"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
Thomas Jefferson "Notes on the State of Virginia," 1782
Eventhough the above statement is in perfect harmony with the common law and the Constitution atheists will go red in the face and almost burst a blood vessel when the topic of America as a Christian NATION comes up in conversation. What these people fear is the notion of a Christian STATE as Jefferson also reflected upon :
"I have been just reading the new constitution of Spain. One of its fundamental bases is expressed in these words: 'The Roman Catholic religion, the only true one, is, and always shall be, that of the Spanish nation. The government protects it by wise and just laws, and prohibits the exercise of any other whatever.' Now I wish this presented to those who question what [a bookseller] may sell or we may buy, with a request to strike out the words, 'Roman Catholic,' and to insert the denomination of their own religion. This would ascertain the code of dogmas which each wishes should domineer over the opinions of all others, and be taken, like the Spanish religion, under the 'protection of wise and just laws.' It would show to what they wish to reduce the liberty for which one generation has sacrificed life and happiness. It would present our boasted freedom of religion as a thing of theory only, and not of practice, as what would be a poor exchange for the theoretic thraldom, but practical freedom of Europe." --Thomas Jefferson to N. G. Dufief, 1814.
Contrast the condition of Spain with that of America :
"I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies, that the General Government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them, an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises and the objects proper for them according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands where the Constitution has deposited it... Everyone must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Miller, 1808.While Spain was a Christian STATE, atheists here, out of ignorance of the law, fear that they too would be forced into a belief system which they do not wish to be. The fact that America is a Christian NATION, as clearly shown previously, can never be changed or ignored, despite the best efforts of the ACLU and others. Previously we have seen that the reason to depart from these founding principles is to destroy the Constitutional America and then to enslave the people. And we will see more of that self evident truth as we continue.
"Believing... that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, 1802.
Let us continue with what constitutes 'separation of church and state', with Justice Joseph Story. Appointed to the Supreme Court by James Madison in 1811 and serving for 34 years on the bench he wrote 'Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States' in 1833. From there we find his explanation of the First Amendment. "The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government."
Not quite what most people think of as separation, but let us continue to explore the Christian NATION. From the US Supreme Court, " Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian." Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States 143 US 457-458 (1892). This is of course perfectly reasonable as our law, the common law derives from the Bible, as previously shown.
Let us continue from the Supreme Court to put into a practical sense what 'separation of church and state' means. "The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every respect there shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the the manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concert or union or dependency one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other - hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly... Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their places of worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; 'so help me God' in our courtroom oaths - these and all other references to the Almighty that run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies, would be flouting the First Amendment. A fastidious atheist or agnostic could even object to the supplication with which the Court opens each session: 'God save the United States and this Honorable Court'. We are a religious people and our institutions presuppose a Supreme Being... When the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events for sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe..." Zorach v. Clauson 343 US 306 (1952)
Common sense and the Supreme Court of Massachusetts defines the First Amendment rights of atheists : "The First Amendment embraces all who believe in the existence of God, as well as Christians of every denomination... This provision does not extend to atheists, because they do not believe in God or religion; and therefore, their sentiments and professions, whatever they may be cannot be called religious setiments and professions." Commonwealth v. Kneeland 37 Mass. 206 (1838) Amen.
Next on the 'Right to Keep and Bear Arms' page find out just what was intended in the Second Amendment.
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