"-- It had a higher object; to cut off for ever every pretence of any alliance between church and state in the national government. The framers of the constitution were fully sensible of the dangers from this source, marked out in the history of other ages and countries; and not wholly unknown to our own.
If we understand that God is superior to the State, and is the source of the moral authority of the sovereign people of which the State is the agent, then this means that the State has limited, not plenipotential powers (such as tyrants forever lust after).
The traditional hierarchy of authority implicit in our federal Constitution is God – Man – State (in descending order).
Typically Betty, you are simply ignoring the gist of what Story says.
There is no understanding of "any alliance between church and state" in our Constitution; - no "traditional hierarchy of authority implicit in our federal Constitution" of "God – Man – State".
- As Story points out, "The framers of the constitution were fully sensible of the dangers" of such authority.
Please share your thoughts with me?
I think the question posed; - "Can America Survive Evolutionary Humanism?" is divisive, and that the real issue we should all address is how to get government to obey our Constitution.
Saying that ' evolutionary humanists' are causing gov't socialism is a ludicrous nonproductive generalization.
You can't get the government to obey the Constitution because its members regard themselves as our rulers, not our agents. Which tells me they do not understand the Constitution; or if they do, they have willfully chosen to ignore it. And evidently they think they can get away with this, because the people themselves are ignorant of the founding principles of the Constitution. Meanwhile, we have all been thoroughly "socialized" by progressive doctrines which are totally antithetical to the thought of the Framers, and their original intention for our Constitutional Democratic Republic, wherein the people themselves are sovereign, having no "ruler" on earth, but only God Himself.
I know you will disagree with me. I can't help it -- I just see matters differently than you do. When I read Story, I am not satisfied with merely scanning the text, but in looking for the deeper meanings. Story was writing at a time when the national psyche was still pretty much informed by the Framers' understandings. Indeed, as late as 1957 (or was it 1959?), the words "Under God" were added to the Pledge of Allegience, as a reminder to us of who we are and where we as a nation came from.... Too little, too late; for America has been under seige of Left progressive ideologies (all of which are perfectly conformable with evolutionary humanism and "natural selection") since the early Twentieth Century.
I'll tell you this, based on what I've seen: I do not expect America can or will survive "evolutionary humanism." I'm just waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop....
The only way to get our country back is to once again recognize that we are a nation "under God." Remember the hierarchy I spoke of earlier?
God
Man
State
That's the model the Framers envisioned -- not in a sectarian way, but as the general ethical and philosophical idea of our founding. Here's the hierarchy we've got today:
Tyrant [the "ruling class" together with their ideological supporters]
State [the overweening, inefficient, unaccountable federal bureaucracy]
Man [subject of the rulers; and as taxpayer, the source of all funding for the concerted political power grab that strips us of our dignity and our liberties]
The ideology of our government is largely "progressive," liberal, and Left. You can tell, because the government has become a champion of group politics; the individual grows less and less significant as time goes on.... And his right to be "left alone" by the government has been virtually extinguished.
It's a pretty grim picture. The only way I can imagine America could ever be restored to her roots would be as the result of an absolutely devastating national emergency that paralyzes the government and the economy. Assuming we could survive that, perhaps we'd rediscover the virtues of individual initiative, self-reliance, honesty, hard work, accountability, etc., and be able to start all over again....
Short of that, soon America will resemble the failed states of Europe -- or worse, the failed states of the Middle East.
And all because we have forgotten our Founders and their beliefs, which are the spirit of the federal Constitution they framed: a novus ordo seclorum -- a new order for the ages.
My two cents, FWIW. Thanks for writing, tpaine!
tpaine..I think the question posed; - “Can America Survive Evolutionary Humanism?” is divisive,
Irish-—The issue is not about you and your feelings. You only feel it is divisive because you’ve allowed yourself to dwell on your feelings.
tpaine-— and that the real issue we should all address is how to get government to obey our Constitution.
Irish...The Declaration and Constitution are founded squarely upon the core presupposition: God created man-—man is His creature, made in His image. Streaming forth from this core presupposition is this major assumption: man’s Creator has endowed man with inalienable (not from man) rights....” Expecting that an elected leadership comprised of evolutionary humanists who reject God, and who contemptuously call Him a superstitious belief to nonetheless “respect” a system grounded upon God, is to be disattached-from-reality.
tpaine-—Saying that ‘ evolutionary humanists’ are causing gov’t socialism is a ludicrous nonproductive generalization
Irish...Evolutionary Humanism is but the modern version of pre-Biblical naturalism. Naturalism, in its many permutations, has always been socialistic (collectivistic), with an aristocractic ruling class and a rigid class and/or caste system. Evolutionary Humanism leads to socialism as naturally as day follows night.
Study worldview and you’ll discover these things.