(Parts of this are courtesy of the research done by a fellow sister in Christ-Thank you Anne)
The United States of America, my country, your country, and a nation founded on Godly principles. Principles that were never questioned for hundreds of years. These virtues are slowly but surely being taken away from us. Our freedoms, stripped away by a liberal agenda that tries in vain to strip God's name from every where, schools, government buildings, sports, all because they argue that "God has no place in Goverrment." Excuse me? I beg to differ. You may not agree with God, or even believe in God. But the Founding Fathers of this country included the Name of our Lord Jesus in every. single. decision. You can ignore it all you want, but facts are facts.
The term 'Separation of Church and State' has been widely disputed in recent days, meaning since 1947. Prior to that, no one questioned that this was a Christian nation, founded on the principles of Jesus Christ. Rarely are the actual documents from our Founding Fathers referred to. Since they created the Constitution, doesn't it make sense to see how they intended for us to interpret vital parts of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independance, and other historical documents that impact our Great Nation today!
George Mason, the principal author of the Bill of Rights, was a well-to-do Virginia farmer, lawyer, judge, and politician. In 1749 he served as a justice of the Fairfax County Court, and in 1775-76 was a representative to the temporary government of the state of Virginia, the Virginia Convention. He is best known as the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which spelled out the concept that men are, by nature, free and that they have inherent rights.
Mason was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, although he was adamantly opposed to the final version of the Constitution which was approved by the other delegates, believing that the Convention was giving Congress too much power over the states. He believed that the President and Senate together would form a psuedo-monarchy. "The executive and legislative powers," he said, "thus connected, will destroy all balances."
The Constitution, he believed, provided no security against the powers of government being appropriated by a single faction. He became a major anti-federalist and argued against ratification of the Constitution.
In his will, George Mason wrote:
"My soul I resign into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercies are all over His works, who hateth nothing that He hath made, and to the justice and wisdom of whose dispensations I willingly and cheerfully submit, humbly hoping from His unbounded mercy and benevolence, through the merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins".
Thomas McKean, signer of the Declaration of Independence, studied for seven years at Reverend Francis Alison’s academy and was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1754, at the age of 20. He soon went into business for himself and opened branches in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He later became a deputy attorney general of Sussex County and a member of the legislature.
He became involved in the Revolution in 1765 when he became a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress. Because he was absent when the Declaration of Independence was signed, he affixed his signature later.
He was a member of the Continental Congress 1774-76 and 1778-83, serving as president thereof in 1781; was simultaneously president (as the governor was then known) of Delaware in 1777 as well as chief justice of Pennsylvania from that year until 1799; and served three consecutive terms as governor of Pennsylvania 1799 to 1808. He helped to frame the Delaware constitution, supported and signed the Articles of Confederation, and was a member of Pennsylvania's state constitutional convention
On July 10, 1791, Thomas McKean was elected as the second President of the United States in Congress Assembled, and in 1792, along with James Wilson, he wrote “Commentaries on the Constitution” of the United States.
As Chief Justice, McKean heard the case Respublica vs. John Roberts. Roberts was found guilty of treason and was condemned to death. With only are most remarkably Christian. Being found guilty of treason, Roberts was condemned to death. When he had only a few days before his execution, McKean called the condemned man back to the bench and said this to him:
"You will probably have but a short time to live. Before you launch into eternity, it behooves you to improve the time that may be allowed you in this world. It behooves you most seriously to reflect upon your conduct, to repent of your evil deeds, to be incessant in prayers to the great and merciful God to forgive your manifold transgressions and sins, to teach you to rely upon the merit and passion of a dear Redeemer and thereby to avoid those regions of sorrow, those doleful shades where peace and rest can never dwell, where even hope cannot enter. It behooves you to seek the fellowship, advice and prayers of pious and good men, to be persistent at the throne of grace and to learn the way that leadeth to happiness. May you reflecting upon these things and pursuing the will of the great Father of Light and Life, be received into the company and society of angels and archangels and the spirits of just men made perfect and may you be qualified to enter into the joys of heaven, joys unspeakable and full of glory."
At the time of his death, Dr. Benjamin Rush -- along with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin -- was arguably one of America’s three most notable men. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, helped found five colleges, served under three presidents, and personally trained more than 3,000 medical students. He is also the founder of the Sunday School movement in America as well as the first Bible society in America. He published the first American textbook on chemistry. He was active in the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia.
In June 1776, he was elected to attend the provincial conference to send delegates to the Continental Congress and was appointed to represent Philadelphia. In 1777, he became physician-general in the Continental Army but became critical of the administration of the army medical service and Dr. William Shippen, who was in charge of it. He complained directly to General George Washington who deferred to Congress. Congress supported Dr. Shippen, and Dr. Rush resigned. As the war continued, he tried repeatedly to get Washington removed as commander-in-chief. He even went so far as to write an anonymous letter to Virginia's governor, Patrick Henry. He was confronted by General Washington, and that confrontation caused him to remove himself from all war activities.
In 1789, he wrote in newspapers of Philadelphia advocating the adoption of the federal Constitution. He was elected to the Pennsylvania convention and had a hand in adopting it. From 1797 to 1813, he was treasurer of the US Mint.
On March 28, 1787, he wrote an open letter “To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools”.
"Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education. The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools."
He continued in the same letter:
"The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty."
Roger Sherman is the only of the Founding Fathers who signed all four of America’s founding documents: Articles of Association (1774), Declaration of Independence (1776), Articles of Confederation (1778), and the United States Constitution (1787).
It is because of Sherman that we have two legislative bodies; it was his idea to create both the House and the Senate in order to resolve conflict between the big and small states.
Also a theologian, he wrote a personal creed which was adopted by his church:
“I believe that there is one only living and tru God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.”
Richard Stockton was a lawyer, jurist, legislator, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Disinterested in politics, he once wrote, "The publick is generally unthankful, and I never will become a Servant of it, till I am convinced that by neglecting my own affairs I am doing more acceptable Service to God and Man." Later, however, he took an active role as a trustee of the College of New Jersey.
In 1768 he was appointed to the governing Council of New Jersey. In 1774, he was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Initially, he took a moderate stance in the problems the colonies and Great Britain were experiencing. Rather than favoring separation, he suggested in 1764 that colonial members be appointed to the Parliament. He changed his position a year later when the Stamp Act became an issue, at which time he drafted and sent to Lord Dartmouth "a plan of self-government for America, independent of Parliament, without renouncing allegiance to the Crown."
In 1776 Stockton was elected to the Continental Congress, where he took a very active role. Shortly after he signed the Declaration of Independence, he was taken prisoner by the British. Although he was in prison for only a month, his health suffered in the extreme. He became an invalid and died as a result of his mistreatment.
In his last will and testament, he declared in writing that he was a Christian:
“I, Richard Stockton, being sick and weak in body but sound of memory, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following:
“First, I bequeath my soule into the hands of Almight God and my body to be buried at the discretion of my executors hereby named, in hopes through the merrits of Jesus Christ to obtain a joyfull resurrection.”
George Washington, known as the "Father of Our Country," was a farmer, military officer, and the first President of the United States.
In 1753, at the age of 21 and with no previous military experience, he became a major in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian Wars. Within two years, he was in command of all the Virginia forces. In 1758, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and left the army in order to serve in the House from 1759-1774.
He also served as vestryman in his Episcopal parish from 1763 to 1782.
In 1775, Washington was appointed military advisor for New York and was charged with defending New York from attack by the British, and within weeks, the Second Continental Congresss appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the entire military. Washington had not sought the position and he refused payment for it. In 1781, he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown and won the war.
He was President of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and served two terms as first President of the United States under the new Constitution. He declined to serve a third term, and retired to Mount Vernon in 1797 where he died of pneumonia two years later.
In his first general order to his own troops, General Washington said he called on:
‘Every officer and man...to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.’
In a letter to all state governors in June, 1783, he wrote:
"I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government--to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their Brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love Mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, Humility, and Pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a Happy Nation."
In 1787, he warned the Constitutional Convention delegates:
“If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the Hand of God!”
In his famous Inaugural Address to both Houses of Congress, on April 30, 1789, with his hand on a Bible which was opened to Deuteronomy, Chapter 28, he said:
“Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aides can supply every human defect; that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes; and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge.
“In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow citizens at large, less than either.
“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.
“And in the important revolution just accomplished, in the system of their United government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage ...
“We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked on the experiment.”
When he proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving, he said:
“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...
“Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these Unites States...that we then may all unite 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 tranquility, 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 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 promote the knowledge and practice of the true religion and virtue...
“Given under my hand, at the City of New York, the 3rd of October, A.D. 1789.”
2 comments:
1. Separation of church and state is a bedrock principle of our Constitution much like the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances. In the Constitution, the founders did not simply say in so many words that there should be separation of powers and checks and balances; rather, they actually separated the powers of government among three branches and established checks and balances. Similarly, they did not merely say there should be separation of church and state; rather, they actually separated them by (1) establishing a secular government on the power of "We the people" (not a deity), (2) saying nothing to connect that government to god(s) or religion, (3) saying nothing to give that government power over matters of god(s) or religion, and (4), indeed, saying nothing substantive about god(s) or religion at all except in a provision precluding any religious test for public office. Given the norms of the day, the founders' avoidance of any expression in the Constitution suggesting that the government is somehow based on any religious belief was quite a remarkable and plainly intentional choice. They later buttressed this separation of government and religion with the First Amendment, which constrains the government from undertaking to establish religion or prohibit individuals from freely exercising their religions. The basic principle, thus, rests on much more than just the First Amendment.
That the phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the text of the Constitution assumes much importance, it seems, to some who may have once labored under the misimpression it was there and, upon learning they were mistaken, reckon they’ve discovered a smoking gun solving a Constitutional mystery. To those familiar with the Constitution, the absence of the metaphor commonly used to name one of its principles is no more consequential than the absence of other phrases (e.g., Bill of Rights, separation of powers, checks and balances, fair trial, religious liberty) used to describe other undoubted Constitutional principles.
To the extent that some nonetheless would like confirmation--in those very words--of the founders' intent to separate government and religion, Madison and Jefferson supplied it. Madison, who had a central role in drafting the Constitution and the First Amendment, confirmed that he understood them to “[s]trongly guard[] . . . the separation between Religion and Government.” Madison, Detached Memoranda (~1820). He made plain, too, that they guarded against more than just laws creating state sponsored churches or imposing a state religion. Mindful that even as new principles are proclaimed, old habits die hard and citizens and politicians could tend to entangle government and religion (e.g., “the appointment of chaplains to the two houses of Congress” and “for the army and navy” and “[r]eligious proclamations by the Executive recommending thanksgivings and fasts”), he considered the question whether these actions were “consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom” and responded: “In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the United States forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion.”
2. While the religious views of various founders are subjects of some uncertainty and controversy, it is safe to say that many founders were Christian of one sort or another and held views such as you note regarding religion. In assessing the nature of our government, though, care should be taken to distinguish between society and government and not to make too much of various founders’ individual religious beliefs. Their individual beliefs, while informative, are largely beside the point. Whatever their religions, they drafted a Constitution that establishes a secular government and separates it from religion as noted earlier. This is entirely consistent with the fact that some founders professed their religiosity and even their desire that Christianity remain the dominant religious influence in American society. Why? Because religious people who would like to see their religion flourish in society may well believe that separating religion and government will serve that end and, thus, in founding a government they may well intend to keep it separate from religion. It is entirely possible for thoroughly religious folk to found a secular government and keep it separate from religion. That, indeed, is just what the founders did.
Lest there be any doubt on this score, note that shortly after the founding, President John Adams (a founder) signed, with the unanimous consent of the Senate (comprised in large measure of founders), the Treaty of Tripoli declaring, in pertinent part, “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” No need to resort to reading tea leaves to understand that. This is not an informal comment by an individual founder, but rather an official declaration of the most solemn sort by the United States government itself. Note that the Constitution provides that treaties, apart from the Constitution itself, are the highest law of the land.
The Constitution, including particularly the First Amendment, embodies the simple, just idea that each of us should be free to exercise his or her religious views without expecting that the government will endorse or promote those views and without fearing that the government will endorse or promote the religious views of others. By keeping government and religion separate, the establishment clause serves to protect the freedom of all to exercise their religion. Reasonable people may differ, of course, on how these principles should be applied in particular situations, but the principles are hardly to be doubted. Moreover, they are good, sound principles that should be nurtured and defended, not attacked. Efforts to undercut our secular government by somehow merging or infusing it with religion should be resisted by every patriot.
Wake Forest University has published a short, objective Q&A primer on the current law of separation of church and state–as applied by the courts rather than as caricatured in the blogosphere. I commend it to you. http://tiny.cc/6nnnx
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