FROM THE LEFT
U.S. was not established as a Judeo-Christian nation
In this brief space Marvin (Jake) Jacobson, an astute educator and historian, has eloquently, with historical fact and substantiation, explained why the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is referring, in time of need, of arming a wellregulated militia and not the personal arsenal of John Q Citizen.
Jacobson has also provided the slave-era history as to why, in order to ratify the Constitution, the now antiquated Electoral College had to be formed. (Of course, the winner of the most votes should be directly elected president; the College obliterates that.)
Now, here is a brief primer why it is incorrect to refer to this nation as having been founded on Judeo-Christian principles and why that would have been detrimental.
Fleeing the coercion and dictates of the Church of England, the Europeans took weeks to sail the treacherous Atlantic and put their lives in jeopardy coming to this new land. The Puritans were 16th and 17th century Protestants who sought to purify the Church of England of its Roman Catholic practice. The Puritans maintained that the Church of England had not fully reformed and needed to become more Protestant. Though they fled England they still held allegiance to the Church of England.
Similarly, seeking asylum, from the same religious coercion and oppression of the Church of England, fleeing first to the tolerance and free-thinking of the Netherlands, the Pilgrims “settled” the Plymouth Colony. However, unlike the Puritans, they preferred to separate from the English state church and its dictates.
Perhaps they feared the church due to its Inquisition history. So, they wanted to get away to practice the religion they preferred without fear of being labeled heretics and persecuted therefor. After all, they were still subjects of the Crown, its laws and its state religion.
Declaring themselves independent of the British Crown, the thirteen British Colonies, in 1776, were also declaring independence from the dictates of the Church of England. Free at last!
The Separation Clause: The framers of the Constitution, ratified in 1789, had had it with theology and made sure they were not going to repeat that mistake.
They decided, based on that experience, to draft the world’s first secular constitution, one that never mentions any god(s). They sought to separate all religions (store-front, mosque, temple, church, etc.) from government and government from all religions. It was of such import that it was the first amendment to the new secular constitution. The framers did not impose their religion-of-the-day on citizens then nor on future generations Clearly, “Judeo-Christian” makes no sense since the Jews and Christians disagree on much theology, especially the divinity of the Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. As a new nation, the framers decided not to endorse any particular religious brand or sanction religious discrimination. There also is no condemnation of one of the world’s largest religions: Islam.
So, there is a conflict between a so-called but constitutionally undeclaredJudeo-Christian nation and the facts.
Frankly and candidly, the Constitution of the U.S.A. and the Old Testament and New Testament as the basis for Judeo-Christian, are incongruous: Whereas the Old and New Testaments command violence, death and genocide for nonbelievers, the Constitution does not. In a bible, people are in bondage to god(s); not so in the Constitution. The Constitution presumes innocence, but in any bible guilt is presumed.
Since there is no law establishing a religion, our Constitution also allows for no religious practice or belief. Any bible normalizes slavery; the Constitution forbids it. Whereas religion punishes heretics, the Constitution allows for freedom of speech so that a citizen can believe and speak as she believes without religious coercion.
Thankfully, courts can not uphold law based on religious doctrine.
Even if this nation had been established as Judeo-Christian it would be out of step with today’s nation and world that is far less religious and so obviously diverse in regard to religion.
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