The First Amendment of the United States Constitution – the very first one! – says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
But even before the First Amendment there was Article VI, Clause 3 – known as the “No Religious Test Clause” – that says, “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
These two Constitutional mandates pretty much say it all, don’t they? The old dudes couldn’t have been any clearer: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE A NATIONAL RELIGION. PERIOD. END OF STORY.
…and every single one of us should be exceedingly grateful for this, because our freedoms are the most valuable currency we have. Please believe us when we say this is not a thread we should pull on. Our Constitution was written by men who witnessed and experienced religious tyranny and, therefore, knew there was a better way.
Despite the Constitutional clarity, the overriding narrative of many of today’s Evangelicals is one that positions America as a “Christian nation.” Their logic seems to be that, since the Founding Fathers were Christians, their intent was that every American should be one too. This premise is 1000% false. In fact, the intention of the Founding Fathers was exactly the opposite…and they were not ambiguous about it in the least.
The Treaty of Tripoli – written, negotiated and approved during the presidency of George Washington then signed by President John Adams – includes the statement, “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
In 1785, in response to Patrick Henry’s bill for federal tax-supported religious instruction in Virginia, James Madison (the “Father of the Constitution”) wrote Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, in which he presented to the Virginia General Assembly specific reasons why religious liberty in America is an unalienable right and why there must be complete separation of church and state. He also shot down the idea of chaplains praying before congressional proceedings.
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut that said:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”
And, not for nothing, but many of the Founding Fathers weren’t even Christians in the first place. At least four of the big guys – Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe – were Deists. Deism is a religious philosophy that believes in a creator, but that this supreme being does not interact or intervene in the universe.
In any event, the bottom line is that the First Amendment does not say: 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 – unless those rights make you uncomfortable. Always remember: It’s all fun and games until it happens to you and your religious beliefs.