Those who created our country—the Founding Fathers and Mothers—understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion.
The Mayflower Compact began with the words, “In the name of God, amen.” The Declaration of Independence appeals to “Nature’s God” and the “Creator” and “the Supreme Judge of the world.” Congress was given a chaplain, and the oaths of office are oaths before God.
James Madison in the Federalist Papers admitted that in the creation of our Republic he perceived the hand of the Almighty. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, warned that we must never forget the God from whom our blessings flowed.
George Washington referred to religion’s profound and unsurpassed place in the heart of our nation, quite directly in his Farewell Address in 1796.
Seven years earlier, France had erected a government that was intended to be purely secular. This new government would be grounded on reason rather than the law of God. By 1796, the French Revolution had known the Reign of Terror.
And, Washington voiced reservations about the idea that there could be a wise policy without a firm moral and religious foundation. He said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
RONALD REAGAN
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The reason the United States of America is special is because its whole structure is predicated upon a foundational truth, that our rights are not given to us by the government or other people, they are given to us by God. Therefore, it is the job of the government to protect and ensure those rights. At the core of all of our founding documents, is the belief that we are endowed by our Creator. This is significant, because it is not the government, the king, or the oligarchy that determines what our rights are. Yet, the founding documents make no determination as to who God is, or what god you have to pray to. The documents remain free from any specific establishment of religion.
In saying that our rights come from God, with no respect to an establishment of religion, comes the freedom to not have religion. However, to the atheist, I ask, how do you determine and claim those unalienable rights once you remove God from the equation? Once you remove God from the equation of America, the duty falls back to man, to King George III. You see, God serves as a fail-safe mechanism, which prohibits the government from making determinations about what you can or cannot do with your own life. Therefore, according to the founders, to really be for America, you have to allow for the existence of God. You don’t have to worship God, nor do you have to be religious. But, if there is no allowance for the fail-safe, all of it goes away.
By virtue of this principle we say, “One nation under God,” and, “In God we trust.” In saying this, God does not become a working entity within the government, but serves solely as a protector of our rights. As a believing person, I have no problem with this. As a former atheist, I can appreciate how this statement may irk non-believers. But, why? If you think of God as simply a protective measure for the society in which you say you believe in, a society that you think is good, then why do you take issue with this founding principle?
Understand this, America doesn’t exist if government is the ultimate authority. Think on the etymology of the word “worship.” It is old english, stemming from “worth-ship.” Whatever is of highest value in your life is what you worship. If you do not believe in God, then know what has taken its place. Something will fill the void. If it’s not God, it’s scientism. If it’s not scientism, it’s politics. If it’s not politics, it’s the environment. If it’s not the environment, it’s culture. Your highest aim can be any number of things, but God is ultimately replaced with something else. With that said, if you remove God from the American equation, you give government more power over your life than it deserves. As an American, I don’t want anyone having that level of control over my life. Whether or not you believe God, God serves as a pillar upon which this country is built. If you try to remove that pillar, you make the country itself less stable.
It is worth noting that taxation is another pillar. While I may hate it, it remains a pillar. As Americans, we are required to provide for some functions of the government, as it provides for the common defense, infrastructure, and the rule of law. That is why the allowance of taxation is a constitutional amendment. Do I like it? Am I in favor of it? NO. Yet, I understand its necessity in American society. In my mind, taxation, and therefore, the government should be smaller rather than larger. Following that rule of thought, the atheist also has the right to say, God should be smaller rather than larger. Yet, like taxation, God provides for a particular structural soundness. So, with respect to the founding nature of God, the atheist isn’t being marginalized, in the same way that the small government conservative or libertarian isn’t being marginalized by the existence of a taxation.
The founding fathers, diverse in their beliefs, understood the necessity of a transcendent authority. While there may have been sweeping disagreement in their personal beliefs, they knew that objective truths, clearly understood, are what give energy to culture. While the establishment clause states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” it does not mean religion should have no place in the public square. Nor does it prohibit religion from influencing a person’s politics. As an old admirer of the late Christopher Hitchens, like him, “I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don’t know anything like enough yet, that I haven’t understood enough, that I can’t know enough, that I am always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom.“ Guess what? God and the Founding Fathers wouldn’t have it any other way.
