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From: pmd@cbscd5.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion
Subject: The Bible and the Constitution
Message-ID: <248@cbscd5.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Jul-83 07:10:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbscd5.248
Posted: Wed Jul  6 07:10:11 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 8-Jul-83 14:39:03 EDT
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While it may be true that this country is not founded on the Christian
Religion, The influence of Judeo-Christian principles on our forefathers
cannot be ignored.  There is strong evidence that they believed
in absolute standards for the laws of government and that these
standards were based on the Bible.

George Washington instituted the practice of swearing on the Bible
when he took the office of President.  Back then, swearing on the Bible
was not the meaningless ceremony it is today.  When someone swore
on the Bible, he was giving those present the assurance that his
conduct in office, or on the witness stand in court, would adhere to the
moral and ethical principles contained therein.
Atheists, on the other hand, adhere to no external standard for the
judgement of their conduct.  Therefore, in matters of public interest,
there is no assurance that their actions will be in the best interests of
others and no standard to judge whether their conduct is right or wrong.

There have been those who have done heinous things in the name
of Christianity, but the Bible exposes them for the hypocrites
they are.  As for Atheism, we would do well to remember that everything
Joseph Stalin did in his "purge" was legal.  The law of Russia was his own.

The influence of Christian men like John Locke, John Witherspoon,
and William Blackstone on the framers of our Constitution cannot be ignored.

John Locke's fundamental concepts of unalienable rights, government
by consent, the social compact, and the right to resist unlawful authority
were drawn primarily from the scriptural principles contained in "Lex, Rex or,
the Law and the Prince", published by Samuel Rutherford in 1644.

John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian minister and educator who signed the 
Declaration of Independence and was a member of the Continental Congress
from 1776 to 1779 and from 1780 to 1782.  Many of Witherspoon's students
reached positions of eminence in the Constitutional Convention and in 
early U.S. history.  They included James Madison (often called the father
of our Constitution), Aaron Burr, 10 cabinet members, 21 senators, 39
congressmen, and 12 governors. [Rousas J. Rushdoony, "This Independent
Republic", p.3].  Madison was especially influenced by Witherspoon.
[Richard B. Morris, "Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny" (New York: Harper and
Row, 1973), p. 192].  Madison defined "religion" (as used in the First
Amendment) as "the duty which we owe our Creator, and the manner of
discharging it". [James Madison, "A Memorial and Remonstrance on the
Religious Rights of Man" (as cited in Donald Manzullo, "Neither Sacred
Nor Profane", p. 71 and Michael J. Malbin, "Religion and Politics", pp. 21,22].
The First Amendment was not intended to also secure "freedom *from*
religion" as many atheists allege.

Between 1765 and 1770 the English jurist William Blackstone published
his "Commentaries on the Laws of England" which, by 1775, sold more copies
in America than in England.  Blackstone took it as self evident that God
is the source of all laws, whether they were revealed in Scripture or
or observed in nature.  Many lawyers considered Blackstone's commentaries
to be all there was of the law.

The concept of a "wall of separation between Church and State" is nowhere
found in our Constitution.  It was expressed in a letter written by Thomas
Jefferson to a group of Baptists and Congregationalists
in Danbury, Conn. in 1802. In this letter Jefferson seems to be assuring
them that his own religious views (Deistic) will not be used to hamper
their religious freedom (he was running for president at the time), i.e.
the government would not interfere with their religious practices.
In 1805, in his Second Inaugural Address, Jefferson said:

	"In matters of religion I have considered that its free exercise
	is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the
	General [federal] Government. I have therefore undertaken on
	no occasion to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it
	but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the
	direction and discipline of the church or state authorities
	acknowledged by the several religious societies."

As the founder of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson recommended
that students be allowed to meet on campus to pray and worship together.
["Regulation of the University of Virgina", Oct. 4, 1824, ch. 2, sec. 1]
He was the author of the first plan of public education adopted for the
city of Washington, which included the Bible and the Isaac Watts Hymnal as
the principle books to teach reading to students. [J. O. Wilson, "Public
Schools of Washington", vol. 1 (Wash., D. C.: Columbia Historical Society,
1897), pp. 5,9].  Jefferson also didn't have much to do with the writing
of the First Amendment.  He was visiting Paris at the time it was written.
Jefferson understood the "wall of separation" as a means of protecting
the church from government manipulation.  This concept has been reversed
and is now used in our legal system to remove Christian thought from
the ideas presented in our educational system.

Those who are interested in studying further the contention that Judeo-
Christian principles profoundly influenced our government's formation
should read "The Second American Revolution" by John Whitehead (David
C. Cook Publishing Co., 1982).  Whitehead is an attorney, specializing
in constitutional law, practicing in Manassas, Va.  The book is a
critical analysis of the changes that have taken place in the principles
upon which our government operates.  These changes are so basic and
so subtle that Whitehead contends that there has been a *second*
American Revolution which has undone the work of the first.  The book
is well researched.


Paul Dubuc
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