America Is Not A Theocracy!
God created government. — Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker, discussing the judicial decision declaring fertilized frozen embryos people.
Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here. [Holds up a cross necklace.] Because all glory is not to government; all glory is to God. — Far right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker may wish he lived in a theocracy, but he does not. Neither does Jack Posobiec, and all attempts to turn America into a theocracy (think Iran, here) run up against a problem: The Constitution of the United States. That document makes two specific references to religion: In Article VI, which prohibits religious tests as a qualification for holding office; and, in the First Amendment, which plainly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” That is pretty clear, is it not?
Yet Christian nationalism has taken hold among a segment of the American population. And while it, no doubt, represents a minority opinion — even among Christians, let alone all Americans — the sentiment seems to be gaining popularity (or, at the very least, has become a loud cry to fellow citizens). Certainly, its adherents appear bolder these days than in the past in proclaiming their views on the role of religion in government.
Many self-identified Christian nationalists claim they do not advocate a theocracy. They want, instead, they insist, a foundational role for Christianity in government. But, frankly, that is a distinction without a difference. “The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church,” says Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican. That sure sounds like a theocracy.
David French, in The New York Times, quotes two helpful definitions of Christian nationalism. The first, from sociologists Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead, defines Christian nationalism as a “cultural framework that blurs distinctions between Christian identity and American identity, viewing the two as closely related and seeking to enhance and preserve their union.” The second, from author and pastor Matthew McCullough, defines if as “an understanding of American identity and significance held by Christians wherein the nation is a central actor in the world-historical purposes of the Christian God.”
Turning our lens to the past reveals that the founders of the American nation and government held views contrary to those of modern-day theocrats. The first four presidents made it clear that they believed religion should not play a role in American government, that government should be neutral regarding differing religions and not support one sect to the exclusion of others, and that tolerance for different religious views required that all sects should be treated equally. Since all four — George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison — were involved in either establishing independence or drafting the Constitution (or both), they may serve as helpful guides to understanding the proper role of religion in American government.
1) James Madison noted in 1785, in his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments that the multiplicity of sects in America dictated toleration for all. “Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?”
2) In 1790, President Washington wrote a letter to the congregation of the Touro Synagogue in Newport Rhode Island, in response to a query about religious freedom for Jews who historically had been “deprived… of the invaluable rights of free Citizens.” The president gave an unequivocal guarantee that “happily the government of the United States… gives to bigotry no sanction.” All religions will be treated equally in the new country. “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid,” Washington concluded. (The reference to “under the vine and fig tree” appears in the Bible in three places: Micah 4:4; 1 Kings 4:25; and Zechariah 3:10. Washington probably was citing Micah 4:4.)
3) In 1797, President Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which protected American ships in the Mediterranean Sea from Barbary pirates. Article 11 of the treaty stipulated: “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 Musselmen, and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan [sic] 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.”
4) In 1802, President Jefferson responded to a letter from the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut complaining that Connecticut’s official religion (the Congregational Church was not disestablished until 1818) infringed on the religious freedom of Baptists. “Whatever religious privileges we enjoy,” they maintained, “we enjoy as favors granted and not as inalienable rights.” In his reply, Jefferson wrote that the First Amendment built “a wall of separation of Church & State.”
Case closed!
Posted February 27, 2024