Like it or not, Christianity is why America exists.
Our founders were "opposed to the leader of a nation being the leader of the official church of that nation." In other words they did not want a theocracy. But to say "secular principles (secularism)" is what our country was founded on is completely ridiculous. Consider the words of John Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Second President of the United States:
“[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.”
(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.)
“[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.)
Liberal critics who are uncomfortable with these quotes from our founders either erect a straw man in response and claim we are implying the founders wanted a theocracy, or claim that we want a theocracy now. The easy way to respond is to paint a picture (below) of our founders and ask them to explain which parts they disagree with and why:
Virtually all those involved in the founding enterprise were God-fearing men in the Christian sense; most were Calvinistic Protestants.
-- The Founders were deeply influenced by a biblical view of man and government. With a sober understanding of the fallenness of man, they devised a system of limited authority and checks and balances.
--The Founders understood that fear of God, moral leadership, and a righteous citizenry were necessary for their great experiment to succeed.
--Therefore, they structured a political climate that was encouraging to Christianity and accommodating to religion, rather than hostile to it—The First Amendment was to protect the church from the State, not the other way around.
Protestant Christianity was the prevailing religious view for the first 150 years of our history.
They specifically prohibited the establishment of Christianity—or any other faith—as the religion of our nation. They did not want to live under another theocracy that would tell them how to pray, how to worship, how to tithe—basically, how to live!
However…
The Fathers sought to set up a just society, NOT a Christian THEOCRACY. In order to have a just society you need a justice system (just laws). This is where the whole idea of “separation of church and state”—the way it is interpreted today (making sure any government agency or agent is not influenced AT ALL by any religion at all)—breaks down. Consider the following:
James Wilson was one of the framers of our Constitution (described as “The Architect of the Constitution”).
--One of only six individuals to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
--Spoke on the floor of the Convention 168 times. He was the second most active member of the Constitutional Convention (he was very active in framing the Constitution).
--One of six justices appointed by George Washington to the first Supreme Court.
--First law professor and founder of the Penn Law School.
James Wilson had this to say about law:
“All (laws), however, may be arranged in two different classes. 1) Divine. 2) Human…But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same Divine source: it is the law of God…Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine.” James Wilson 1804, [Works of the Honorable James Wilson,1804, Vol. 1, pp103-105, “Of the General principles of Law and Obligation.”]
Basically he was saying, “You cannot have good civil law if it's not based on DIVINE law.” This is why many of our laws were laws that reflected biblical values.
Alexander Hamilton: “The law…dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.” Alexander Hamilton Feb 23, 1775 [The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Vol. 1, p. 87, Feb. 23, 1775]
Noah Webster (America’s school master, Author of 1st American English Dictionary, authored Art. 1 Section 8 of U.S. Constitution) : “[The] ‘Law of nature’ is a rule of conduct arising out of the natural relations of human beings established by the Creator and existing prior to any positive precept (human law)…these…have been established by the Creator and are, with a peculiar felicity of expression, denominated in Scripture, “ordinances of heaven.” [ p. 470, Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language 1828, “law,” definition #3 & #6]
"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence
"One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying at its foundations."
Joseph Story, father of American jurisprudence and U.S. Supreme Court Justice
"I verily believe that Christianity is necessary to support a civil society and shall ever attend to its institutions and acknowledge its precepts as the pure and natural sources of private and social happiness."
Joseph Story
"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."
Daniel Webster
"Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary."
Daniel Webster
"If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be; If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy, If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end."
Daniel Webster
"Education is useless without the Bible."
Noah Webster
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed....No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
Noah Webster
"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government."
Noah Webster
George Read (a signer of the Declaration of Independence; a signer of the U.S. Constitution; a delegate from Delaware to the Constitutional Convention; a U.S. Senator, 1789-93; and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware)
DELAWARE 1776. Article XXII. Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust...shall...make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: "I, ________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."
Benjamin Rush (member of the Continental Congress, 1776-77, and signed the Declaration of Independence): "Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education."
On July 13, 1789, in a letter to Jeremy Belknap, Dr. Benjamin Rush stated:
"The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools."
In Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical, Dr. Benjamin Rush explained:
"Christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopts its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy.
In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible.
For this Divine book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism."
As for many others I have not listed (for the sake of time)--their personal correspondence, biographies, and public statements are replete with quotations showing that these thinkers had political philosophies deeply influenced by Christianity. A suggestion to the contrary is either a shallow understanding of the ORIGINAL INTENT of our founders, or willful deceit.
On July 13, 1789, in a letter to Jeremy Belknap, Dr. Benjamin Rush stated:
"The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools."
In Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical, Dr. Benjamin Rush explained:
"Christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopts its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy.
In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible.
For this Divine book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism."
As for many others I have not listed (for the sake of time)--their personal correspondence, biographies, and public statements are replete with quotations showing that these thinkers had political philosophies deeply influenced by Christianity. A suggestion to the contrary is either a shallow understanding of the ORIGINAL INTENT of our founders, or willful deceit.