The United States has adventured upon a great and noble experiment, which is believed to have been hazarded in the absence of all previous precedent — that of total separation of Church and State. No religious establishment by law exists among us. The conscience is left free from all restraint and each is permitted to worship his Maker after his own judgment. The offices of the Government are open alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgment of man set up as the sure and infallible creed of faith. The Mohammedan, if he will to come among us would have the privilege guaranteed to him by the Constitution to worship according to the Koran; and the East Indian might erect a shrine to Brahma if it so pleased him. Such is the spirit of toleration inculcated by our political institutions… The Hebrew persecuted and down trodden in other regions takes up his abode among us with none to make him afraid… and the Aegis of the government is over him to defend and protect him. Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and such are the happy fruits which have resulted from it; our system of free government would be imperfect without it.
–John Tyler (July 10, 1843)
{ 4 comments }
I had to look that up. That was from a speech he gave when he was President.
It’s really rather remarkable how this philosophy is nothing new. It’s been with the country from the beginning. Well, at least since a couple of the early Colonies established such rights, and since the Constitution and its Bill of Rights were ratified in the late 1780s.
It clearly doesn’t mean what (today) we mean it to mean. All you have to do is look at the trappings of Christianity in Government to realize that in the time the speech wasa written separation did not mean religous language and trappings are unconstitutional.
I didn’t think it did.
On the other hand, you can find statements by America’s founders, including the likes of George Washington, flatly denying that America was founded to be a "Christian Nation." And, the Senate in the 1790s ratified a treaty, unanimously, which unambiguously declared that the United States was not and never had been a "Christian nation" and which was sent to Congress by President Adams, who heartily endorsed its passage.
Sometimes historical revisionism is useful, but often it "discovers" things that aren’t so, like the widespread and popular modern notion that the founders read the Bible and, seeing the Bill of Rights in it, wrote and ratified the Constitution. That’s every bit as ridiculous as the notion that they wanted an absolute separation between church and state in all things, to the point where you can’t put a creche on public property, which is also insane.
Comments on this entry are closed.