A Three-part series
Was Ours to be a Christian Nation?
BY BERNARD KATZ
PART I
Christianity and the Founding Fathers
[The American
Rationalist, January/February, 1984, pp 84-89]
Most of the Founding Fathers were Rationalists-Sam Adams and John Jay
were the exceptions. Rationalism was a way of thinking that cherished
reason as the path to valid knowledge as well as to happiness. It
proclaimed a benevolent, dependable. gentlemanly God and thereby
rejected tradition, dogma, superstition, and authority. Rationalism
moved into the colonial nervous system on the heels of Newtonian
science, but it found the ground already prepared for it by Puritanism
and Anglicanism. The colonial rationalists found their chief sources
of inspiration among men of the latter faith in the writings of such
liberals as John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury; Samuel Clarke
and William Wollaston, Anglican ministers, and John Locke and Sir
Isaac Newton, by their own admission devoted Sons of the Church.
Those who went one step further with Lord Shaftesbury and Anthony
Collins to deprive religion entirely of its dependence on divine
revelation were dangerously close to all-out deism. But this logical
extension of the rationalist position made slow headway among the
conservative and practical minded colonists. Rationalism in colonial
America was Christian rationalism simply because the rich and
well-horn who accepted these ideas were unwilling to sap the solid
foundation of a stable society. Even so skeptical a thinker as
Franklin thought organized Christianity a necessary support of free
and ordered government. And, as we shall see, no prominent colonial
thinker went overboard in his faith in reason.
Even though it was a time when men re-examined all tradition-the
Catholic Church and the Protestant schizmatics as well, the Bible and
divine revelation, the divine right of kings, in short, everything
that stood in the way of happiness, this did not mean that religion
per se was to be destroyed. As Carl Beck er points out in The Heavenly
City of the Eighteenth Century Philosophers, it was unfortunate that
the term "rationalist" took on the connotation of an unbeliever in
contrast to a "man of faith." Such misuse, said Beck er,
"obscures the
fact that reason may be used to support faith as well as destroy it."
Since Christianity was such an integral part of the colonial
consciousness, it was taken for granted that Christianity would be
automatically infused into government. But such Christianity was not
to be sectarian-- not Puritan, nor Baptist, nor Quaker, nor
the Constitution, spoke for all when he said "I am a friend to a
variety of sects because they keep one another in order." In politics
it was: United we stand, divided we fall; in religion: Divided we
stand, unit~ we fall' Therefore there was to be no established
national church; nor was the government to be partial to any sect or
denomination. Hence the First Amendment with its two great clauses:
the Establishment clause and the Free Exercise clause.
When the Founding Fathers and others questioned denominational
religion, it was not because they denied the spiritual urge in man but
because they felt that religion had not kept pace with the progress
displayed in other areas. Though most of them denied the literal
biblical view of creation and mans place in the world, they did
maintain a respect for the Bible as the source of Judeo-Christian
beliefs. They also opposed the existing laws in many states making it
compulsory to attend church. Men should, they held, worship God in any
way they saw fit. They also objected to the kind of privileges which
enabled some clergy to act like royalty.
It is significant that most of our Founding Fathers grew up in a
strong religious atmosphere: many came from Calvinistic family
backgrounds. But in reacting to the "chosen people complex" of the
sects and denominations, they did not turn against the basic religious
ideas or spiritual needs of men. They certainly did not turn against
God or lose respect for religion. We shall see this in such an
iconoclast as Thomas Paine. Rather, it was their very common concern
that they so structure conditions that no one religion would become a
monopoly and where everyone could exercise his religious beliefs
freely. Nor was it their intention to force Christianity upon anyone
through government fiat or even through indirect pressures. That had
been done for a long time by most of the States. Even one as liberal
as Pennsylvania required an oath supporting Christianity -
Not all of the Founding Fathers acknowledged a formal faith, but they
definitely based their views of man upon a deeply religious
foundation. Rights were God-given;" man was "endowed by his Creator;
and there were "natural laws" and "natural rights" derived
from
"nature's God." Above all, the development of a free man necessitated
a moral man, and a moral man could only be molded by religion.
It was obvious that the religious paridigm was to be that of
Protestant Christianity. It could not hE Judaism-there were only a
handful in the colonies. Besides, the Protestant majority considered
themselves as the "New Israel" and the "Chosen People,"
accepting the
warrant for this from their own New Testament. Had not the Jews
deserved the wrath of God for not only rejection the Son of God but by
crucifying him to boot?
Neither could it be Catholicism, In the New World, now populated by
protesting Christians, the roles were completely reversed. Like the
pagans of old, the Catholic Church was considered the latest Babylon.
What other religion could it be? Islam? Buddhism? These were heathen
religions-no reLigions-. to the Protestant colonials.
Finally, it could not be Anglicanism. That would have undone all the
efforts of overthrowing the English king, for he was the titular head
of his church. It would have only brought in through the back door
what had been thrown out of the front.
It had to be Protestant Christianity which was the norm and was
expected to provide the moral and spiritual diapers for infant
America. Although Virginia had started out as Anglican, Massachusetts
as Puritan, Pennsylvania as Quaker. they had gradually developed a
wider conception and a wider liberty within Protestant limits, that
is-a limit defined with nice but unconscious irony by president Ezra
Stiles of Yale College as "universal, equal religious protestant
liberty."
Here are the postage stamp biographies of the Founding Fathers. All
of them were "Christians" of one kind or another. Since some were so
obviously Christian, only a brief mention has to be made. Others Like
Washington. Paine, Madison, Jefferson, and Franklin, who are believed
by many to be non-Christians, will be developed more fully.
John Jay.- ". . - that except the Bible, there is not a true history
in the world."
He was the son of a wealthy businessman, a graduate of King's
College, a successful lawyer and member of a very prominent law firm
in New York, married into one of the most influencial families in New
York. He was intelligent, well-mannered, traditional, and effective.
Jay was truly able to be the "father of American conservatism" and the
"balance wheel of the Revolution.'
At the Philadelphia Convention, Jay became a powerful advocate of
ratification. He was, along with Madison and Hamilton, the third
author of The Federalist papers. With Hamilton, he helped found the
Federalist Party. President Washington appointed John Jay the first
Chief Justice. At the time he was only forty-four!
Jay was a consistent churchgoer. He was one of the early presidents
of the American Bible Society, of which his son William was a founder.
In his retirement, Jay became active in church and religious affairs.
He accepted the literal truth of the Bible and worshipped accordingly.
Yet, he was anxious for the religious liberty of all.
In a letter to Jedidiah Morse on February 28, 1797, he wrote: ". . .
it is to be regretted, but so I believe the fact to be, that except
the Bible, there is not a true history in the world."
While in France, he wrote to John Bristed on April 23, 1811: "I was
at a large party, of which there were several atheists]. They spoke
freely and contemptuously of religion. In the course of it, one of
them asked me if I believed in Christ. I answered that I did, and
that. I thanked God I did. Nothing further passed between me and them
or any of them
on that subject."
That he agreed with the other Founding Fathers in desiring religious
tolerance for all is stated in his letter to the Trinity Church
Corporation: "To you it cannot be necessary to observe, that high
church doctrine are not accommodated to the state of society, nor to
the tolerant principles, nor to the ardent love of liberty which
prevail in our country."
Sam Adams: "Such an education, which leads youth beyond mere outside
show, will impress their minds with a profound reverence of the Deity."
It is doubtful whether any American ever stood so high on a soapbox
or used it to a greater extent than Sam Adams. His cause was
independence and he aimed to make it known. Not for nothing is Sam
Adams known as the 'Father of the Revolution."
His liberal use of biblical authority for his non-theological
opinions is to some extent a reflection of his stern Calvinistic
background. His father helped to found the New South Church.
Of all the Founding Fathers, he was the most intolerant, denouncing
Catholicism as the "idolatry of Christians," and Quakers as "a
sly
artful people."
In a letter written on September 27, 1771, to Arthur Lee. Sam Adams
acknowledged that there should be no established church: ". . .
Inclosed you have a copy of the protests of diverse patriotic
clergymen in Virginia against an Episcopate in America
. . . It is no wonder then that we should be alarmed at the designs of
establishing such a power."
His Christianity comes out in a letter to John Scollay (April 30,
1776): "Revelation assures us that 'Righteousness exalteth a nation'-
Communities are dealt with in this world by the wise and just Ruler of
the Universe. He rewards and punishes them according to their general
character.''
In a fatherly letter written to his daughter Hannah (August 17,
1780), Adams' Christianity is clearly evident: "If this has any
influence on your mind, you know you cannot gratify me so much, as by
seeking most earnestly, the favor of Him who made and supports you-who
will supply you with whatever his infinite wisdom sees best for you in
this world, and above all, who has given us his Son to purchase for us
the reward of eternal life..."
As governor of Massachusetts. Sam Adams has this to say about the
"virtuous education" of youth: "Such an education, which leads
the
youth beyond mere outside show, will impress their minds with a
profound reverence of the Deity - . . It will excite in them a just
regard to Divine Revelation -
Benjamin Franklin: "As to Jesus of Nazareth. . . I think the system
of morals and his religion. . - the best the world ever saw or is likely
Franklin's family were Calvinists, being good friends and neighbors
of the Mather family. His early religious training was as a
Presbyterian. Though he seldom attended any public worship. he did pay
regularly his annual subscription for the support of the only
Presbyterian meeting in Philadelphia.
When he was twenty-two, he wrote in his Articles of Belief and Acts
of Religion that he believed in the existence of a Supreme Being.
Like Jefferson. Franklin wanted to make Scripture more accessible.
One of the things he did was to rewrite the Lord's Prayer: "Heavenly
Father, May all revere thee, and Become thy dutiful children and
faithful subjects. May thy laws by obeyed on earth as perfectly as
they are in heaven. Provide for us this day, as thou hast hitherto
daily done. Forgive us our trespasses, and enable us to forgive those
who offend us. Keep us out of temptation. and deliver us from evil."
It was Franklin who gave the prayer at the Convention.
In his autobiography, Franklin says: ". - - I was never without some
religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of
the Deity: that he made the world and governed it by his Providence;
that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man,
that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and
virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I esteemed the
essentials of every religion; and, being found in all religions we had
in our country. I respected them all.
In a letter to Ezra Stiles (March 9. 1790), Franklin revealed his own
inner beliefs: "Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the
Universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be
worshipped. - , As to Jesus of Nazareth. - - I think the system of
morals and his religion ... the best the world ever saw or is likely
to see -
"All sects here, and we have a great variety, have experienced by
good will in assisting them with subscriptions for building their new
places of worship:
and. as I have never opposed their doctrines, I hope to go out of this
world in peace with them all. . . "
Shortly after, Franklin died at the age of eighty-four. This earthy
Pepys, no sainted More, outlived his enemies, enjoyed his friends, and
delighted younger women.
Alexander Hamilton.- "I charge you to remember that you are a
Christian."
Talleyrand, a diplomat of great perception, selected Hamilton as the
greatest of the "choice and master spirits of the age." To John Adams,
another Founding Father, Hamilton was "the bastard brat of a Scotch
pedlar." Brilliant-for it was he who, at the beginning of the
Revolution, wrote an analysis of the military problems facing the
colonists and outlined a basic military strategy-daring, politically
ruthless, Hamilton had a vision of the United States as a single,
unified nation, rivaling Britain and France. He would have been at
home in the modern industrial age.
In writing a reply to the "Westchester Farmer," a pro-British series
of tracts, Hamilton said; 'The Sacred Rights of Mankind are not to be
rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written,
as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of nature, by the Hand of Deity
itself. . Natural rights to Hamilton were part of man's relationship
to God. "The Supreme Being gave existence to man. -
At one time. Hamilton had some ideas about a "Christian
Constitutional Society." based on ethical values and the clearly
defined framework of representative government.
The day before his fatal duel with Aaron Burr (July 11, 1804). he
sent two letters to his wife in case he was killed. In the first he
wrote: this letter, my dear Eliza, will not be delivered to you,
unless I shall have terminated by earthly career, to begin, as 1
humbly hope. for redeeming grace and divine mercy, a happy
immortality. . . The consolations of religion, my beloved, can alone
support you; and these you have a right to enjoy. Fly to the bosom of
your God, and he comforted."
What God did he have in mind? The answer is in the second letter to
his wife: "The scruples of a Christian have determined me to expose my
own life to an extent, rather than subject myself to the guilt of
taking the life of another.. - I charge you to remember that you are a
Christian."
Thus the Christian scruples of Hamilton led io his own death, for
Hamilton, true to his word, never fired a shot! The duel destroyed
Burr's career, but it enhanced Hamilton's reputation as a tragic
figure with outstanding elements of greatness.
John Adams: 'As far as they are Christians, I wish to fellowship with
them all,"
Cousin to Sam Adams, second president of the United States,
vice-president under Washington, it was he who characterized the post
as "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man
contrived or his imagination conceived."
Like Madison. he toyed with the idea of becoming a minister but
decided for the law. He married Abigail Smith, the daughter of a
minister. She was an extremely able woman in her own right and one of
America's first advocates of women's suffrage.
Said Adams: "Ask me not, then, whether I am a Catholic or Protestant.
Calvinist or Arminian. As far as they are Christians, I wish to
fellow-ship with them all."
He could be as eloquent and rhapsodic about the principles of
Christianity as he could be scathing about the abuses carried on in
its name. As a definition of faith, Christianity to him was the
"brightness of the glory and the express portrait of the character of
the eternal, self-existent, benevolent, all powerful and all merciful
creator, preserver and father of the universe, the first good, first
first, and first fair."
In a letter to Jefferson (November 4, 1816), Adams wrote: "Conclude
not from all this that I have renounced the Christian religion - ..
Far from it. I see every page something to recommend Christianity in
its purity, and something to discredit it. corruptions. - . The ten
commandments and the sermon of the mount contain my religion."
Both Adams and Jefferson died on July 4, 1826. the fiftieth
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a vital document they
both helped to forge.
George Washington "You do well to wish to learn our arts and way of
life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ."
During the War of Independence, when the battle was going badly,
Paine started his series of Crisis papers with the words: "These are
the times that try men's souls." They certainly applied to Washington
who, by 1779, alone had become the symbol of resistance and survival.
A German almanac, in the same year, refers to him as Des Landes Vater,
"The Father of His Country-and rightly so,
Thomas Cumming Hall, in his The Religious Background of the American
Culture, states that Washington attended church, although he never
affiliated formally with any, and that he was profoundly affected by
the morals and teaching of Jesus, so that in this sense he was a
Christian. This is an understatement. As a prosperous Virginia
planter, it was natural for him to become a consistent member and
vestryman of the established (Episcopal) Church. Why, when he was a
member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, he even voted to make all
Christian churches state religions on an equal footing and to support
them by public taxation! In this, he was opposed by Jefferson and
Madison who finally won the field.
During the Revolution, he wrote to Benedict Arnold: ''I also give it
in charge to you to avoid all disrespect to or contempt. of the
religion of the countrv ( i.e., the Catholics in Canada) and its
ceremonies. Prudence, policy, and a true Christian spirit, will lead
us to look with compassion upon their errors without insulting them."
From his headquarters he wrote on July 9. 1776; 'The Hon. Continental
Congress having been pleased to allow a Chaplain to each Regiment,
with the pay of Thirty-three Dollars and one third per month. - that
every officer and man will endeaver to so live, and act, as becomes a
Christian Soldier. . . "
In a speech to the Delaware Chiefs on May 12. 1779. Washington said:
"You do well to wish to learn our arts and way of life, and above all,
the religion of Jesus Christ."
Writing to John Rodgers on June Il. 1783. he expressed his regrets
that it was 1.00 late for Congress to have given a Bible to each
soldier as a gift.
To demonstrate that Washington agreed that a good citizen is to be
molded by the Christian religion, we have this statement in a letter
sent to the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches in the United
States: '... for no man, who is profligate in his morals, or a bad
member of the civil community, can possibly be a true Christian, or a
credit to his own religious society.
I desire you to accept my acknowledgments for your laudable endeavors
to render men sober, honest, and good Citizens, and the obedient
subjects of a lawful government."
Thomas Paine: "I believe in one God, and rio more; and I hope for
happiness beyond this life."
Thomas Paine's relation to the other Founding Fathers was not as
intimate or as sustained as the relations of others were like
.Jefferson and Adams or Washington and Hamilton. But he contributed
mightily to the thinking of his fellow leaders and he helped to create
a climate which allowed the kind of leadership that men like
Washington and Jefferson had to offer. Jefferson had assured him that
he had "labored, and with as much effect as any man living" to advance
'the original sentiments of democracy.
No man of the time felt more deeply about the
issue of national and personal - including religious- freedom than did
Paine.
No man could have been more mistaken than Theodore Roosevelt when he
called Paine a "filthy little atheist." Paine was willing to travel
anywhere in the world to fight atheism and to prove that God exists.
His crusade was based on the love of God and man, yet he was flayed as
an infidel and an enemy of religion. What Paine did was to war against
the creeds of the Christian churches; he felt that no proof of God was
necessary beyond what men could easily discern with their God-given
senses.
Later in his career, he founded the "Theophilarithropy" movement in
France to combat the widespread atheism there. (We have seen that John
Jay came up against this same outlook,) Theophilanthropy, Paine
explained, was based on the "existence of God and the immortality of
the soul." The term is compounded three Greek words-God, Love, Man.
The purpose of the Theophilanthropists, he said. was to rescue
religion from its two principal enemies - religious fanatics and
atheists. Their weapon against the fanatics was to be reason and
morality; against the atheists, natural philosophy.
In his The Age of Reason, he wrote: "1 believe in one God, and no
more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life." And "I do not
believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman
church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant
church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."
He held that his political and religious principles were derived from
his native Quaker ideal of brotherhood. He was, after all, the son of
a Quaker corset rnaker. Thus The Age of Reason was written from the
point of view of a Quaker who did not believe in revealed religion,
but who held that "all religions are in their nature mild and benign"
when not associated with political systems.
He said his The Age of Reason was aimed to keep France from atheism
by proving that Newtonianism, which showed the orderly design of
nature and of the cosmos, presupposed a Divine Designer, one God.
Paine saw Jesus as a most amiable philanthropist. Worship, to him,
consisted of service to mankind. Paine attacked politically
established churches in so far as they preached that the masses should
be resigned to miseries which government or science could eliminate.
The contemporary charges that Paine was an apostle of lawless anarchy
and atheism are untenable. In order to turn people against Paine's
political liberalism, the monarchist supporters of the Church of
England and of Caivinistic federalism in America misrepresented his
The Age of Reason as the "atheist's Bible," full of blasphemy.
Paine expressed quite clearly what is now the heart of our First
Amendment: "Since then there is so much doubt and uncertainty about
the Bible, some asserting and others denying it to be the Word of God,
it is best that the whole matter come out...
'A better time cannot offer than while the Government, patronizing no
one sect or opinion in preference to another, protects equally the
rights of all; and certainly every man must spurn the idea of an
ecclesiastical tyranny, engrossing the rights of the press. and
holding it free only for itself."
James Madison ". . - the policy of the Bill is adverse to the
diffusion of the light of Christianity."
James Madison showed up at the Constitutional Convention eleven days
early; this was a man who liked to be prepared. Long study had given
him a prophetic quality. In a letter to Washington as early as April
he had outlined the most important points that were to be debated in
the Convention. Madison was a small man, slight of figure, "no
bigger," someone said, "than half a piece of soap.' He had a quiet
voice. In meetings, members called out, asking him to speak louder, or
the clerk omitted parts of his speech. Our fourth President was the
scholar par excellence of the Convention and is rightly known as the
"Father of the Constitution." He was one of the authors of The
Federalist papers.
Like many of his eminent contemporaries, Madison studied for the
ministry at the College of N.J. (now Princeton). Under a particularly
fine teacher, John Witherspoon, he developed an awareness that a broad
base of knowledge was necessary for serious religious studies. As a
graduate student, he excelled in his religious studies, especially Hebrew.
Madison took part in shaping the historic Constitution of Virginia.
With its clear statement on human rights, it served as an inspiration
eleven years later at the Constitutional Convention. The first draft
of the article dealing with religious freedom was drawn up by Madison.
Here, from the Journal of the Virginia Convention, is part of what he
said:
"That Religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of
discharging it .." What religion is Madison referring to? The answer
lies in the last sentence of this same paragraph: "And that it is the
mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and
charity, towards all."
In his famous "Memorial and Remonstrance" against religious
assessments (he opposed Washington on this), Madison said in Section
12 '(We remonstrate against the said Bill) Because, the policy of the
Bill is adverse to the diffusion of the light of Christianity.''
Writing the first proposed draft of the Bill of Rights, he strongly
favored the wording "an establishment of national religion" because he
and many others were concerned that "one sect might obtain preeminence
and establish a religion."
The relationship of the Federal Government to religion was not a
major issue at the Convention, By this time, the relationship had
clarified itself in most states, as in the case of Virginia. Hence the
paucity of comment by Madison relating to this subject. But when we
examine Jefferson, we will see that both had no objections to allowing
religious groups to freely mix and use the campuses of secular
universities, as well as to undergird morality with creedless
Christianity.
Thomas Jefferson "I am a Christian, but I am
a
Christian in the only sense in which I believe
Jesus wished
anyone to be
If a man is known by the books he reads and keeps, then the library
at Monticello can tell us a great deal about our third President. He
read time and again Hume, Adam Smith. Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau,
Blackstone, Bolingbroke. Voltaire, Montesquieu. Buffon. and Palladio.
Reading to Jefferson was not a substitute for original thinking but
the vital process for generating thought. When ask~ ed whether there
were any sources for the Declaration of Independence, he replied that
there was nothing purely original about the Declaration and that its
sources were in history itself.
Jefferson's parents were pioneers of the Anglican faith. Much of his
early schooling was under religious auspices. His first schooling was
under the Rev. Douglas A. Scot, a man of strong Calvinist convictions.
Later on he was taught by the Rev. James Maury, a descendent of the
Hugenots. At seventeen, Jefferson entered William and Mary College,
coming under one of the strongest influences of his life, Dr. William
Small, a young scholar from Scotland. It was Small who helped
Jefferson build a personal library that is still one of the finest of
its kind.
To his good friend Benjamin Rush, Jefferson wrote that his religious
beliefs were the "result of a lifetime of inquiry and reflection, are
very different from the Anti-Christian system attributed to me by
those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of
Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of
Jesus Christ. I am a Christian, but I am a Christian in the only sense
in which I believe Jesus wished anyone to be, sincerely attached to
his doctrine in preference to all others; ascribing to him all human
excellence, and believing that he never claimed any other." This
letter, written on April 21. 1803, came with Jefferson's syllabus, or
outline, or his estimation of the moral doctrines of Jesus with those
of other ancient philosophers. In this Syllabus it is noteworthy that
Jefferson writes under II. Jews. 1: "Their system was Deism; that is,
the belief in one only God.' Later on in his comparison, Jefferson
says of Jesus: "He corrected the Deism of the Jews. confirming them in
their belief of one only God, and giving them juster notions of his
attributes and government."
Like Franklin, he was intensely interested in making the moral system
of Christianity more accessible to the common man, This led him to
write The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, a book which has been
much reprinted and is available today.
In a letter to his old comrade in arms, John Adams. he wrote on May
5,1817, that 'deism taught us by Jesus of Nazareth, in which we all
agree, constitute a true religion (and that) without it, this would
be, as you again say. 'something not fit to be named, even indeed, a
hell.' "That is quite a connection Jefferson draws between
"Jesus" and
"deism!"
With respect to federal governmental actions involving religion, but
not involving the establishment of a national religion, Jefferson was
inconsistent. He did not like national Thanksgivings and, unlike his
predecessors, declined to proclaim them. On the other hand, President
Jefferson did not hesitate to sign bills appropriating money for the
salaries of chaplains in both Houses of Congress and in the Armed
Forces. He did the same with appropriations for the support of
religion, religious education and a priest among the Kaskaskia
Indians. who were mostly Catholic. He advocated the maintenance by the
tax-supported College of William and Mary of "a perpetual mission
among the Indian tribes" which, among other things, would "instruct
them in the principles of Christianity.''
Jefferson was profoundly convinced that morality and religion was
fundamentally necessary for a good society and a sound nation. In
1822. as Rector of his cherished University of Virginia, he gave his
views on religious education in this public institution:
"In the same report of the commission of 1818 it was stated by them
that in conformity with the principles of constitution which place all
sects of religion on an equal footing. . - they had not proposed that
any professorship of divinity should be established in the university
. . .
It was not, however, to be understood that instruction in religious
opinion and duties was meant to be precluded by the public
authorities, as indifferent to the interests of society. On the
contrary, the relations which exist between man and his maker, and the
duties resulting from these relations, are the most interesting and
important to every human being, and the most incumbent on his study
and investigation."
Jefferson goes on to say that a promising remedy been proposed, and
that the visitors, of whom edison was one, look favorably upon it.
This solution was to invite various churches or sects to establish
their own religious schools "on the confines of the university" and to
offer them every accommodatIon and cooperation, including library
facilities and the use of a room in the library for worship according
to whatever rite was preferred. "Such an arrangement,'~ he concludes,
"would complete the circle of useful sciences embraced by this
institution. and would fill the chasm now existing, on principles
which would leave inviolate the constitutional freedom of religion,
the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights."
Such was the supposed "high and impregnable" wall erected by the
First Amendment between the Church and the State according to the
understanding of Jefferson. Instead of a "wall" we find rather a
'curbstone"!
As Jefferson wrote to Timothy Pickering on February 27, 1821: "No one
sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason in its
advances toward rational Christianity."
In this he was speaking for the majority of the Founding Fathers who
did not profess any formal creed. Others like Jay, Hamilton, and Sam
Adams spoke as members of creedal Christian groups. In one way or
another, they all represented some shade of Christianity. To them, it
was quite natural that this was to be a Christian nation.
To be continued. A bibliography will he given at the end of the
third part.
SOURCE: THE American Rationalist, Jan/Feb 1984, pp 84-89.
Was Ours to be a Christian Nation?
Christianity and the
Founding Fathers
BY BERNARD KATZ
Part II: The Colonial Mind
[The American
Rationalist, March/April, 1984, pp 7-10]
The Colonial Mind was thoroughly Christian in its approach to
education, culture, philosophy, morals, economics, politics and
yes-even its science! At the same time it was constantly evolving a
more secular outlook. As the colonies grew toward maturity and
liberty, the Christian religion became less influential. Yet, the
decline was only relative; Christianity remained the major determinant
of every class and section. Even Liberty, an obsession of the Colonial
mind and therefore the greatest prize of all, was achieved by relying
on its English heritage on the one hand and Christianity on the other.
The first aspect of the Colonial blind that moat be considered is its
system of education. How did it conform to the class structure and to
what extent was it directed by the Christian religion? It should come
as no surprise that education was determined by the inequality of the
classes: the kind sad length of a child's education was toed by the
statue of its parents. Most children were cut off completely by custom
and finances from secondary and higher education. Most men who thought
at all about the subject agreed with William Smith of Philadelphia
that each social group-the "gentleman," those "design'd for the
Mechanical Professions," and "all the remaining People of the
Country"-should receive a different type of education. Thus
educational democracy was not even a gleam in the eye of the Colonial
Mind.
But the Christian religion directing education was. Although
education, even in early Massachusetts, tried to include many things,
its foremost purpose was to support revealed religion. Most
institutions of education ware begun and maintained by religious
groups for religious ends. The Puritan ministers of New England and
the Anglican missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel left their indelible marks. Even men as skeptical as Colder,
end Franklin considered the Christian ethic the common element of
education for every class.
Besides the home befog the primary source of education, there were the
semipublic schools of New England, the parochial schools of New York
and Pennsylvania, the "old-field" schools of Virginia, and the
persons, masters, tutors, and private schools. All devoted moat of
their energy to the five R's-Reading, 'Riting,' 'Rithmetic, Rules of
Virtuous Conduct, and Religion.
Higher education also reflected the dominance of religion. Of the
seven colleges in the colonial period - Harvard (1636), William and
Mary (1693), Yale (1791). New Jersey, now Princeton (1747).
Philadelphia, now Pennsylvania (1749), King's, now Columbia (1754),
and Rhode Island, now Brown (1764)--all but Pennsylvania were founded
by Christians end supported Christianity. The stated goal of most of
the students to become ministers gave a definite Christian cast to all
parts of the curriculum
Culture-the creation, enjoyment, and criticism of literature and the
arts-was not uppermost in the Colonial Mind. How could it be? Not many
had the money, the leisure or the motivation; a civilization had to be
hacked out of the wilderness. Moat colonists would have agreed with
the New England author who penned: "The Plow-man that raiseth grain is
more serviceable to Mankind, then the Painter who draws only to please
the Eye."
Prose and poetry, especially when instructive end inspirational, were
esteemed by the Colonial Mind. Books end periodicals, along with other
aspects of culture, were imported from England in astounding
quantities. Booksellers end subscription libraries, like the Library
Company of Philadelphia, did a landslide business, greatly lifting the
level of culture and understanding.
Theological argumentation, the classics, history, moral essays and
heroic verse were the forma of literature most enthusiastically
imported. Next to the Bible, the almanac was the most important
reading matter. The almanacs communicated, among other things, the
imported wisdom of Newton and the homespun morality of Franklin to the
common people. What did their betters read? Whet were the European
origins of the Colonial Mind's more educated and influential?
The dramatic shift caved the Renaissance marks the beginning of
modern times. "Renaissance" means "rebirth," end the men of
the 15th
and 16th centuries believed that they were experiencing a re, birth of
the learning and spirit of classical antiquity. Rejecting the medieval
focus upon God, they be came "humanists," placing men as the center of
their concern. The medieval crucifix depicted a Godlike Christ serene
despite his wounds; the Renaissancee presented Jesus the man, writhing
in agony.
Along with the Renaissance came the Reformation. Men with the new
Renaissance view of man and his world mold no longer easily accept the
authority of the medieval Church. As the Renaissance tried to revive
the civilization of Greece and Rome, so the Reformation sought to
restore the early Christian church before the encrustation of the
Catholic Church had altered it. When Merlin Luther (1483-1546)
insisted upon "justification by faith alone," be was not so much
introducing a new doctrine as rejecting pert of the old.
John Calvin (1509-64) ranks next to Luther as a leader of the
Reformation. His stress on predestination was merely a doctrinal
elaboration of Luther's insistence on justification by faith alone. By
arguing that God foreordained all that was to happen, Calvin seemed to
disregard a basic assumption of the Church, that men had free will.
His clear and persuasive reasoning had great appeal, and his teachings
spread to most of western Europe and even across the channel to England.
However much the men of the Renaissance and the Reformation might
reject the institutions of the Middle Ages, there was one practice
that was almost sacrosanct: the union of the church and state. Those
whom the church condemned as schismatics or heretics were punished,
tortured or executed by the state. That is, until Luther and Calvin
came along. Luther insisted that every man could interpret the Bible
for himself, not needing the guidance of a Catholic priest. Thus he
laid the basis for the widespread revolt against the Roman Catholic
Church and the continuing fragmentation of Christianity in the Western
world. If every man could, in effect, be his own priest, it was
inevitable that differences of opinion would arise.
And so they did, leading to a war between Lutherans and Catholics.
The subsequent Peace of Augsburg (15551 granted each ruler the right
to determine the religion of his subjects. In France civil war also
broke out between Catholic and Calvinist (Huguenot) claimants to the
throne. Calvinism entered England by way of Holland during the reign
of Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603). Although Elizabeth was willing to allow
both Calvinists and the more conservative Christians to remain with
the Church of England, she would not permit more than one church.
Nor would the reformers. The English Calvinists received the name
"Puritans" because they wanted to "purify" the Church of
England of
Catholic vestiges. If Elizabeth would not do what they wanted, they
thought, maybe her successor, James I, would. But this did not happen
either, forcing some to leave England to found their own communities
in the New World.
Meanwhile, John Knox introduced Calvinism into Scotland and the
Scotch Presbyterians brought it with them where they settled in the
middle and southern colonies. The Dutch institutionalized Calvinism in
their Reformed Church in New York. Thus John Calvin's ideas spread up
and down the eastern seaboard of North America. Moreover, in contrast
to Europe, Calvinism represented the orthodox belief instead of that
of a troublesome minority. Of what importance was the Christian
religion in the form of Calvinism to the Colonial Mind?
The greatest! Long ago Horace White observed that the Constitution
"is based upon the philosophy of Hobbes and the religion of Calvin."
How so? Because "it assumes that the natural state of mankind is a
state of war, and that the carnal mind is at enmity with God." The men
who drew up the Constitution had a vivid Calvinistic sense of human
evil and damnation, believing with Hobbes that men are selfish and
contentious. Having seen human nature on display in the market place,
the courtroom, the Legislative chamber, and in every secret path and
alleyway where wealth and power were courted, these men of affairs
felt they knew it in all its frailty.
This may seem strange to men who had also inherited the humanistic
tendencies of the Renaissance, but a little eavesdropping on the
Constitution makers will verify this. Edmund Randolph said to the
Convention that the evils from which the country suffered originated
in "the turbulence and follies of democracy," and that "the
people . .
. have as little to do as may be about the government." George
Washington urged the delegates not to produce a document of which they
themselves could not approve simply in order to "please the people."
And Madison once objected during the Convention the Gouveneur Morris
was "forever inculcating the utter political depravity of men and the
necessity of opposing one vice and interest to another vice and
interest." Yet Madison himself in Federalist Number 51 later set forth
an excellent statement on the same theme.
Thus a system of checks and balances was coldly and deliberately
incorporated into the Constitution, thereby proving that the Colonial
Mind was certainly set by the theology of Calvin. Here's what Calvin
had to say about "original sin" in section V of his Institutes of the
Christian Religion (1536): "Therefore, when the Divine image in him
(Adam) was obliterated and he was punished . . . he suffered not
alone, but involved all his posterity with him. and plunged them into
the same miseries. This is that hereditary corruption which the
fathers call original sing meaning by sin, the deprivation of a nature
previously good and pure . . ."
Calvin even supplied the fundamental rationalization for rebellion
which the Colonial Mind wielded as its very own sword against the
Mother Country. In section XXXII of his Institutes, Calvin assures us:
"But in the obedience which we have shown to be due to the authority
of governors, it is always necessary to make one exception, and that
is entitled to our first attention,-that it do not seduce us from
obedience to him (God) . . . If they command anything against him
(God), it ought not have the least attention . . . And that our hearts
may not fail us, Paul stimulates us with another consideration-that
Christ has redeemed us at the immense price which our redemption cost
him, that we may not be submissive to the corrupt desires of men, much
less be slaves to their impiety . . .
A more Christian justification for revolution cannot be imagined. The
hard theocracy of Calvin also sprouted democratic buds. Men who chose
their own pastors soon claimed to choose their own governors, so that
the self-ruled congregation became the self governed municipality. For
men whose only authority was the Bible, reading was all-important;
hence the rise of schooling and the Protestant colleges already
discussed above. (Among the library of books Mr. Harvard left his
college was a well-worn set of Calvin's Institutes.) The myth of
Calvin's divine election justified itself in the formation of the
Colonial Mind which made America.
Religion was not the only aspect of life affected by the Renaissance
and the Reformation: modern Science is also born on the wings of the
new free inquiry. The world-view of the 16th century encouraged men to
leave the monastery and explore the world. By the next century, such
explorations had accelerated to the point of producing a new concept
of the universe. Not only had Columbus and his followers altered all
established terrestrial relationships and doubled the amount of known
land, but Copernicus (1473-1543) and Galileo (1564-1642) drastically
revised the accepted notions of the place of the earth in the solar
system.
At the end of the 17th century, Isaac Newton (1642-1727) capped the
scientific revolution. In his Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy (1687), Newton developed a "law of gravity" which provided
the keystone that the universe was governed by "natural law." Newton's
work had a tremendous impact upon subsequent generations. Now the
world appeared to be a much more orderly place, one governed by "laws"
which man, by using his reason, could discern.
That Newton was a highly religious Christian is easily demonstrated.
Here are a few of his thoughts as he wrote them in his "General
Scholium," or summation which he added, in 1713, to the original text
of his book:
"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could
only proceed from the council and dominion of an intelligent and
powerful Being. And if the fixed stars are the centers of other like
systems, these, being formed by the likewise council, must all be
subject to the dominion of One. . ."
After a great deal more about God, Newton ends his "General Scholium"
with: "And thus much concerning God: to discourse of whom from the
appearance of things, does certainly belong to Natural Philosophy."
Not only is Newton's rationalization of his whole system dependent,
on the last analysis, on God, but his Principles combined with
Calvin's Christian theology of "original sin" in the minds of those
who built into the Constitution its "checks and balances." These
facets were infused in all colonial American thought. This is how
Jefferson states it: "I dare say that in time all these (states) as
well as their central government, like the planets revolving around
their common sun, acting and acted upon according to their respective
weights and distances, will produce that beautiful equilibrium on
which our Constitution is founded, and which I believe it will exhibit
to the world in a degree of perfection, unexampled but in the
planetary system itself."
This would not be the first time that two opponents became
bed-partners! Cotton Mather, noted Puritan divine (and whose family
were friends of Ben Franklin's parents) helped spread Newton's ideas
in The Christian Philosopher (1721), for they reaffirmed the
traditional doctrines of Christianity. In this book, Mather includes
an argument for the existence of God based upon the design evidenced
in nature-an argument very similar to Newton's.
While Newton revolutionized man's view of the cosmos, another
Englishman, John Locke (16321704), altered drastically man's view of
himself. In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), Locke
broke with the dominant view of the 17th century that man was born
with innate ideas implanted by God. Instead, he argued, knowledge was
the product of reason's acting upon data absorbed by the senses from
the environment. Thus the environment became crucial to the shaping of
human behavior. No longer did heredity (or original sin) doom man to a
life of misery. Given the proper environment, man could eliminate
evil. Change a man's environment and the man himself would change,
providing a utopia without war, crime or insanity and a humanism of
man's appreciation of his own potential. Or so believed the followers
of John Locke.
Earlier in this essay it was noted that Horace White observed that
the Constitution was based upon the philosophy of Hobbes and the
religion of Calvin. It so happens that Hobbes' political philosophy
and his Christian theology enters the stream of the Colonial Mind
through Locke. One of the fundamental assumptions in Locke's Treatises
of Mil Government (1690) is Hobbes' postulated "state of nature" in
which man lived before the existence of government constantly at war
with one another and where life was "solitary, mean, nasty, brutish,
and short." To escape this condition, men met together and entered
into a "social contract" to submit to the rule of a sovereign.
That God is quite important in this "social contract" is also
developed by Locke in his Treatises. There is no better evidence of
Locke's influence on the Colonial Mind than our Declaration of
Independence. Its opening statement of political philosophy is so
clearly drawn from Locke that it requires no proof beyond the mere
similarities of phraseology. Even before 1776, however, Locke's
doctrines of government founded by compact suffused American political
theory.
Once again there was a convergence between Christian theology and
political theory. The Puritans formed their "Mayflower Compact" on the
Old Testament theology developed by Calvin; political ideas starting
with Hobbes and continuing through Locke-who dresses them up in
Newton's "laws of nature," calling them "the social
contract"-merge
and form the overriding principles of the Constitution. Sam Adams,
"the father of the American Revolution," refers to these very same
ideological sparks in a pamphlet printed by the Boston town meeting in
1772 to arouse the colonists to the dangers inherent in the ministry's
attempts to make crown officials independent of colonial control. Says
Adams, in part: "All Men have a Right to remain in a State of Nature
as long as they please; And in case of intolerable Oppression, Civil
or Religious, to leave the Society they belong to, and enter into
another." Earlier in his pamphlet he calls "the Duty of Self
Preservation (the) commonly called first law of Nature." And remember,
Sam Adams was a died in-the-wool Calvinist Congregationalist!
Taken together, the work of Locke and Newton ushered in a period of
intellectual history known as the Enlightenment or The Age of Reason.
Spurred by these two giants, people developed a tremendous faith in
the efficacy of human reason. Newton's ap parent solution of some of
the most perplexing riddles of the universe led men to conclude that
the same methods could solve other problems. They conceived of a
static universe, harmonious in all its parts and governed by eternal
natural laws laid down by God himself who gave man his reasoning
powers whereby man could discover simply by the use of "right reason."
This "natural law" governed not only the physical universe but man's
social activities as well.
Reason, once the explainer of authority, became the test of
authority. In the Middle Ages, faith had preceeded reason-men used
their reason to explain doctrine which they first accepted on faith.
In the 18th century, however, men reversed the order: the followers of
the Enlightenment believed only that which met the test of reason.
Even though God became less necessary than in the Age of Faith, he
was still important. There still had to be a Watchmaker, a Creator of
men, a First Cause. God was not as anthropomorphic as before, nor as
blood-thirsty and vengeful, but he certainly was the Being around
which everything moved. And God's incarnation in the man Jesus Christ
was thought to have produced "the most elevated system of morals the
world has ever known."
There is no doubt about it: the Colonial Mind was infused with
Protestant Christianity fed by all those Christian authors who labored
in Science and Political Theory.
How this Christian ethos displayed itself in the fundamental
documents of our country is the theme for Part Ill.
To Be Continued
Was Ours to be a Christian Nation?
BY BERNARD KATZ
Part Ill: Christianity and the Basic
American Documents
In the last article, "The Colonial Mind," it was demonstrated that
the colonials were disciples of the leaders of the European
Enlightenment. No better example can be given than that of Ben
Franklin. He worked his way into Deism by devouring the tracts of
English controversialists and perfected his knowledge of modem science
by studying the English Newtonians. He greatly admired Voltaire for
his good sense, sound reasoning, and amusing wit, Even in his amours
he turned to Europe. In France, he met the widow of Helvetius and
offered her what he thought was a logical match. After all, he said,
he and Helvetius had loved the same studies, "the same friends, and
the same wife!"
And so it was with the rest of our Founding Fathers. They all
accepted the new synthesis of Newtonian science, Lockean psychology
and politics, and Calvinistic theology as it worked out in practice in
the New Israel. How does the Christian thread weave itself into our
basic American documents?
One of the golden principles of the Revolution was that of
equality-that all men were born equal, that they were equal in the
sight of God, equal before the law, and therefore should have equal
privileges and opportunities insofar as government can assure these.
The basic American documents presented here will demonstrate the
infusion of Christianity. We will begin at the very beginning, with
the Mayflower Compact and The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut-which
have the honor of being the first written constitutions.
The Mayflower Compact (Nov. 1620? was written when the ship arrived
off Cape Cod, carrying the Separatists (or Pilgrims) from Holland. As
Bradford tells us . . . they picked up some recruits in England who
were "an undesirable lot" and boasted that they were not under the
jurisdiction of the Company but "would use their owne libertie." Thus
at the very beginning of our history, the settlers were confronted
with the problem of liberty versus order. They solved it by taking for
granted that authority was inherent in them and drew up the Compact-an
extension to civil conditions of the customary church covenent and of
the sea covenent. As the Plymouth settlers were never able to get a
charter, the Mayflower Compact remained the only constitution of the
colony and therefore is notable as the first written constitution of
the New World. It starts off:
"In the Name of God, Amen... Having undertaken for the Glory of God,
and Advancement of the Christian Faith . . . a voyage to plant the
first colony . . . .Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the
Presence of God and one another, covenent and combine ourselves
together into a civil body . . ."
Equally recognized as the first written constitution is The
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. In 1636 the Rev. Thomas Hooker led
his New Town congregation from Massachusetts Bay westward to the
Connecticut River. In 1639, the others who had followed later joined
together with Hooker's people and drew up the Fundamental Orders. They
read in part:
"Forasmuch as it hath pleased the Almighty God by the wise
disposition of his divine providence so to Order and dispose of
things.. . And well knowing where a people are gathered together the
word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace and union of such a
people there should be an orderly and decent Government established
according to God... to mayntayne and preserve the liberty and purity
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess . . . "
The Christian permeation of other and much later state constitutions
can also be easily demonstrated:
The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 required each legislator to swear:
"I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the Universe,
the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked. And I do
acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given
by Divine inspiration."
And this by a more than liberal Quaker establishment who firmly
believed in religious tolerance!
The Delaware Constitution of 1776 required public officials to swear:
"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; and I
do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be
given by divine inspiration,"
The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 required state officials to swear:
"I believe the Christian religion and have a firm persuasion of its
truth."
After the Compact and the Fundamental Orders, and contemporary with
those state constitutions which have just been quoted from, is the
Virginia Bill of Rights (June 12, 1776), This remarkable document was
drafted by George Mason. However, the final paragraph on religious
freedom was written by the fiery Patrick Henry and is notable for its
Christian ethical tone. Its overall wording is very similar to that of
the Declaration of Independence. Since we are interested only in its
Christian overtones, here are three paragraphs of the document. Note
the phrases "tO be held sacred," "the blessings of liberty,"
and "the
free exercise of religion."
"That in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man
and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, and
ought to be held sacred.
"That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be
preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice,
moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by frequent
recurrence to fundamental principles.
"That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the
manner of discharging it. can be directed only by reason and
conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are
equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the
dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to
practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other."
Very closely allied to this in sentiment is the famous Declaration of
Independence (July 4.1776). It was drawn up by Thomas Jefferson and
reworked slightly by a committee. This, along with the Constitution
with its Bill of Rights, provide the viscera for all our documents.
Note the phrases "nature's God," "endowed by their Creator,"
"appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world," and "protection of
Divine Providence" when you read it, Since this vital document is
readily available, I will not reproduce the pertinent sections.
The Articles of Confederation (March 1, 1781) were drawn up by the
second Continental Congress. It decided, before it adopted the
Declaration of Independence, to create a committee to draw up articles
of confederation to draw the 13 colonies together. John Dickinson
furnished the basic plan, Although Congress adopted the Articles on
Nov. 15, 1777, they did not become binding until their ratification by
the thirteenth state, Maryland, on March 1, 1781. Because they did not
fill the need, they were replaced by the Constitution.
Here is the significant sentence in which the Judeo-Christian God is
acknowledged as the motivating force in drawing up the Articles:
"AND WHEREAS it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to
incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in
congress. to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said
articles of confederation and perpetual union,"
The Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty (Jan. 16, 1786) was
introduced by Jefferson in the Virginia House of Delegates in June,
1779. Arousing bitter opposition, it was not passed until 1786.
Jefferson ranked this as high as his Declaration of Independence. This
key document is flooded with Christianity. including a veiled
reference to Jesus Christ. The first few statements of Section I will
easily demonstrate this:
"Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their
own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their
minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested
his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether
insusceptible of restraints; that all attempts to influence it by
temporal punishments, or burt hens, or by civil incapacitations, tend
only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanest, and a departure from
the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord of both
and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was
in his Almighty power to do -.
The lack of space prevents me from copying out more of this vital
document displaying Jefferson's thinking. The next document to be
considered is The Northwest Ordinance (July 13, 1787) which provided
for the government of the vast territory northwest of the Ohio River
and which was to be divided into 3 to 5 districts. These were to be
made territories and then admitted as states. The Ordinance was
enacted by the last Congress functioning under the Articles of
Confederation and reenacted by the first Congress operating under the
new Constitution. The first sentence of Article 3 furnishes us with
20/20 vision of the importance of religion to the makers of the newest
supreme law of the land:
"Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the moans of
education shall forever be encouraged. . .'
The Constitution of the U.S. (March 4, 1789), minus a Bill of Rights,
was adopted by the Constitutional Convention on Sept. 17,1787. It
became effective on March 4, 1789. when the ninth state ratified it.
The Bill of Rights was passed by Congress on Sept. 25, 1789 and
ratified on Dec. 15, 1791.
It has always been pointed out that, unlike the other basic
documents, it omits any positive reference to religion. The reason for
this is that the basic religious and philosophical references were all
stated in the Declaration of independence and. therefore, there was no
need to repeat them. It has already been shown that the "religious
clause' in the Northwest Ordinance was totally acceptable to the new
Congress.
For those who think the "secular" tone of the Constitution reflected
the religious detachment or even anti-religious bias on the part of
the Founding Fathers, we will prove that they are completely in error,
An analysis of the firm and even Christian fervor of our Founding
Fathers will be developed in the next segment.
Along these same critical lines, it has been noted that no prayers
were ever offered at the Constitutional Convention. That this is
completely erroneous is demonstrated by Franklin's plea for a prayer a
few days before the 4th of July. At a moment of tension and
discouragement, the aged Franklin moved that the Convention hear a
prayer which he then read with a.wavering voice. After he had
finished, Dr. High Williamson of North Carolina said that the reason
for the lack of prayers was that the Convention had no funds to have a
minister. Edmund Pendleton. governor of Virginia and delegate to the
Convention, suggested that on the 4th of July they all could go to church,
Regarding the religious clause of the First Amendment, Leo Pfeffer
cites the action taken in the Senate on two proposed formulations
which would have limited the prohibition to legislation discriminating
in favor of particular religious views. These amendments were voted
down and Pfeffer offers this action as evidence that the Senate
intended to forbid also non-discriminatory aid to religion. But this
will not hold up. For Wilber Katz points out just six days later the
Senate approved another version which forbade only laws "establishing
articles of faith or a mode of worship," Dr. Katz concludes that "it
is very difficult to say what the Senate finally intended when it
approved the version which was ratified by the states."'
In view of the religious sentiments in the Declaration of
Independence which furnished the underpinnings for the Constitution
and the acceptance of the religious clause in The Northwest Ordinance
plus the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers as well as the
delegates to the Convention, it seems that Jefferson's statement of a
"wall of separation" is merely hyperbola In our last article,
sufficient evidence about Jefferson's response to religion and the
state will be brought out to show that this is so.
Washington's First Inaugural Address (April 30, 1789) is notable for
the light it sheds on the reason assigned by the Father of his Country
for winning the War of Independence. Here is Washington's
acknowledgement that it was God himself who determined the outcome:
"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 council of nations, and whose providential aids can
supply every human defect, and 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 those 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; and in the important revolution just accomplished
. . ."
Washington's Farewell Address (Sept. 17, 1796) is read every year on
Feb.22 in Congress. Here are the last two paragraphs in which the
"guidance of God" is firmly connected to freedom:
"This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts
of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under
the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights
everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those
rights or to keep them. Our strength is in our unity of purpose.
"To that high concept there can be no end save victory."
It is fitting to finish this article with the evidence that this same
religious tone pealed through the inaugural addresses of three of our
Founding Fathers who also became president. The shadow of Washington's
example is very much over his successor, John Adams, who gave his
inaugural address on March 4, 1797:
"I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of
a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed
resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the
best recommendations for the public service...
"And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the
Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of
virtuous liberty, continue his blessing upon this nation. ."
Jefferson's closing sentence of his first inaugural (March 4, 1801)
makes the same appeal:
"And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the
universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable
issue for your peace and prosperity."
He also expresses the same Christian sentiments in his second
inaugural (March 4, 1805):
"I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are,
who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land . ."
James Madison, in his first inaugural (March 4, 1809), followed in
the footsteps of both Washington and Jefferson:
"In these my confidence will under every difficulty be best placed,
next to that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the
guardianship of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny
of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to
this rising Republic . . ."
Such was the Christian heritage shared by all the Founding Fathers
and infused in the basic documents of our history.
J. Cogley, editor, Religion in America (Meridian. 1968, pbk.) p. 101.
Boorstin, Daniel: The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson. Boston, Beacon
Press, 1960 (pbk.).
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Bros., 1951.
Corwin, Edward S.: The Constitution and What It Means Today,
Princeton, N.J., Princeton Univ. Press. 12th ed., 2nd printing, 1961.
Cousins. Norman: "In God We Trust": The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of
the American Founding Fathers, N.Y., Harper and Bros., 1968.
Gay, Peter: The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, VoL II: The Science
of Freedom, N.Y., Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
Gunther, Gerald: Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials, 9th edition,
Mineola, N.Y., The Foundation Press, 1975.
Healey. Robert M.: Jefferson on Religion in Public Education, New
Haven, Yale Univ. Press, 1962.
Hofstadter, Richard: The American Political Tradition and the Men Who
Made It, N.Y., Vintage Books, 1948, lpbk.).
Katz, Wllber: Religion and American Constitutions, Evanston, Ill.,
Northwestern Univ. Press, 1964.
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Press, 1964.
Locke, John: on the Reasonableness of Christianity, Chicago, Henry
Ragneey Co., n.d., (pbk.).
Lowry, Charles Wesley: to Pray or Not to Pray!: a Handbook for Study
of Recent Court Decisions and American Church-state Doctrine,
Washington, The Univ. Press of Washington, D.C., 1963.
Padover, Saul K., Editor: The Complete Jefferson, N.Y., Duell, Sloan
and Pearce, 1943.
Padover, Saul K.: The Living U. S. Constitution, N.Y., The New
American Library, 1968, (pbk.).
Pfeffer, Leo: Church, State, and Freedom, Boston, Beacon Press, 1953.
Rossiter, Clinton: The First American Revolution, N.Y., Harcourt,
Brace and World, 1969 (pbk.).
Stokes, William Warren: Religion in America, N.Y.. Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1942.
Tussman. Joseph, Editor: The Supreme Court on Church and State, N.Y..
Oxford Univ. Press. 1962 (pbk.).
Van Tassel, David D., and McAhren, Robert W., Editors: European
Origins of American Thought, Chicago, Rand McNally, 1969.
White. Morton: The Philosophy of the American Revolution, N.Y., Oxford
Univ. Press, 1978.