The modern myth of "separation of church and state" says that our nation must be secular, and the government must never endorse or promote religion or convey the impression that religion is more valuable than irreligion. The recent Supreme Court case on prayer before football games put it this way:
| School 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.” |
But the Founding Fathers continually sponsored religious messages, continually giving atheists the impression that they were less valuable than religious people. Not that atheists had less rights, but that they could not make as full a contribution to the ongoing protection of those rights if they were undercutting the moral and religious foundations of human rights and the prosperity of the nation.
None of the Founders who had a hand in laying the foundations of our nation believed in the modern myth of "separation of church and state," which has nothing to do with churches and everything to do with separating the government from God and morality. We can see our Founders' commitment to religion and morality in (1) our most fundamental government charters, (2) our laws, (3) and the public utterances of the Founding Fathers themselves.
"The Organic Law" is the most fundamental charters of a nation. The Organic Law of the United States can be found in the first volume of the U.S. Code, and includes The Articles of Confederation, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Northwest Ordinance. Contrary to the modern Supreme Court, our nation's organic law endorses and promotes religion and morality, making atheists feel "left out."
The Articles of Confederation conclude:
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. Know Ye that we the undersigned delegates, etc.
The Declaration of Independence mentions "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," a reference to the Bible.
The Northwest Ordinance states the following:
Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.
No more conclusive denial of the modern myth of separation of religion and government could be made. Good government is impossible without religion and morality. If that makes atheists feel like "second class citizens," well, the prosperity of the nation is more important than the fuzzy feelings of atheists.
An older, more conservative U.S. Supreme Court declared in 1892 that America was a "Christian nation," and based this conclusion on a "mass of organic utterances," including the constitutions of every state in the union.
The statutes in every state give evidence of a connection with religion and morality. Specifically (but not exclusively) the laws of the United States were based on the Ten Commandments.
Statutes were also based on other parts of the Bible outside of the Ten Commandments.
The Founding Fathers, in their official proclamations and other public utterances, continually asserted the importance of religion and morality, but never gave a hint that America was a secular nation or that the government was precluded from endorsing or promoting religion and morality.
| Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion, and Morality are indispensable supports.—Farewell Address |
Back in 1930, the Yale Law Journal published an article by a secularist who was complaining that atheists were discriminated against in this Christian nation. His article catalogued all the ways America was a Christian nation, and how this was offensive to atheists. His article proves that America was a Christian nation, and that nobody for at least 100 years after the Constitution was ratified seriously denied this. In the 20th century, atheists have succeeded in flushing 100 years of American history down the Orwellian Memory Hole.