The Constitution and Christianity

There is a widespread and erroneous belief that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and traditions. There are claims in the evangelical community that our founders intended for our nation to be a Christian Nation, and for it to be an example to the rest of the world as the first Christian Republic. Often, there arguments are based on a series of spurious quotes of the founding fathers (1). These quotes have since been proven wrong by scholars who study the writings of the founding fathers ( 2 ).

First, we need to examine the early history of our nation. There was in fact a Christian Republic in our early history, however, by the time of the American Revolution and the drafting of the Constitution, it was already a matter of historical record and had no direct impact on the structure of our government.

English settlers founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 (3). By 1641, they had created a representative democracy and created their first code of laws called the Massachusetts Body of Liberties (4). It should be noted that unlike present day Evangelicals, this body of laws placed a great emphasis on the restrictions and regulations of the Old Testament of the Bible. Many of the prohibitions and procedures in this document were based directly on the Mosaic laws found in the Pentateuch. By 1692, this colony had been absorbed into the larger local colonies, and thus ceased to exist as a separate entity.

When present-day Evangelicals talk of our nation being founded on Judeo-Christian principles, they may be referring to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. However, it would be incorrect for them to link this early Christian Republic with the later work our founders undertook in drafting a Constitution and establishing our United States of America. This can be proven simply by reading the Constitution and learning about the religious beliefs of our founders.

Starting with the Constitution, a cursory reading of that document will show that there is no special relationship between it and the Bible. The Constitution makes no reference to any Judeo-Christian traditions or principles whatsoever. In fact, the Constitution makes only two references to religion, and in both cases, it is in a way that indicates our founders had no desire to intertwine any religion, let alone Christianity, with our nascent government.

The first reference can be found in Article VI of the Constitution. In the last clause of that article, it states:

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." ( 5 )

It should be noted that certain states before the Constitution was written did in fact require that its officers and elected official declare they hold particular beliefs, such as a belief in a supreme being, belief in the Christian god, and belief in the afterlife (6). In fact, even as recent as 1997, South Carolina required an oath to God for public sector employment. However, all of these requirements have since been overturned and the judges based their reasoning on the view that the founders clearly stated their intent in the sixth article of the Constitution.

Evangelicals may argue that the fact these laws were tolerated for so long means that Judeo-Christianity is in fact what our government was based on. However, this ignores the fact that courts have overturned many evils that society previously tolerated, even on biblical grounds, such as anti-miscegenation laws. For example, one of the arguments presented in the landmark case Loving v. Virginia stated:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the races to mix." ( 7 )

Today, we know this sort of religious based bigotry was horribly incorrect and socially damaging. If anything, this circumstance should show that just because tradition dictates that is how people are expected to act and live their lives doesn't mean this is what is in the best interests of the human experience and social progress. In other words, the argument that "this is how it's always been" can often be detrimental, and further, basing such arguments on the Bible (or any religion) only makes the faith appear restrictive and tyrannical. Our founders sought to free us from this sort of tyranny, giving us the tools to greater expand that freedom to women and minorities in later eras.

The second reference in the Constitution that our founders did not intend to establish a Christian Nation is found in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. There are two clauses in the first amendment which state:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" (8)

Simply put, Congress (and via the Fourteenth Amendment, the states) cannot establish a national religion, or prefer any religion above others (9). While this was not included in the original Constitution, without the passage of the Bill of Rights, several of the states would have refused to ratify the Constitution. Thus, the Bill of Rights is just as fundamental a document to the founding of our nation as is the Constitution.

Evangelicals must ask themselves if our founders were the pious Christians they believe them to be, why did they choose not to establish Christianity as the national religion? Why did they choose to prohibit the Congress from passing laws that would prefer Christianity above other religions? Why did our founders not require elected and appointed officials to swear an oath to the Christian God?

It is a historical fact that our founders held a strong view that religious freedom meant freedom for all religions, not merely Christianity. Founders such as Thomas Jefferson took into account various faiths when drafting the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom. When legislators proposed that reference to Jesus Christ be inserted into the preamble of the act, Jefferson stated that:

"The insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination." (10)

In addition, it should be noted that John Adams, being a Unitarian, would not be considered a Christian by today's standards. Unitarians profess a belief in a single God, denying that Jesus was God Incarnate as well as refusing to believe that the Holy Sprit was also part of God (11). John Adams is a prominent Founder as he was involved with drafting the Declaration of Independence, and our second president (12). Likewise, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin would not be called Christians today, as both held Deistic and Unitarian beliefs (13) (14). These two men are also prominent founders as they were also involved with drafting the Declaration and the Constitution, additionally; Jefferson served as the third president. Finally, George Washington, while called an Episcopalian, he was not a full congregant of the church as he did not take communion. Also, many of his writings have been described as deistic, though he never called himself such (15).

History, the text of the Constitution, and the writings and faiths of our founders has shown that our nation was not founded as a Christian nation. In fact, the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli ratified by the Senate and signed by president John Adams states explicitly:

"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." (16)

Evangelical critics claim that this treaty dealt with piracy, not a church and state relationship. However, the vote in the Senate was unanimous, and there was no public dissent when newspapers in Philadelphia and New York published the text of the treaty. Likewise, as all treaties passed by the Senate and signed by the president become the supreme law of the land according to the Supremacy clause of the Constitution (17). In other words, with the signing of that treaty, the United States ceased being a Christian nation, if indeed it was ever founded as such.

Evangelicals claim that the enlightenment philosophy from which we developed the ideology that created our government came from the Judeo-Christian tradition. They believe that the Nature's God of the enlightenment is the same as the Christian God. However, Nature's God, as Jefferson (the prime author of the Declaration, the only founding document that makes reference to a supernatural supreme being) understood it, was more akin to the Deist Creator than the Christian God (18).

In the end, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. If Evangelicals claim that our nation was founded as a Christian nation and/or that it was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, they must provide the proof. A Constitution is a document that establishes a government and lays out the functions of that government. If our nation were intended to be a Christian nation or follow Judeo-Christian principles, this would be clearly visible in our Constitution.