One of the benefits of an election year is that we are able to hear the views of candidates which many times bring to the forefront, issues that many Americas are concerned about.
Republican Senate Nominee Christine O’Donnell of Delaware made the statement during a recent debate that the words “Separation of Church and State” are not in the constitution. Of course she is right, those words do not appear in the language of the first amendment. Was it the desire of the first amendment that religion should play no role in government or was government seeking to protect the rights of individual citizens to express religious faith in government without fear of redress.
It is unfortunate that we are so far removed from the original intent of the framers of the Constitution that many today do not understand what the intended purpose of those amendments were suppose to accomplish.
It is for certain that at the time the Constitution was framed, the citizens of the new land of America had been, and were presently undergoing severe persecution for their religious beliefs. Not only did citizens of England want to start a new life, those who traversed the Atlantic ocean were weary of being told how they could worship their God.
By the time that America had begun to be colonized, the King of England had dictated exactly how, when, and where a person must worship God and what they must believe. No private citizen had a copy of their own Bible, and therefore the Bibles that were printed by King James had in the margins of those Bibles, commentary on the Scriptures from his own personal agenda. The Kings particular slant on the scriptures were designed to keep the people in fear of the King and subdued beneath his authority.
When the first Geneva Bibles were printed and distributed to the private citizen, for the first time people understood that God intended that all men be free to worship Him according to the dictates of their individual conscience. A rebellion broke forth against the tyrannical king and an exodus from England ensued which brought the first settlers to America. Those who risked life, liberty and fortune to cross the Atlantic for a new life, did so after they came to the realization that they were never going to be free to worship God as long as they were citizens of England.
Make no mistake, those who first came to the new land of America were largely Christians and seeking religious freedom. The claim that America was not founded as a Christian nation is a complete fabrication. The history books are filled with the testimony of men and women who made it clear that they came to this new land to worship the God of the Bible freely.
John Adams, one of the framers of the Constitution wrote:
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.” (John Adams, Works, Vol. X, pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813.)
When the Constitution was framed, it was with religious liberty in mind that the articles of the Constitution were articulated. When the Constitution speaks of the right of free speech, it was intended that anyone who wanted to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to another, would not have that right of free speech impeded by government or individual.
When the Constitution speaks of the fact that “Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion“, it was the intended purpose of that clause to protect the church and specifically Christians, from the government being able to establish a state run religion or church. It was not an intended purpose to keep those who wanted to worship the God of the Bible from being able to express their faith in all facets of life, including government and programs overseen by the government.
Those who wrote the establishment clause had in mind the former persecution of King James and his tyrannical repression of religious freedom. The establishment clause was to protect the people from the government, not to prohibit religion but to promote it privately. King James had established a state regulated religion that every citizen was forced to join. The framers of our First Amendment were seeking to prevent this from happening in the new government of America. They were not seeking to prevent citizens from expressing their faith in government.
The second part of this portion of the Constitution also states that “Congress shall not restrict the free exercise of religion.” Again, in the context of desiring to protect those who’s religious freedoms had been represssed and dictated to them by the government, the framers intended that they would free every citizen of America who wanted to worship the God of the Bible, and that they might do so without any interference from government.
Notice the opening text from the Declaration of Independence, which gives us the reason that the Founding Fathers felt compelled to try and do the impossible, establish a new government with the people having the ability to worship the God of the Bible without being restricted by their government:
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
In this one sentence, the founding fathers forcefully declared why they must separate themselves from Great Britain.
“The Laws of Nature, and Natures God”.
These 8 words expressed a complete manner of Law and of life. This statement in our founding document declares an agenda, a wide spread movement, and has specific beliefs.
The source for this statement was “Blackstone’s Commentary on the Law”
- Blackstone’s Commentary on the Law was the law book used for years before the American Revolution ever happened
- Blackstone’s was the primary text book in law schools until 1920
- Bar exams were taken from this book.
- The Supreme court quoted from this book several times in its opinions.
- It was considered to be the final authority on most issues.
Blackstone’s Commentary on the Law gives us the true meaning of these 8 words found in the Declaration of Independence:
“Man considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely and dependant being. And consequently, as a man depends absolutely upon his maker for everything, it is necessary that in all points conform to his makers will , this will of his maker is called the Law of Nature.
This law of nature being co-equal with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is of course superior to any other. It is binding to all the globe, all countries and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this. This then is the Law of Nature, it is the law of God expressed through His creation.
If our reason were always clear and perfect, the task would be pleasant and easy. We would need no other guide but the law of nature. Every man now finds the contrary in his own experience, we find that our reason is corrupt and our understanding is full of ignorance and error. This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of divine providence which has been pleased at sundry times and diverse manners to discover and enforce His laws by an immediate and direct revelation. The Doctrines thus delivered, we call the revealed or the divine law and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures.”
The Scriptures are the laws of the God who created Nature.
Upon these two foundations The law of nature and the law of revelation, of natures God, depend all human laws. That is to say, no human laws can be allowed to contradict these”.
It is clear that those who framed our Constitution and gave us the First Amendment with the rights of the free exercise of free speech and religion, had in mind these words from Blackstones’s commentary on the Law.
This means that those who framed the Constitution and signed the Declaration of Independence believed that all of our laws in the United States of America came from God and from His Word as found in the Bible. The Founders of the United States of America believed That man does not have the right, nor the capacity to institute any other laws outside of God’s law.
This legal phrase in Blackstone’s commentary on the law, “The Laws of Nature, and Natures God”, explains the entire thought process behind why the United States of America was founded from the beginning. America was founded by Christian men who believed the Bible is the Word of God and that all of our rights and laws come only from the Word of God.
This is why it is ludicrous to make the statement that America was not founded on Christian principles, and that the intended purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent religion from being a part of Government. Since most of those who framed the Constitution were themselves Christians, it is for certain that they intended that worshipers of God were protected from exactly what has happened in America today, Government impeding Religion. Today the constitution has been reinterpreted to mean that government should restrict religious from government and that any expression of religion in any government sponsored event or program should be prevented.
The reason that this has happened is that the early history of America’s religious heritage has not been taught in our public schools or universities and the vast majority of Americans are not aware of the facts of that heritage.
When people do not have knowledge, they cannot make sound judgments. This is what happened to those citizens in England who did not have a copy if the Bible and were held in religious repression. Upon being presented with the facts of the Scriptures, they rose up in rebellion against their government and started a new government her in America that would guarantee them religious liberty.
It is the obligation of every American to learn the facts of America’s religious heritage and teach these facts to their children, their friends and their neighbors. When Americans are told the truth, then the true intent of the Constitution and more specifically, the First Amendment will properly be administered in our courts and government.
Rob Robinson
