Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!microsof!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!mhuxa!mhuxi!cbosgd!cbscd5!pmd 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 Lines: 100 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 #