Discussion Board 2:
From the very birth of the new nation, the Founding Fathers had forged a completely
unique combination of individual rights, limited government, and its relationship with the
institution of the Church. Unlike the other government systems at the time, such as the British
Monarchy, where the government and religion were in many ways one in the same. In other
words, there was a state religion that you would not dare to oppose. Seeing all of that, the
Founders decided to create a totally new relationship with religion and government. In American
government, the institutions of religion do not have legal authority over the citizens or its laws.
There is no form of state religion or laws that are solely based on religious morals. Putting it
simply terms, the Founders famously wanted to have certain form of separation between the state
and religion.
This unique view can be seen a letter by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist
Association in 1802, he wrote, “Religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his
God… 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.”1 Understanding this quote and analyzing other Founder’s views is crucial to conceiving
the true relationship of American government and religion. This is highly important because
many people, especially in the modern world, fail to understand and even construe the nation’s
creation in order to make the claim that America had no Christian founding as well as that
government and religion are on completely different planets. This is an utterly delusional
narrative that lacks much understanding of history and context. In truth, Christianity has a crucial
1 Jefferson Christianity Quotes. Accessed January 23, 2020.
http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Religion/Jefferson.htm.
place with government and the Founders explained this in much of their writings as well as
legislative works.
Two perfect examples of a legislative work of this is the U.S. Constitution and
Declaration of Independence. Heavily inspired by the writings of Locke, the Founders crafted the
Constitution and bill of Rights with the idea of natural rights. The Founders are already using the
religious concept of God given rights that should be held up by the government. In his book,
Gingrich explains more by saying, “The Declaration’s writers understood there was a force in the
universe greater than themselves, and they incorporated this humbling recognition in their
work.”2 So, it is clear that the nation and our unique natural rights come from Christian ideals.
On that matter, the Founders saw that Christianity was needed to hold the society and
government together. John Adams made this clear when he stated, “Our Constitution was made
only for a moral and religious people.”3 Lastly, Hall explains more when he states, “Christian
ideas underlie some key tenets of America’s constitutional order. For instance, the Founders
believed that humans are created in the image of God, which led them to design institutions and
laws meant to protect and promote human dignity.”4 In short, religion ideals and beliefs is what is
needed to hold the government’s people and system together. They may be separated in a legal
sense, but both of them are still in the same bubble.
2 Gingrich, Newt, and Vince Haley. A Nation like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism
Matters. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Pub., 2011, p. 21.
3 “Quotes.” Quotes | John Adams Historical Society. Accessed January 23, 2020.
http://www.john-adams-heritage.com/quotes/.
4 Hall, Mark David. “Did America Have a Christian Founding?” The Heritage Foundation.
Accessed January 23, 2020. https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/did-america-have-
christian-founding.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
