We all get sick of Christians claiming America was founded on Christianity and that it is a “Judeo-Christian nation.” They want it to be so, but that doesn’t change reality.
In “Our Godless Constitution,” Brooke Allen lays this claim on the chopping block and brings down the ax:
Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander Hamilton’s flippant responses when asked about it: According to one account, he said that the new nation was not in need of “foreign aid”; according to another, he simply said “we forgot.” But as Hamilton’s biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything important….
It bears repeating — our nation’s most important document makes no mention of a deity. If God was the foundation, you wouldn’t know it from the US Constitution. Brooke continues:
In the Declaration of Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” and the famous line about men being “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” More blatant official references to a deity date from long after the founding period: “In God We Trust” did not appear on our coinage until the Civil War, and “under God” was introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance during the McCarthy hysteria in 1954.
There’s also the Treaty of Tripoli which clearly says the US was not founded on the Christian religion, and it was “endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and President John Adams” and unanimously ratified by the Senate. Here is the quote from it:
As the Government of the United States… is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion — as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen.
What about the founding fathers? Weren’t they all bleeding evangelicals like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson? Hell no:
If we define a Christian as a person who believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ, then it is safe to say that some of the key Founding Fathers were not Christians at all. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine were deists — that is, they believed in one Supreme Being but rejected revelation and all the supernatural elements of the Christian Church; the word of the Creator, they believed, could best be read in Nature. John Adams was a professed liberal Unitarian, but he, too, in his private correspondence seems more deist than Christian.
George Washington and James Madison also leaned toward deism, although neither took much interest in religious matters. Madison believed that “religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize.” He spoke of the “almost fifteen centuries” during which Christianity had been on trial: “What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” If Washington mentioned the Almighty in a public address, as he occasionally did, he was careful to refer to Him not as “God” but with some nondenominational moniker like “Great Author” or “Almighty Being.” It is interesting to note that the Father of our Country spoke no words of a religious nature on his deathbed, although fully aware that he was dying, and did not ask for a man of God to be present; his last act was to take his own pulse, the consummate gesture of a creature of the age of scientific rationalism.
Brooke continues with more detail on the founding fathers, and it’s worth reading the whole thing.
This is good ammunition in for when right wingers wax poetically about the founding father’s being Christian.
What I always wondered was how that matters? Even if they all were Christian fundies, they were men not infallible beings. Even if their intent was to launch a Christian nation (which it clearly wasn’t), that wouldn’t mean that choice would have been a bad one. When were the founders anointed with infinite, all-knowing perfection?
Good point. The founding fathers also wore tights and wigs, and no one seems obsessed with continuing those traditions.
Well, some people are…
Who is that Ty? Or, is that just a left jab at crossdressers?
Actually, I was thinking of the British legal system when I typed it. We had a barrister visiting a while back who spoke at length on the wig thing, and their absolute refusal to give it up.
Or, it can be about cross dressers if you want.
We like our ceremony and pomp … so much better that the US system where people like to think there is equality of opportunity.
One thing I didn’t know before was that they never replace their wig, so by the end of a career it’s pretty ratty.
so much better that the US system where people like to think there is equality of opportunity.
Trust me, very few of us are under any such delusion.
Excellent article. Especially since the theocrat fundies are now attacking the Social Studies curriculum in Texas over this stuff.
Someone should write a book about the Godless constitution.
Madison believed that “religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize.”
Never a truer word.
Yes, that’s why Christ came to liberate us from its cruel chains. Why is it Custador that Christ had the harshest words, the most difficulty with the “religious” leaders of the day if “religion” was what He was all about? Do you know? How free is free? What is His (true) nature and heart for us? Now we’re back to foolish (and childlike) faith and trust huh? What is that good for anyway eh? Bah humbug…
” Why is it Custador that Christ had the harshest words, the most difficulty with the “religious” leaders of the day if “religion” was what He was all about?”
Can I answer that? Because Jesus was selling his own product, and the “religious leaders of the day” where his competitors.
[Note: we can't know if those were Jesus's words, or they were choosen later by Paul and his followers]
Actually, we can know if those were the deity Jesus’s words: They were not. The Jesus character from the Bible is entirely fictitious, and there was no person, supernatural or not, that is the person referred to by the Gospels (the later books refer to a different deity also named Jesus who was not supposed to be in corporeal form, but of course he is also fictional).
This is very much worth emphasizing. The message that the Founders were pro-Separation and frequently not Christian has finally trickled down enough to religious media that I’m now starting to hear attempted refutations (for example) on religious right radio. Keep it up.
Nice article, Daniel. I’ve bookmarked it for future discussions about this topic.
One comment that’s a bit of a tangent related to what you said here:
Can you imagine if we went down in history based on what we said in private correspondence? I’m sure any of us could be made to be just about anything ….
(not that I’m disputing your point or the point of the author; history tends to make me think you are correct)
Well, we know Einstein was a ladies’ man that cheated on his wife, so… ;p
we don’t “worship” him for his ethics ;-)
I think I could make a case that private correspondence reveals more of an individuals actual opinions, unfiltered by the desire to not offend ‘polite’ society. People may not reveal their racism in public and may quite easily reveal it in private, for example… politicians in particular.
Several of the monuments downtown include quotes from the founding fathers that do mention god. I remember reading the quotes in the Jefferson memorial and being really surprised at how religious they seemed.
It shouldn’t really matter, however, what religion these guys were or how they lived their lives with respect to that religion. The fact is that they left England to escape religious persecution. Therefore, they tried to build a nation where no one would be judged or persecuted on the basis of religion.
Gender and race were another story… how does it go… all white men are created equal? Something like that.
The fact is that they left England to escape religious persecution.
Well, some of ‘em. I’m up here in Old Dutch country, where our forefathers crossed the Atlantic in an attempt to make a buck.
Many English colonists were trying to escape the persecutions of Charles II. Others were puritans hoping to start a new Jerusalem, the “city on a hill”. It would be a city pure of vice, corruption, and other religions. It’s of them that Garrison Keilor said, “They were seeking levels of religious intolerance that were unavailable to them in the old world.”
Apocalypticism is part of the American heritage, along with the conspiracism that goes with it. It’s important to establish that our government, at least, was intended to be entirely secular.
“They were seeking levels of religious intolerance that were unavailable to them in the old world.”
LOL. That’s one of the funniest ways I’ve ever heard that put.
I have to agree with the intolerance thing. I have looked at the laws some of the colonies had and wow talk about a load of crap. I wouldn’t be surprised if some fundies would like to bring those laws back.
>The fact is that they left England to escape religious persecution.<
Of the founding fathers, Thomas Paine, yes, Jefferson, Franklin, etc., were born here.
Recently, many Christians have tried pointing to George Washington’s Inaugural speech as proof that he was a Christian and wanted God included in the political forum. This line in particular is the one they reference:
“The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity;…”
The thing they conveniently leave out is that he ultimately took this out of the speech and that this is the closest he came to publicly speaking about the Bible.
I think every Christian should study up on their US History… perhaps take a trip to the Library of Congress. See for themselves what is written in the side lines of our constitution and crossed out in the initial drafts. See the bickering that went on. See that not only were our forefathers NOT all Christians, but that many of them fought… hard… to keep all religion out of our political documents.
Thank goodness for all of the differing views our forefathers had on all topics. Thank goodness they all chose to fight so hard to keep our freedoms in order. In my opinion, it is the Christian Church, and the religious right politicians who have screwed it all up. Our freedoms are being taken away slowly… by the religious right. And that is how I see it.
clearly this is just a bunch of lies propagated by godless homosexual left-wing conspiracy nuts. everyone knows that George Washington only won the Revolutionary War because Jesus was protecting him from all the bullets and cannonballs. how do i know this? because i believe it and if i believe something then it’s true and no one can dispute me.
if you think that the preceding paragraph was serious then you need to have your sarcasm gland checked.
I lost that gland when I was circumsized
LeavingReligion:
For some reason, that’s simply TOO much to ask from any fundy; just a smidge behind studying the history of American Christianity… GOD forbid!
Thanks, Daniel, for one more resource that’ll be available to those who DO somehow awaken from the trance, ignore the Liars for Jesus and do some research on their own. :)
This will have a different phrase just by the way
The founding fathers of the United States of America, the pilgrims, attributed their success to God through fasting and prayer. Setting aside special days of fasting and prayer was an accepted part of life in the Plymouth Colony. A law was passed on November 15, 1636, allowing the Governor and his assistants “to command solemn days of humiliation by fasting, etc. And, also, for thanksgiving as occasion shall be offered.”
The assembly of Virginia passed a resolution on June 1, 1774 as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. George Washington, our first president, set a pattern for leaders of this country to fast and pray. Washington’s diary records, “Went to church and fasted all day.”
“The founding fathers of the United States of America, the pilgrims”
These were not the founding members of the U.S. The U.S. didn’t come into existence until July 4th, 1776, and that was under dispute for some years by another country, England.
THAAAAANK YOU!! Jeeez!
I have been butting heads with my uncle about America being a “Christian nation.” THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I can’t wait to quote your article TO HIS FACE and watch him cry!
Where is your God now?? NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION! ZING!
:D
No Academic or Historical Sources Support The Findings of This Book…
… and the author’s admit this in the Notes page:
“…we have dispensed with the usual scholarly apparatus of footnotes”
They give no historical sources because there are none; they only source other modern non-academic writings. They totally ignore the documented writings of all of the Signers of the Constitution and simply pretend they don’t exist.
There are reasonable historical debates that can be made on this subject, but this book is a sham. It is a shame that such a book can even be published by people who claim to support academic study in our country.
No one should read this book because it simply is not true and does not support any legitimate discussion or debate on this issue. It is a fraud and people on either-side of this debate should not support this kind of approach to important matters.
intouch.org
archive video
July 2009
Is America a Christian Nation?
Watch the video …..then lets open a discussion.
or visit http://www.wallbuilders.com/
The US is a Secular State — not a xian entity of any kind
Fundies are fond of using ‘xian country’ or ‘xian nation’ since ‘country’ and ‘nation’ are weasel words. It’s their ambiguity in meaning that allows fundies to use fallacious reasoning or to make lying claims.
The United State of America is a Secular STATE. Let’s say it again: the US is a secular state. It was founded as a secular state. It remains a secular state.
Search on the text of the U.S. Constitution. You will find that the word ‘God’ does not occur. The word ‘religion’ occurs only once in the so-called Establishment Clause, in Amendment I.
Freedom from religion is the right protected first by the Bill of Rights, before freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedoms of the press, assembly, and petition.
James Madison, primary author of the Constitution, explained the two religion clauses to Congress “. . . Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any Manner contrary to their conscience.” (1 Annals of Congress 730. August 15, 1789). (Well into the 19th century, the code words for the right not to believe were ‘freedom of conscience’.)
Fundies and other religious zealots look rather to the Declaration of Independence to claim that God (really some deistic proxy) is the source of “inalienable rights”. The Declaration did not establish the United States of America — the Constitution did, as its Preamble states.
Rights arise because free agents cede them to each other within a structured polity governed by rules (The Constitution) which maximize individual freedom, subject to defined restraints.
God, as Laplace said to Napoleon, is “an unnecessary hypothesis” in cosmology. The U.S. Constitution avers the same — God is an unnecessary hypothesis to the foundation of a well-functioning, secular polity.
The Constitution makes freedom of conscience a necessary condition for unfeigned religious belief to be possible. Without the free choice not to believe, xians could impose their limitations on all other rights enumerated in Amendment I. Exactly the course endorsed by George W. Bush, Clarence Thomas, and notoriously, Anthony Scalia.
Millions of Americans, including Supreme Court Justices, can not accept how radically free we are. They will not accept anyone’s right to be free from religion. They cannot grasp what ‘freedom of conscience’ means.
• Why doesn’t ‘In God we trust.’ violate the Establishment Clause — so say the courts.
The Supreme Court held that ‘God’ referred to is a deistic divinity, belonging to no one faith. Of course, agnostics and atheists’ objections had no standing. The Court is wrong — we deny the existence of any god, even an ecumenical one.
The ‘God’ of deism refers to a one-size-fits-all Being. A god, according to coinage and script, we trust. God is the cosmic governor. An aloof, vaguely disinterested agent. One if not beneficent at least benign.
This Power certainly is not the god of xianity. It is a philosophers’ abstraction, another amusing attempt to CYA so that the state-religious police don’t haul you off to prison for being an immoral materialist atheist. (Given enough leeway, xian taliban would do just that. As their islamic alter egos do today.)
In America, if you value your reputation or by some sick mischance want to run for elective office, there’s no percentage in a public disavowal of religious belief. Rather, the opposite is demanded.
The number of openly gay members of Congress surely exceeds the number of those openly agnostic or atheistic. Unbelief will crucify a public figure. Better to be caught with your pants (literally) down — or be named on some tony call-girl’s list.
Hypocrisy as an American art form really should have its Emmys. When surveyed, 94% of Americans are ready at the very least with an obligatory credo in unum deum.
What’s being measured is not faith, but fear.
There is no god. Get over it.
Forget about the religious reich (of all persuasions) “studying up on history” and “getting their facts straight”. That will never happen because facts and logic will defeat their purpose, which is to impose their perverted belief system on everyone by force of law.
Here’s a fact. Most of the problems of the world are, and always have been, caused by religion. Mankind will never truly be free until the black yoke of religion is lifted by the clear light of reason and facts.
Mankind would have found ways to war without religion.
It comes down to “i’m right you’re wrong”, and it doesn’t matter if it was religion or not. Justification would be found regardless. Even if you demanded that all such conflicts were based on “logic”, conflict were still occur.
Not that I think religion is all shining beacons of gold roses or anything :P I”m just saying, the problem is not religion. Religion is simply a justification for what man would do anyways.
WITHOUT THE LOVE OF THE LORD THERE WOULD BE NO CONSTATUTION!! JESUS BUILT THIS COUNTRY AND YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!
Well, that’s special.
…and CRAZY.
If you read your Bible, you would also know that the existence hell is not supported by that text, just as the United States is not formed as a Christian nation by the Constitution. I’m sure that reading and reading comprehension are not your strong areas.
Burn baby, burn!! Has anyone ever notice that so-called ‘Christians’ that respond to these post don’t know how to spell?! Oh well, just have faith and believe!! lmao
reminds me of a quote:
“Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it, religion has actually convinced people that there’s an INVISIBLE MAN…LIVING IN THE SKY…who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten special things that he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever ’til the end of time…but he loves you.” [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased"]
A theist will draw first blood in fear of the truth. Same as a dog will chew off his leg to escape a trap.
On what foundation was our country built?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF5PMyfWEE8
The quotes you are referring to are ones from the English colonies and not the US constitution so they are irrelevant.
Indeed. I’ve never understood the very American enfatuation with doing what you think a dude from three hundred years ago would have wanted – like society hasn’t changed or moved on since then!
What’s important is what became the Constitution and what was left out, and who signed it.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_zoom_4.html
That’s all there is to say. It’s the official document. If they meant anything contradictory to the statements and laws in this document, they didn’t get to include it, and it’s irrelevant. You have to work with it, you can challenge it, but you can’t say “what they really meant here” was something that didn’t make it into the final document. If it had, we’d be having a different conversation, like…. whether to take it out. Whether to amend the language, or whether we’d have a completely different country my great-grandparents wouldn’t have even crossed an ocean to get to because it’s so damn ass-backward.