The United States – “One nation under God?”

The funeral of a United States serviceman, who was killed in combat, ignited the debate over God and government.   Is it inappropriate to mention God at a military funeral?  Did we vote to become an agnostic nation?  The debate continues because some individuals and groups believe any mention of God in government violates the “separation of church and state.”  What were the intentions of our Founding Fathers for the United States of America?

Did they write so poorly we need to interpret their meaning, rather than just read what they wrote?  Did the Founding Fathers intend for “separation of church and state,” even though that phrase is in none of their documents?  “Separation of church and state” is nothing more than an assumption of what the founders meant to say.  A further assumption is to define “separation of church and state” to mean there can be no mention of God anywhere in government.  If the Founding Fathers believed God cannot be in government why did they mention God at all, yet alone so frequently?

The following are sections of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights with the changes needed to remove God from these documents.  Additions are in bold and deletions have strikethroughs.

Declaration of Independence:  “WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s GOD accident entitles them ….

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR chance development, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness… that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes unless it is to transition into an agnostic nation….

“WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World whims of Nature for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES…. And for the Support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE random chance, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Constitution of the United States of America, Article VI: “The Senators and Representatives… shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test including an affirmation of agnosticism that shall ever be required as a qualification to any office….”

Bill of Rights, Amendment I: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, instead demanding and promoting agnosticism, while making laws prohibiting the free exercise thereof anything in government appearing religious….”

Was this the Founding Fathers’ wish?  Do these historic documents read ambiguously?  Are they impossible to understand?  I think the Founding Fathers were perfectly clear because as you read the entirety of these documents you see they were superbly worded and eloquently written.  No interpretation is needed.  No assumptions are needed.

The fear of those demanding “separation of church and state” is the government creating a government-mandated religion.  But that is the same fear the Founding Fathers had.  They did not want the government to have the power to mandate a religion and had fled countries where this occurred. 

Read the Founding Fathers’ documents again.  What do they say?  Do they say God cannot be in government?  Or do they only say the government cannot mandate a national religion?

Further, our entire legal system is based on the Judeo-Christian faith.  Doesn’t that seem to be a rather resounding endorsement of God?  Should we be removing the Ten Commandments from courthouses or should we be placing them in all courthouses?  They are the basis of our legal system, our democracy.

James Madison said, “We have staked the whole future of American Civilization… upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

We are being asked to dismantle the foundations of our government and legal system to be politically correct.  Is that reasonable or is that a violation of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights?

The Founding Fathers created a Christian nation without a government-mandated faith.  It’s worked well for over 200 years. Enough.

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