more on the Founding Fathers' policies of evangelizing the heathen. I oppose federally-funded evangelists, but agree with their support of Christian Civilization and the Christian religion in general.

John Quincy Adams was not a regular church-goer, causing some religious people to call him an atheist. Ironically. he read at least three chapters of the bible each day and read through the entire bible every year. A lifelong opponent of slavery, he severely criticized clergy and parishioners for not condemning slavery on religious and moral grounds. Like his father, he was a Unitarian. If JQAdams was a unitarian, then he was not an atheist, and it doesn't matter what political opponents said about him. JQAdams clearly believed that America was a Christian nation, and his efforts helped keep it that way. His actions against slavery were explicitly Christian and Biblical. He never entertained the idea that opposition to slavery -- or advocacy of or opposition to any government policy -- must be based exclusively on secular grounds.
Benjamin Franklin rejected nearly all doctrinal aspects of Christianity. While he doubted Jesus' divinity, he applauded his ethical teachings. He considered morality to be independent of religion and stressed the cultivation of civic virtue in his writings. He opposed oaths and religious tests for public office. He was a Deist. Franklin believed that God supernaturally intervened in human history, so he was not a "deist." If he lied when he said that Christianity should be the public religion, it doesn't matter, because he made Christianity a public religion. Public actions speak louder than private beliefs.
Ethan Allen was a military hero of the American Revolution, best known for conquering the British stronghold at Fort Ticonderoga. He formulated a Deistic philosophy based on reason, disavowing revelation and miracles. His treatise, Reason the Only Oracle of Man, was the first openly anti-Christian book published in the U.S. He was a Deist. He conquered Fort Ticonderoga "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." He apostatized later in life, but he had already gained his stature as a "Founding Father" based on his actions as a Christian.
Thomas Paine is best known for his immensely popular book, Common Sense, which developed the argument for independence from England. In another persuasive volume, The Age of Reason, he demonstrated that the bible's claims could not be true and he ridiculed Christianity, which he regarded as an obstacle to social and political reform. The charge that he was an atheist is false; he believed in God and an afterlife. He was a Deist. Common Sense argued the cause of Independence on Biblical grounds. It was well-received. The Age of Reason is truly a pathetic volume, relied on by no atheists today, and was condemned by nearly all of the Founding Fathers listed above.
Joel Barlow was a revolutionary political writer and diplomat. As U.S. Consul to Algiers, he negotiated the Treaty of Tripoli which assures that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams, thus making it the supreme law of the land. He was later U.S. minister to France, where he died during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. He was a Deist. Joel Barlow might possibly have been a Christian when he was a chaplain, but he apostatized and appears to have been quite bitter. Experts on analysis of U.S. treaties have declared that his line about "not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" "is a mystery" since it was not only wrong on its face, but doesn't appear in the Arab version of the Treaty. Congress may not have read the words before approving the Treaty (just as the PATRIOT Act -- perhaps the most significant legislation thus far in the 21st century -- was approved without a single Congressman reading the bill), and removed the phrase when the Treaty was re-negotiated. Barlow had tricked them.
 
What can we conclude about the religious views of these 10 American founders? First, eight were Deists and two were Unitarians. Second, all were advocates of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience. Third, ironically, most were themselves targets of religious bigots. Fourth, none was an orthodox Christian. And fifth, none was even remotely close to the modern day fundamentalists who attempt to expropriate these men for partisan political purposes. With the exception of Allen and Barlow, who were apostates, all of the Founders above either claimed to be or posed as Christians. Their actions were consistent with America being a Christian nation, and their official actions helped to create America as a Christian nation. They publicly and officially endorsed the Christian religion as a matter of government policy. They would all have been on the side of Pat Robertson as against the ACLU. They would have regarded the ACLU as dangerous and anti-American
Deism was a religious philosophy popular among educated people living in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was referred to as a natural religion, meaning that it was based entirely on reason, explicitly rejecting all forms of revelation. If a person is privately a deist and secretly denies the inspiration of the Bible, but after being elected to a public office or position of trust, endorsed the Bible and quotes it as the basis of public policy, has he created a secular or a Christian nation. See links on Franklin above.
Deists believed in God as a celestial explanatory mechanism or first cause, but disaffirmed all claims of divine authority, including the deity of Christ. Yet, Deists endorsed the ethical teachings of Jesus, as well as those of other religious prophets. Deists also denounced all religious dogma and creeds and were strong supporters of religious liberty. Concerning belief in God, it should be remembered that this was before the advent of Darwinian evolution and modern cosmological theories. This idea of God had virtually no influence in America, though it was popular in France and Europe. Liberals like to play-up France and downplay conservative and American ideals. "Providence" in the public actions of America's Founders is the complete denial of deism.

Darwinism is anti-American.

The modern equivalent of Deism is Unitarianism, a secular religion committed to the principles of freedom, reason, tolerance, science, and democracy. Unitarianism in the days of the Founders wasn't anything like unitarianism today. It was not secular. Politically and morally it was much closer to Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson than to the ACLU.
Unitarianism is a noncreedal religion aligned with the philosophy of naturalistic humanism that welcomes all people of good will, nonbelievers, as well as believers. If the ten prominent founders were alive today, they would most certainly embrace the philosophy of naturalistic Humanism and they would properly be called Unitarians or Humanists. A "naturalistic belief in God" is a contradiction in terms. A person who doesn't trust the Bible but still believes in the God of the Bible is not a "naturalistic Humanist," and could be vehemently opposed to materialism, secularism, separationism, and naturalistic unitarianism. To speculate on which religion would be embraced by the Founders were they alive today is admittedly speculative, but they were clearly supernaturalists. Had they seen the logical outworking of naturalism, which consists of unrestrained immorality and violence, they would have opposed naturalistic Humanism on that basis alone.

Enlightenment criticism of the Bible was in its infancy when the Framers were alive. It is easily refuted today on grounds that the Framers would have found eminently persuasive. The issues are not just "factual" or "philosophical," they are moral, and the Enlightenment was a facade for immorality. The Founders, generally speaking, were morally conservative, and the facade is easily seen through in our day.

 
It should not be surprising that the four references to God in the Declaration of Independence are Deistic terms: Nature's God, Creator, Supreme Judge of the World and Divine Providence. Most important, the Declaration states explicitly that government derives its powers from the consent of the governed--not from God, Jesus or the bible. It simply doesn't matter whether a reference to God is "deistic" or Calvinist or fundamentalist. This argument reveals a complete ignorance of the legal issues involved. The modern myth of "separation of church and state" holds that government

sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are nonadherants [sic] “that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherants [sic] that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.”
(From the 2000 case Santa Fe v. Doe which declared that voluntary student-led prayer at high school football games was "unconstitutional.")

The reasoning here, according to the myth, is that "the Constitution mandates that the government remain secular" (ALLEGHENY COUNTY v. GREATER PITTSBURGH ACLU, 492 U.S. 573 (1989). Not a single person who signed the Constitution would agree with this myth, since they all believed America should be a Christian nation. But as the Allegheny Court admitted:

This Court, however, squarely has rejected the proposition that the [Constitution] is to be interpreted in light of any favoritism for Christianity that may have existed among the Founders of the Republic.

The simple fact is that the Declaration of Independence is clearly a theistic document, which endorses religion in a way that was universally understood by the Christians of the day to be an endorsement of Christianity. No other interpretation is even plausible.

The only mention of religion in the U.S. Constitution is contained in Article 6, which prohibits any religious test as a qualification for holding office and allows appointees to affirm rather than swear an oath. The Constitution is devoid of references to God, Jesus, the bible, or the Christian religion. Nor does the presidential oath of office prescribed in Article 2 include the phrase, "So help me God." If the Framers wanted to create a secular constitution they easily could have done so. It would not have been ratified. The Framers were sensitive to the fact that Christianity was so strong in the various states that any religious statements in the Constitution which were too specific in content might have offended one or the other of the various denominations, resulting in a failure of ratification. There was simply no thought of creating a secular constitution or a secular nation.

A "religious test" is more properly understood to be a "denominational test."

The Constitution is not devoid of religious references.

If the myth of a secular constitution were true, and if the myths about Washington were true, then not only would Washington not have wanted to take his oath of office on a Bible, he should not have been permitted to do so, for fear that it would make atheists uncomfortable. That wasn't the case, and every president since has followed Washington's lead.

The single reference to religion in the Bill of Rights occurs in the First Amendment, which prevents Congress from establishing a religion or interfering with the religious practices of citizens. In other words, the U.S. Constitution guarantees religious freedom, recognizing that belief or unbelief is a matter of personal choice, not governmental mandate. The First Amendment does not prevent Congress from interfering with the religious practices of citizens unless "religious" is defined as "Christian." Just ask the Mormons.

I don't know of a single proponent of the "Christian America" thesis who believes that belief or unbelief can or should be a matter of governmental mandate.

  There are actually FOUR basic documents in American Law. Go to the law library and get the first volume of the U.S. Code and find the section (in the very front) containing the nation's "organic law." The Northwest Ordinance was the blueprint for state constitutions, and most state constitutions contained this phrase from Article III of the Northwest Ordinance:

"Religion [and] morality [are] necessary for good government
and the happiness of mankind"

It would be difficult to imagine a clearer endorsement of religion. This is the soil in which America grew. This is why America is a Christian nation.

Addressing a related issue, the phrase "under God" was inserted in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" was placed on currency and made the national motto by Congress as a cowardly reaction to one of the most embarrassing episodes in American history--the McCarthy hysteria of the early 1950s. The original U.S. motto, selected by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, is E. pluribus unum, meaning "of Many, One," which celebrates American ethnic and cultural diversity. "Under God" is an essential part of America's foundation.

Joe McCarthy, as we now know following the alleged fall of the Soviet Union, was right. There were communists in the State department. 

Venona: What My Father Didn’t Know

McCarthyism -- No Longer a Dirty Word

Bolton has confused the national motto and the national seal.

On the same day that Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, it appointed John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin to draft a national seal. Franklin proposed:

Moses lifting up his wand, and dividing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh in his chariot overwhelmed with the waters. This Motto: "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."

Jefferson proposed:

The children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.

(From a letter to Abigail from John Adams, Aug 16, 1776)

Sounds like miracles to me. And they believed these miracles were apt analogies of the miracles which created this Christian nation.

Finally, it is necessary to note that the Arkansas Constitution excludes citizens who deny the existence of God from holding public office or testifying in court proceedings. This state-sanctioned discrimination against unbelievers obviously violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against religious tests. And while the Arkansas anachronism is clearly rendered invalid by the 14th Amendment, it still should be legally removed because it is an affront to freedom of conscience. Every state in the union excluded atheists from public office both before and after the Constitution was ratified. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits this.

The 14th Amendment was not designed to prohibit this.

 
The myth that America is a Christian nation is flatly contradicted by the eminent historian Daniel Boorstin, who identified the defining characteristic of this nation to be American humanism, which is the legacy of Thomas Jefferson. The United States is built on the concept of community, not on the minor distinctions that separate us. What could Boorstin say that would refute the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Holy Trinity case?

What "community" can Christians have with cannibals? Do Christians have to allow cannibals to kill other human beings?

Boorstin further maintains that the real menace to America today is in the emphasis on our differences, including religious dogma and practice, rather than a focus on our shared values and common beliefs. He points out that the United States does not have a dogmatic ideology, but instead relies on the great institution of the Constitution, which is an entirely secular instrument. There is hardly a more share value and common belief in America than belief in the self-evident truth of the existence of God and of "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." 
Pat Robertson, the former presidential candidate and national spokesman for fundamentalist doctrine, has decreed that only Christians should be allowed to hold political office in America. He obviously doesn't have a high regard for the U.S. Constitution, nor does he appreciate the wisdom of American humanism. His goal is to create a fundamentalist theocracy in America. If Pat Robertson doesn't have high regard for the Constitution, then neither did every state legislature in the nation, and even the U.S. Supreme Court didn't "discover" this constitutional principle for over 170 years. Atheists were not allowed to hold office both before and after the Constitution was ratified. The Founders urged Americans to vote for Christians of the highest moral character.
The national fundamentalist agenda opposes public schools, cultural pluralism, environmental protection, abortion, evolution, gays, women, gun control, and the right to die, and endorses public prayer, censorship, and capital punishment. In other words, fundamentalists reject America's highest values: freedom of choice, the right to personal privacy, and tolerance of and respect for individual differences. Every person who signed the Constitution opposed

The Founding Fathers endorsed and practiced

Bolton simply doesn't understand the heart and soul of America's Founding Fathers.

Do fundamentalists really oppose "freedom of choice?" The question is, "freedom of whose choice?" Did the "fundamentalist" in Vermont who wanted a religious license plate enjoy "freedom of choice?" Do parents who want their children to be taught "religion, morality and knowledge" enjoy freedom of choice?

America is a land of Liberty Under God. Click that link to view hundreds of webpages and lots of primary source evidence showing that America is a Christian nation.

Foundation Life Member Brian Bolton is a psychologist, a Humanist counselor and University Professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas. He now lives in Texas.  
This article was first published in the Northwest Arkansas Times.  
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