For your pleasurable (?) reading.
To: theoverseer
John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America:
"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HEAVEN [emphasis added], more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.
". . . Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus FOUNDED ON THE NATURAL AUTHORITY OF THE PEOPLE ALONE, WITHOUT A PRETENSE OF MIRACLE OR MYSTERY [emphasis added], and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."
To: theoverseer
A lot of issues in this country could be resolved quickly by simply placing the word "God" in the Constitution.
Not as part of something, just out there by itself -
"GOD"
3 posted on
06/29/2002 2:18:39 PM PDT by
muawiyah
To: theoverseer
God is Not in the Constitution Neither is public education.
4 posted on
06/29/2002 2:19:49 PM PDT by
Maceman
To: theoverseer; Non-Sequitur; Dakmar; ArGee
I am not a fan of Henthoff, nor a libertarian, but He is technically right in saying that God isn't specifically mentioned in the constitution. In fact, its the one serious flaw that the constitution has.
Madison stated that sovereignty should rest with the people alone--or from the consent of the governed. Jefferson made the same point in the declaration of independance when he wrote: "Government's derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
This idea stems from 18th century liberalism [specifically from the French revolution], which was hostile to all previous forms of political theory...specifically the theory that sovereignty resides with God....and that if power isn't exercised in harmony with God's laws, it wasn't legitimate, no matter how many people consented to it.
And again...God isn't mentioned in the constitution. And by placing sovereignty in the people alone, rather than in Divine law, the framers left the door open for any evil so long as it was justified by majority rule.
Ultimately, the reason the constitutional system was perverted is not the fault of the governmental system set forth in the constitution, but rather that the constitution allows matters of truth and morality to become open questions.
5 posted on
06/29/2002 2:25:02 PM PDT by
JMJ333
To: theoverseer
If someone on a "talking head" show would bring out the various letters of communication between the FOUNDING FATHERS,those would show their state of mind.The government is actually supposed to promote religion and in particular,judeao/christian beliefs.RELIGION SHOULD INTERFERE WITH GOVERNMENT!
To: theoverseer
The Spring of 1789, General Washington, upon swearing in as the first President of the United States (there were 11 states at the time, which had ratified the U.S. Constitution) ... leaned over and kissed the Bible.
To: theoverseer
God Is Not in the Constitution Article VII
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. (excerpt)
To: theoverseer
In 1943, during our war against Hitler, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision concerning the Pledge of Allegiance that created fierce controversy around the country—just like last week's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.... The majority of the Court, in a decision written by Robert Jackson—later chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials—defined the very essence of Americanism as they rebuked the West Virginia Board of Education and sent those kids back to school:
"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox politics, nationalism, religion, or any other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." (Emphasis added.)
By refering to a "fixed star in our Consitutional constellation," Jackson establishes an orthodoxy of his very own, even as he claims none exists.
In doing so, Jackson exercises typical overreach in that, by definition, only the Acolytes of the Holy Judiciary can divine for the laity the entrails of the Mysteries of the Constitutional anti-Orthodoxy.
All kneel...
"Order in the Court!
Thank the (mumble mumble) that Robert Prometheus Jackson arrived in 1943 to pluck this spark of wisdom from the (cough cough), or we might still not know what the fixed star of the US Constitution of 1787 actually was."
I think a national holiday, or at least a postage stamp are in order.
To: theoverseer
And on the Capitol steps, in a proud bipartisan display of ignorance of the Constitution's separation of church and state,Ignorance?...SOS...DD.
FMCDH
To: theoverseer
The founders considered the right to freely worship SO important that they named it first, first right in the first amendment before even this author's right of free speech and free press.(^:
In 1791, the states approved the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights. The
First Amendment leads with: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." ....
Over time, those 16 words have been debated as However, before the American Revolution, five of the 13 states had government-sponsored churches supported by tax revenue, and most schools were church run. For many of the earliest settlers, the First Amendment came in answer to their prayers.
What is clear is that the men who framed and ratified the Constitution, as well as the Bill of Rights, sought to protect religious freedoms and to provide an active role for the government in promoting the "moral character" of the people.
George Washington, in his Farewell Address, said "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
James Madison, who wrote much of the Bill of Rights, said: "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions ... upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
One Nation Under Siege
To: theoverseer
An even longer American tradition is that there is no mention of God in the Constitution. There is no mention of apples or roller skating in the Constitution either. I guess the government is therefore free to prohibit those as well.
What a dumb argument. And how pathetic it is that Hentoff constructed a whole column around it.
For one thing, the above quoted sentence is in violation of the Ninth Amendment.
To: theoverseer
The importance of this decision has been greatly overstated and has generated a lot of posturing by public figures, IMO.
It is worth discussion on a forum like this, but will really make little if any difference in our lives, or the fate of our country, again IMHO.
To: theoverseer
"Lord" is mentioned in it.
To: Nightshift
bump
51 posted on
06/29/2002 6:01:15 PM PDT by
tutstar
To: Tennessee_Bob
God is Not in the Constitution No, but if you hold it up to the light just right, Mary is!
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