RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: A UNIQUE AND OFTEN IGNORED AMERICAN CONTRIBUTION
BY
ALLAN C.BROWNFELD
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There
have been some in our political arena who—-turning their backs upon our
unique political history—-deny that the authors of the Constitution
uniquely enshrined religious freedom in the Constitution—-at a time when
such an idea was hardly in existence any place in the Western world.
At the same time, some of those on the left would remove religion and
reference to God from our public life almost completely. The founding
fathers had a more complex view.
Recently,
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said that the idea of separation of
church and state is “a misnomer.” In his view, the nation’s founders
believed that religion was central to the government. At the same time,
a vocal group which calls itself “Christian Nationalists” proclaim that
America was meant to be a “Christian country.” 0ur real history is far
more complex and interesting. I reviewed an article I wrote in my last
year of law school for the William and Mary Law Review, entitled “The
Constitutional Intent Concerning Matters of Church and State.”
When
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence he appealed to
God as the source of our liberty,not to man, the state or any group of
men. This is clear at the beginning of the document: “We hold these
truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Benjamin
Franklin, considered one of the most skeptical of the Founders
concerning religion, is reported by James Madison in his “Notes” to have
made the following proposal on June 28, 1787 before the Continental
Congress: “I have lived, Sir, a long time,and the longer I live, the
more convincing proofs I see of the truth—-that God governs in the
affairs of men…I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers
imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our
deliberations,be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed
to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be
requested to officiate in that service.”
While
there was a belief in the importance of morality and of divine
inspiration, no particular religion was embraced, and all were provided
with freedom and equal rights,something genuinely unprecedented. In
1796, George Washington said: “Of all the dispositions and habits which
lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable
supports.” And in 1793, he wrote to the New Church in Baltimore: “We
have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and
reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition,and
that every person May here worship God according to the dictates of his
own heart. In this enlightened Age and in the Land of equal liberty it
is our boast that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the
protection of the Laws, or deprive him of the right of attaining the
highest offices that are known in the United States.”
James
Madison was the author of the widely circulated and highly influential
“Memorial and Remonstrance” of 1784, against the proposal of the House
of Delegates of Virginia to provide, through assessments, for teachers
of the Christian religion. In this he showed that religion is a matter
of individual conscience and not within the official cognizance of civil
government. We opposed this, he wrote, “Because we hold it for a
fundamental and undeniable truth that religion, or the duty which we owe
to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it,can be directed only
by reason and conviction, not by force or violence. The religion of
every man, then, must be left to the conviction and conscience of every
man to exercise as these may dictate. This right is in the nature of an
inalienable right.”
In
his letter to the Jewish congregation in Newport Rhode Island, George
Washington declared that, “All possess alike liberty of conscience and
immunities of citizenship.” Citizenship, he declared, was not mere
“toleration …as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that
another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights,” but
rather something that belonged to all, so that “every one shall sit in
safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make
him afraid.”
In his
book “A Promised Land,” Prof. Andrew Portner of Auburn University, notes
that, “Ministers attempted to get Washington, once president, to commit
to an open,public declaration of Christian faith. He never made one.
In 1789, the minister and former Harvard president Samuel Langdon
directly requested Washington to declare himself a ‘disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ.’ Washington wrote a letter back referring to ‘the Great
Author of the Universe.’ In 1796, a collection of ministers repeated
Langdon’s request. Washington replied referencing only “the Divine
Author of life and felicity.’”
When
he received thanks from more marginal religious groups, Washington
repeatedly discussed rights. In 1793, he told Baltimore’s Swedenborgian
church, “We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this land the light
of truth and reason have triumphed over the power of bigotry and
superstition.” In America, he declared, every person “may worship God
according to the dictates of his own heart.” The Catholics, a small
number of Americans in 1790, lauded Washington for “extending the
influence of Laws on the manners of our fellow citizens and encouraging
respect for religion.” But they insisted upon “equal rights of
citizenship.” Washington concurred: “All those who conduct themselves
as worthy members of the Community are equally entitled to the
protection of civil Government.”
Christian
nationalists seem not to be aware of the unique history of our
country. At a time when Protestants were persecuted in Catholic
countries in Europe and Catholics were mistreated in Protestant
countries—-and Jews were not equal citizens in either——America created a
system of separation of church and state, religious freedom for all,
and no religious test of any kind to hold public office. Perhaps we are
teaching American history so poorly that Christian nationalists have
never been exposed to the thinking of George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison and other Founding Fathers. And the advocates
of Christian nationalism seem to have contempt for all who differ from
them in any way. This is hardly the attitude of a Christian. Jesus,
after all, told his followers to love their enemies. Christian
nationalists seem unable to love those who disagree with them on one or
another policy issue.
It
is time for us to re-examine how we are teaching American history. If
we were teaching it properly, no one would get away with saying that
separation of church and state is not a basic element of the American
political philosophy.