The 108th Congress should
- pass no legislation which is adverse to true religion
"Liberty Under God"
is the focus of this conspiracy. But in our day it is
"politically incorrect" to stress religion.
Religion is perceived to be narrow and bigoted, and yet on the
other hand we are often told that "all religions are equally
valid."
September 11 may have changed that. Nobody in America will
(openly) admit that Osama bin Laden's religion is as true and
valid as Mother Teresa's religion, or Freddie
Garcia's religion.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said that taking an oath to
"support the Constitution" was "simply. . .
an affirmation of 'organic
law'. . . ."*
What is the "organic
law?"
It is the most fundamental law of a nation. America's "organic
law" includes the belief that
Religion, morality, and knowledge, [are]
necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind
Northwest Ordinance,
1787 (part of America's "organic law")
But which religion? Which morality?
It is a simple matter of historical fact that America is built
on a foundation which presupposes that Biblical Christianity is
the "true religion."
If elected I will follow James Madison's advice to vote against
any bill which does not square with the "true religion."
In one
of his most famous speeches, Madison, the "father of the
Constitution," gave his reasons for opposing proposed
legislation:
Because, the policy of
the bill is adverse to the diffusion of the light of
Christianity. The first wish of those who enjoy this
precious gift, ought
to be that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind.
Compare the number of those who have as yet received it
with the number still remaining under the dominion of false
Religions; and how small is the former! Does the
policy of the Bill tend to lessen the disproportion? No;
it at once discourages those who are strangers to the
light of (revelation) from coming into the Region of it;
and countenances, by example the nations
who continue in darkness, in shutting out those who
might convey it to them. Instead of levelling as far as
possible, every obstacle to the victorious progress of
truth, the Bill with an ignoble and unchristian timidity
would circumscribe it, with a wall of defence, against the
encroachments of error. |
Osama's forefathers were likely in Madison's mind when he spoke
of "false religions."
The phrase "true religion" appears frequently in the
writings of the Founding Fathers. Some Secular Humanists have
suggested that the content of this "true religion" is
not "orthodox" Christianity, not fundamentalist
Christianity, in short, not the Christianity of the one arguing
that America is a "Christian
nation." But if the modern doctrine of separation were
true, there would be no reference to "religion" of any
kind, especially the blatantly theistic religion so frequently
found in official proclamations and acts of government in America
back in the days immediately following the ratification of the
Constitution. In Allegheny
v. ACLU, the U.S. Supreme Court condemned a nativity
scene depicting the birth of "the Master" based on the
"separationist" mythology first set forth in Everson
v Bd of Education (1947). In Allegheny, the
Court
- squarely rejects any notion that this Court will tolerate
some government endorsement of religion. Rather, [we]
recognize[] any endorsement of religion as
"invalid," id., at 690, because it "sends a
message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full
members of the political community, and an accompanying
message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members
of the political community," id., at 688.
-
Allegheny
County v.Greater Pittsburgh ACLU,
492 U.S. 573, 595 (1989)
By speaking of "true" religion and "false"
religion, the Founders clearly endorsed one and relegated the
other to at least a "second place."
- In South Carolina, for example, the Constitution of 1778
said that "the Christian Protestant religion shall be
deemed...the established religion of the state." It
further said that no religious society could be considered a
church unless it agreed "that there is one eternal God
and a future state of rewards and punishment; that the
Christian religion is the true religion; that the Holy
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are of divine
inspiration." South Carolina also asserted that "no
person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold
any office under this Constitution."
-
M.Stanton Evans, Imprimis, April
1995, Vol. 24, No. 4
Every single state in the union contained statements in its
organic law (the most fundamental government charters) that
indicated that Christianity was the true religion and others were
false. Our laws
were based on Christianity, our structures presupposed
Christianity, and no one who signed the Constitution had any
desire to use the government to minimize its influence.
And yet, when the religion of Jesus permeates a society,
atheists and believers in "false religions" have more
freedom, security, and prosperity than Christians do in atheistic
nations, or in nations dominated by "false religions."
America is the land of the free because "where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2
Corinthians 3:17).
There is absolutely no support for the idea that Madison and
other Framers of the Constitution who used the phrase "true
religion" believed or intended to convey the content of any
other religion but that of Christianity. Here are a few other uses
of that phrase throughout American history. Secularists cannot
establish a non-religious or even non-Christian use for the
phrase.
REPORT of
the manner of proceedings in the General assembly convened
at James City in Virginia, July 30, 1619, consisting of
the Governor, the Council of Estate and two Burgesses
elected out of each incorporation and plantation, and
being dissolved the 4th of August next ensuing.
Be it enacted by this present assembly that for laying a
surer foundation of the conversion of the Indians to
Christian religion, each town, city, borough, and
particular plantation do obtain unto themselves by just
means a certain number of the natives children to be
educated by them in the true religion and civil
course of life of which children the most towardly boys in
wit and graces of nature to be brought up by them in the
first elements of literature, so to be fitted for the
college intended for them that from thence they may be
sent to that work of conversion. |
Hobbes, Leviathan, (1651)Part III, Chapter XXXII
Nevertheless, we are not to renounce our senses and
experience, nor that which is the undoubted word of God,
our natural reason. For they are the talents which he hath
put into our hands to negotiate, till the coming again of our
blessed Saviour; and therefore not to be folded up in
the napkin of an implicit faith, but employed in the
purchase of justice, peace, and true religion. For
though there be many things in God's word above reason;
that is to say, which cannot by natural reason be either
demonstrated or confuted; yet there is nothing contrary to
it; but when it seemeth so, the fault is either in our
unskillful interpretation, or erroneous ratiocination. |
- Though state and church ought never to be separate
entities, true religion is not merely an
expression of national spirit; it rises far superior
to earthly law, being, indeed, the source of all law.
[p.36] With Cicero and Philo, Burke enunciates the
doctrine of the jus naturale, the law of the
universe, the creation of the divine mind, of which
the laws of man are only the imperfect manifestation.
"All human laws are, properly speaking, only
declaratory; they may alter the mode and application,
but have no power over the substance of original
justice." Men have no right to alter the laws as
their fancy suggests; the superior law is not in the
power of any political community to amend.
-
The Conservative Mind: From Burke
to Eliot
by Russell Kirk
Seventh Revised Edition
Regnery Publishing, Inc. Washington, D. C.
II: Burke and the Politics of Prescription
3. Providence and veneration
|
- This world is a battle-ground, and we are put into
it that we may contend for the good. In his most
enduring work, his treatise on the Will, [Jonathan]
Edwards argued that even God is bound by God's own
will to pursue the good; no man is free from
constraint to obey the divine will. Sin is only a
negative, a vacuum-in short, sin is the absence of
God, from whom all goodness radiates. "True
religion in a great measure consists in holy
affections," Edwards wrote in his discourse on
Religious Affections. "A love of divine things,
for the beauty and sweetness of their moral
excellency, is the spring of all holy
affections."
-
The Roots of American Order
by Russell Kirk
THIRD EDITION
REGNERY GATEWAY Washington, DC
Chapter IX: Salutary Neglect-The Colonial Order
The New World's Christianity
|
Debates in the Convention of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, of the Adoption of the Federal
Constitution,
Wednesday, January 30
Jonathan Elliot, Debates on the Adoption of the
Federal Constitution, Vol. 2, p.118
Rev. Mr. SHUTE. Mr. President, to object to the
latter part of the paragraph under consideration, which
excludes a religious test, is, I am sensible, very
popular; for the most of men, somehow, are rigidly
tenacious of their own sentiments in religion, and
disposed to impose them upon others as the standard of
truth. If, in my sentiments upon the point in view, I
should differ from some in this honorable body, I only
wish from them the exercise of that candor, with which true
religion is adapted to inspire the honest and
well-disposed mind.
|
[Note the argument below against a test oath in the
federal constitution.
The argument in favor of the test oath was that without it
the Pope could become President.]
Debates in the Convention of North Carolina
Jonathan Elliot, Debates on the Adoption of the
Federal Constitution, Vol. 4, p.1
At a Convention, begun and held at Hillsborough, the
21st day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence
of America the 13th, in pursuance of a resolution of the
last General Assembly, for the purpose of deliberating
and determining on the proposed Plan of Federal
Government,-
A majority of those who were duly elected as members of
this Convention being met at the church, they proceeded
to the election of a president, when his excellency,
Samuel Johnston, Esq., was unanimously chosen, and
conducted to the chair accordingly.
Wednesday, July 30, 1788
Jonathan Elliot, Debates on the Adoption of the Federal
Constitution, Vol. 4, p.198
Gov. JOHNSTON expressed great astonishment that the
people were alarmed on the subject of religion. This, he
said, must have arisen from the great pains which had
been taken to prejudice men's minds against the
Constitution. He begged leave to add the following few
observations to what had been so ably said by the
gentleman last up.
I read the Constitution over and over, but could not see
one cause of apprehension or jealousy on this subject.
When I heard there were apprehensions that the pope of
Rome could be the President of the United States, I was
greatly astonished. It might as well be said that the
king of England or France, or the Grand Turk, could be
chosen to that office. It would have been as good an
argument. It appears to me that it would have been
dangerous, if Congress could intermeddle with the
subject of religion. True religion is derived
from a much higher source than human laws. When any
attempt is made, by any government, to restrain men's
consciences, no good consequence can possibly follow. It
is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans, pagans, &e.,
may be elected to high offices under the government of
the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or any
others who are not professors of the Christian religion,
can never be elected to the office of President, or
other high office, but in one of two cases. First, if
the [p.199] people of America lay aside the Christian
religion altogether. it may happen. Should this
unfortunately take place, the people will choose such
men as think as they do themselves. Another case is, if
any persons of such descriptions should, notwithstanding
their religion, acquire the confidence and esteem of the
people of America by their good conduct and practice of
virtue, they may be chosen. I leave it to gentlemen's
candor to judge what probability there is of the
people's choosing men of different sentiments from
themselves.
|
Proclamation
by George Washington
Messages and Papers of the Presidents,
Richardson, ed., George Washington, vol. 1, p.56
Fitzpatrick 30:427. (1789)
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge
the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be
grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His
protection and favor; and
Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint
committee, requested me "to recommend to the people
of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and
prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful
hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God,
especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to
establish a form of government for their safety and
happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the
26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people
of these States to the service of that great and
glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the
good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may
then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and
humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the
people of this country previous to their becoming a
nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the
favorable interpositions of His providence in the course
and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of
tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since
enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which
we have been enabled to establish constitutions of
government for our safety and happiness, and
particularly the national one now lately instituted; for
the civil and religious liberty with which we are
blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and
diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the
great and various favors which He has been pleased to
confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering
our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and
Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national
and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in
public or private stations, to perform our several and
relative duties properly and punctually; to render our
National Government a blessing to all the people by
constantly being a Government of wise, just, and
constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed
and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and
nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us),
and to bless them with good governments, peace, and
concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of
true religion and virtue, and the increase of
science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto
all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He
alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day
of October, A. D. 1789.
GO. WASHINGTON.
|
Messages and Papers of
the Presidents, John Adams, vol. 1, p.295
Journal of the House of Representatives, vol. 3, p. 724
Fourth
Annual Address, November 22, 1800.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of
Representatives:
Immediately after the adjournment of Congress at their
last session in Philadelphia I gave directions, in
compliance with the laws, for the removal of the public
offices, records, and property. These directions have
been executed, and the public officers have since
resided and conducted the ordinary business of the
Government in this place.
I congratulate the people of the United States on the
assembling of Congress at the permanent seat of their
Government, and I congratulate you, gentlemen, on the
prospect of a residence not to be changed. Although
there is cause to apprehend that accommodations are not
now so complete as might be wished, yet there is great
reason to believe that this inconvenience will cease
with the present session.
It would be unbecoming the representatives of this
nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn
temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the
Universe and imploring His blessing.
May this territory be the residence of virtue and
happiness! In this city may that piety and virtue, that
wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and
self-government, which adorned the great character whose
name it bears be forever held in veneration! Here and
throughout our country may simple manners, pure morals,
and true religion flourish forever!
|
The American Jewish Committee
Commentary Magazine, January 1995, p.32
God and the Americans
Paul Johnson
2. The Moral Theology of the Melting Pot
Alexis de Tocqueville in his Democracy in America,
published in 1835, said that the first thing which struck
him in the United States was the attitude of, and toward,
the churches. At first he found it almost incredible:
In France I had almost always seen the spirit of
religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses
diametrically opposed to each other: but in America I
found that they were intimately united, and that they
reigned in common over the same country.
He added: "Religion must be regarded as the
foremost of the political institutions of [the United
States]; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it
facilitates the use of free institutions." And
Americans, he concluded, held religion "to be
indispensable to the maintenance of republican
institutions."
America's most typical churches tended to look back from
the 19th century straight to the New Testament, dismissing
the totalitarianism of the Middle Ages and the age of
religious wars as nightmares which had little to do with true
religion. They refused to associate Christianity with
compulsion in any form. The assumption of the voluntary
principle, the central tenet of American Christianity, was
that the personal religious convictions of individuals,
freely gathered in churches and acting in voluntary
associations, would gradually and necessarily permeate
society by persuasion and example. Thus the world was seen
primarily in moral terms. |
Letter to the Chief of Chaplains of the War Department.
February 13, 1934
Public Papers of the Presidents, F. D. Roosevelt, 1934,
Item 25
Chaplains of the military and naval services and clergymen
everywhere who by word and life are advancing the cause of
idealism and true religion are doing a commendable
work, one that is absolutely essential to the life of the
Nation.
It doesn't matter that Roosevelt was not a Christian,
or even that he was a shyster. He knew there was no
doctrine of "separation of church and state"
which kept him from pretending that he endorsed the true
religion in order to gain the support of a gullible
once-Christian public. |
James Madison did not practice what The US Supreme
Court now preaches. In the case of Everson
v. Board of Education, the Court claims:
The movement toward this end reached its dramatic
climax in Virginia in 1785-86 when the Virginia
legislative body was about to renew Virginia's tax levy
for the support of the established church. Thomas Jeffer-
[330 U.S. 1, 12] son and James Madison led the fight
against this tax. Madison wrote his great Memorial and
Remonstrance against the law. In it, he eloquently
argued that a true religion did not need the
support of law; that no person, either believer or
non-believer, should be taxed to support a religious
institution of any kind; that the best interest of a
society required that the minds of men always be wholly
free; and that cruel persecutions were the inevitable
result of government-established religions.
The original Virginia Charter read in part:
'We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of,
their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work,
which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter
tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating
of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in
Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge
and Worship of God, and may in time bring the
Infidels and Savages, living in those parts, to human
Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government; DO, by
these our Letters-Patents, graciously accept of, and
agree to, their humble and well-intended Desires.'
Madison's language in his Memorial and Remonstrance
was taken from the original Virginia Charter:
12. Because, the policy of the bill is adverse to the
diffusion of the light of Christianity. The first
wish of those who enjoy this precious gift, ought to be
that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind.
Compare the number of those who have as yet received it
with the number still remaining under the dominion of false
Religions; and how small is the former! Does the
policy of the Bill tend to lessen the disproportion? No;
it at once discourages those who are strangers to the
light of (revelation) from coming into the Region of it;
and countenances, by example the nations who continue
in darkness, in shutting out those who might convey
it to them. Instead of levelling as far as possible,
every obstacle to the victorious progress of truth, the
Bill with an ignoble and unchristian timidity would
circumscribe it, with a wall of defence, against the
encroachments of error.
It might be recalled that legislators in southern
states which were motivated to advance Christianity and
have said pretty much EXACTLY what Madison said, have had
their legislation struck down as
"unconstitutional" by the Secular Humanist Court
on the sole ground that it was motivated to spread
Christianity. (Jaffree,
Aguillard)
And this "separationist" logic claims to be
based on Madison. The same Madison that urged legislative
action based on the need to turn back "false
religions." |
This is not to say that the Founding Fathers were
vicious Christian bigots who persecuted non-Christian
religionists. They gave all religions rights within
Christian social norms. But it was clear that one religion
was preferred.
On October 9 the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in
North America sent an address to Washington, the answer to
which is undated, but recorded immediately, following the
address in the "Letter Book" in the
Washington Papers. In the answer Washington
stated:
- "I readily join with you that 'while just
government protects all in their religious rights, true
religion affords to government its surest
support.'"
-
Sparks. ed., 12:167. (1789)
|
"The True Religion" gives great liberty to all
religions:
- Such is my veneration for every religion that
reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state
of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the
opinions of Confucius or Mohammed inculcated upon our
youth than see them grow up wholly devoid of a system
of religious principles. But the religion I mean to
recommend in this place, is that of the New Testament.
-
Benjamin Rush, Essays,
Literary, Moral and Philosophical
(Philadelphia: Thomas and William Bradford, 1806),
p. 8.
|
* Cole
v. Richardson, 405 U.S. 676, 682, 92 S.Ct. 1332, 1336;
31 L.Ed.2d 593 (1972). [top]
|
|