THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY

...In1868,thiswasamendedagain,toreadthat "allpersonswhoshalldenythebeingofAlmightyGod" would be "disqualified for office...

...Theintensityofreligiousfeelingamongmembers ofthefoundinggenerationhasbeennotedbyanearlier essay in these pages ("Faith of Our Fathers," February 2007...

...In response to this concern, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken undertook to bring out such a Bible, which Congress referred to its chaplains for vetting...

...These early influences would have in the usual courseofthingsnodoubtabated,butwererevivedand then some by the so-called Great Awakening of the mid-18th century, as waves of religious enthusiasm swept the colonies from one end to the other...

...The same is true of Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance" against ecclesiastical taxes, which is also in many respects a religious essay--arguing, for instance, that "the policy of the bill is adverse to the diffusion of the light of Christianity," and "earnestly praying, as we are in duty bound, that the SupremeLawgiver of the Universe" would guide Virginia's councils...

...take proper measures to procure one or more new and correct versions of the Old and New Testamentstobeprinted...

...But it was true as well in, forexample, colonial Virginia, where the House of Burgesses,firstassembledin1619,forthwithadoptedmeasuresrequiringchurchattendanceandSabbathkeeping...

...At the strictly factual level--as opposed to the fantasy realm of P.C...

...AS ANABUNDANTRECORDSHOWS,thefirstAmerican colonies were founded by believing Christians from Great Britain (plus some others from the Netherlands and elsewhere in Continental Europe), whocamehereinthevastmajorityofcasesforreligious reasons.Numeroussettlerswhocameafterthemdidso for religious causes also, seeking refuge from hostile rulers and a place to worship free of persecution, then alltooprevalentinEurope.Eveninsettlementschiefly of commercial nature, advancement of the Christian religion was routinely stressed as a main object of the emigration...

...Not much evidence in all of this of secularism, unbelief,orindifferencetoreligion...

...That the America of the 1990s, or today, could rightly be described as a Christian nation may be doubted...

...And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration and own and profess the Protestant religion...

...This constitution contained other lengthy clauses providing for Anglican orthodoxy in religion...

...CONGRESSALSODIDmanyotherthingstopromote religiouscauses.Itappropriatedmoneyforthe Christian education of the Indians, and adopted the Northwest Ordinance governing the territories beyond the Ohio River, saying it did so, among other reasons, to advance "religion and morality...

...One of its more remarkable ventures was an effort to see about the printing of an American Bible, as the supply from Englandhadbeencutoffbytherevolutionaryfighting...

...MOST NOTABLY, all the original colonies/states as of the 1770s had laws mandating official support for religious belief and practice in onefashionoranother.In1775,nofewerthanninecolonies had established churches--meaning churches officiallyfavoredbythegovernment,supportedbytax money, or granted privileges denied to others...

...Here Thomas Jefferson drafted and James Madison introduced in the state legislature the famous Statute of Religious Freedom, adopted in 1786, guaranteeingtherightsofconsciencetoallVirginians...

...There are, after all, many people about these days who America was unabashedly Christian at its founding, to the point of requiring belief in God as a condition of office-holding and, on occasion, residence...

...To take one further such example, Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791, contemporaneous with the ratification of the Bill of Rights...

...The elasticization of standards may be traced rather clearly in Carolina, whose originalconstitution(1669)wasdraftedbynoneother than John Locke...

...Countlessothersuch statementswereissuedbythecolonialCongressinthe 15yearsofitsexistence...

...I am not a Muslim...

...InJune1775,Congresscalledfora"dayoffasting, humiliation,andprayer,"to"offerupourjointsupplications to the all-wise, omnipotent and merciful disposer of events...

...These establishments were subjected to mounting pressures as religious diversity increased and clamorous groups of Baptists, Presbyterians, and others argued for more equal treatment and, where their numbers were sufficient, by degrees succeeded...

...As earlier noted in these pages, when sessions opened, fear was voiced that the religious diversity of the country and the mixed presence of Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Quakers would make it hard to choose a form of worship...

...Thus the New Jersey constitution of 1776, fairly typical for the era, asserted that "no Protestant inhabitantofthiscolonyshallbedeniedtheenjoymentofany civilright,merelyonaccountofhisreligiousprinciples...

...Even so, at the era of the Constitution, the New EnglandstatesretainedtheirCongregationalestablishments,whileinmostoftheotherstatesthereremained M A R C H 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 2 1 a network of religious requirements for public office, reflecting the pervasive, taken-for-granted Christian natureofthepeoplebeingrepresented.Theserequirementsusuallymandatedthatacandidateforofficehad to be a Christian, in some instances quite specifically a Trinitarian, and in numerous cases a Protestant in the bargain...

...Here officials were required to swear, "I...

...A point seldom noted by the historians and jurists is that the Statute of Religious Freedom was only one of the religion bills that Jefferson drafted and Madison brought forward in the legislatureinthe1780s.AmongJefferson'sotherproposals,forinstance,wereabilltopunishviolationsof theSabbath,anotherprovidingfordaysofprayerand Thanksgiving, and yet another--a choice example of Enlightenment-secularist thinking--to punish attempted witchcraft...

...If someone were to say to you, "I just got back from SaudiArabia,andwhilethereIfoundthatthepolitical institutions of the country are based on tenets of the Muslim religion," it would make no sense to answer: "That's outrageous...

...This prayed, among other things, that "itmaypleaseGodthroughthemeritsofJesusChrist," to forgive the nation for its sins, and "to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace,andjoyintheHolyGhost...

...This was in general thewaythingswerehandledinotherstatesaswell...

...In October 1780, Congress adopted a resolution recommending that "such of the states that may find it convenient...

...Of course, this variation isalmostasoutrageousasthe original Fordice statement...

...The 1778 constitution of South Carolina declared that "all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state ofrewardsandpunishments,andthatGodispublicly to be worshipped, shall be freely tolerated...

...These practices,suchasbanningprayerfromthepublicschoolsor displayoftheTenCommandments,innumerouscases havebeenbasedonasupposedreadingofourearlyhistory.Thusknowingthetruthaboutourpastisintensely relevanttocontroversiesthatcurrentlyplagueus...

...confess faith in God the father,andinJesusChristHisonlyson,andintheHoly Ghost,oneGod,blessedforevermore;andIdoacknowledgetheholyscripturesoftheOldandNewTestaments tobegivenbyDivineinspiration...

...As earlier noted, George Washington diligently followed up on these provisos, urging religious services for the military forces, asking his officers and men to behave as "Christian soldiers," and recommending measures to prevent the troops from swearing...

...In these circles, the idea of America's having been founded as a Christian nation, whatever it may be today, is likewise offensive and verboten...

...If the doctrines of the Supreme Court about such matters are correct, this statute couldn't be read in unvarnished form in the public schools of Virginia today...

...Toourmoderntheorists,thisbill,togetherwithMadison's argument against religious taxes, explains the religionclausesoftheFirstAmendment,laterproposedbyMadisoninthefederalCongress...

...Finally, Congress also approved, as a matter of course,chaplainsandreligiousservicesforthesoldiers of the Continental Army...

...AsimilaroathwasrequiredbythePennsylvania constitutionof1776,butthiswasmodifiedin1790to grant office-holding privileges, at least by implication, to observant Jews, as the new proviso stated that "no person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold an office or place of trust or profit in this commonwealth...

...Like John Locke's provisos for Carolina, these Jeffersonian notions somehow get omitted from the usual histories...

...Both the fervor and the resulting Christian pluralism were keys to muchthathappenedlater...

...In such treatments our historians (and courts) prefer tofocusonthesupposedlymorecongenialinstanceof Virginia...

...The resolution urging this day of supplication further statedthat"itisrecommendedtoChristiansofalldenominations to assemble for public worship, and to refrainfromservilelaborandrecreationonsaidday...

...There are too manyindicationsintermsofcurrent law and social practice that tell us otherwise...

...These ranged from Congregational church establishments in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts to Episcopal churches in the Southern states from Maryland on down...

...The effect of this vast movement, leading up to the era of the American Revolution, was not only to increase religious fervor, but also to expand the religious diversity ofthecountry.ToCongregationalists,Anglicans,Quakers, and a few (albeit influential) Roman Catholics were added Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodist followers of John Wesley...

...In such cases the issue isn't who might or might not be offended by the historicaldata,butwhatthedatahavetotellus.Andin thisrespect,thefactsabouttheUnitedStatesarequite asclearasthoseconcerningSaudiArabia...

...Thoughthestatewasoftenviewedboththenand later as something of a liberal bastion, this was the oath officeholders were required to take there: "I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked...

...So if you didn't believeinGod,youcouldn'tevenliveinLocke'sCarolina,muchlessascendtopublicoffice...

...Sam Adams of Massachusetts dismissed these fears with the ecumenical commentthatprayersfromapatrioticmanofGodwouldbe acceptable to him and, presumably, other Christians...

...Saudi Arabia can't possibly be a Muslim nation...

...BY M. STANTON EVANS The Custom of the Country B aren't Christians, others who deny the notion of our religiousorigins,andstillotherswhothinksuchmatters shouldn't be discussed at all because they are dangerously divisive...

...The problems with this convoluted view are many, beginning with the fact that neither Jefferson norMadisonasVirginialawmakerstookarchlyseparationist positions...

...Under the new government of the Constitution, beginning in 1789, all the peacetime measures of the Continental Congress were re-enacted: chaplains, prayers, memorials of Thanksgiving to God, the Northwest Ordinance with its "religion and morality," funding for the Christian education of the In-dians...

...T H EC U S T O MO FT H EC O U N T R Y 2 4 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R M A R C H 2 0 0 7...

...InnearbyDelaware,theconstitutionwasmorelatitudinarian, requiring only that officeholders be Trinitarians, thus granting leeway to Catholics...

...The Christian Protestant church shall be deemed, and is herebyconstitutedanddeclaredtobe,theestablished religion of the state...

...As a moment's reflection will suggest, these are lessthanrationalresponsestoanimportantquestion...

...If it seems unlikely people holding such opinions would have turned around at the era of the revolution and Constitution and created a purely secular anything, rest assured they didn't...

...A difficult task in any event, undoubtedlymadethemoresowhenthesoldiersweren'tbeing paid,clothed,orfed...

...ALLTHISISSODIFFERENTfromtheimageofAmericaattheeraofthefoundingasasecularpolity neglectful of religion that many histories pass overitwithafeatherytouch,ifnotignoringitentirely...

...That survey briefly recounted the views of George Washington, John Adams, Roger Sherman, John Dickinson, et al...

...The religious views expressed so often by the Founders were widely reflected in the political customsoftheage...

...The states, meantime, would continue also with their former laws and customs, including the established churches in New England, religious requirements for public office in other venues, and divers measuresthroughoutthecountrytoadvancethepreceptsofreligion.TheAmericannationattheeraofthe founding, in sum, was a place where God was worshipped,theBiblehonored,andthetenetsofChristian faith supported as a routine affair by governments at every level...

...AS THE EXAMPLES of Pennsylvania and Delaware suggest, what mostly leavened the establishmentarian church-state system wasn't skepticism or indifference, but the increasing religious pluralism of the country...

...2 2 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R M A R C H 2 0 0 7 when the word "Christian" was substituted for "Protestant...

...and the legal-historical thesis that the Americanrepublicisapurelysecularset-upinwhichanabsolutedivisionofchurchand stateismandatedbytheConstitution.The fury that greeted the Fordice statement wasaccordinglyunconfined...

...The work being approved as complete and accurate, Congress thanked Aitken for his labors and recommendedhisBibletothecountry.ThusthefirstEnglish language Bible printed in America was presented to the public with the support and approval of the ContinentalCongress...

...we had the good fortune of teachingthemtheartsofcivilizationandthedoctrines ofChristianity...

...The same attitudes on many questions would prevail-albeitunderchangedconditions--andnowherewere the continuities more apparent than in matters of religion...

...2 0 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R M A R C H 2 0 0 7 ACK IN THE 1990S,then-GovernorKirkFordiceofMississippistirredupanationalruckus whenhemadetheunthinkablestatementthatAmericawas"aChristiannation...

...In observance of this fast day, Congress attended an Anglican service in the morning and a Presbyterian service in the afternoon...

...However, whatmighthavebeensaidwith perfect justice is that America was founded as a Christian nation--even if it has in recent times been mutating into somethingdifferent...

...None of which, as shall be seen, would be altered in the slightest by adoption of the First Amendment...

...In North Carolina we see the further broadening of standards through the years, in keeping with the growth of religious sects and denominations and resultingpressureformoreequaltreatment.TheNorth Carolinaconstitutionof1776specifiedthat"noperson who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestantreligion,orthedivineauthorityofeitherof the Old or New Testaments...

...lucubrations--the governor might havebeenfaultedonothergrounds as well...

...ARGUABLY THE MOST STRIKING FEATURE ofthisreligious continuity was the act of Congress in September1789,afterthenewgovernmenthad been set up under the Constitution, calling citizens of the country to yet another day of prayer and Thanksgiving...

...In response to this resolution, President Washington duly issued a proclamation of prayer and Thanksgiving, a practice that--like the congressional chaplainsandofficialprayersinCongress--iswithusto thisday...

...M. Stanton Evans is author of The Theme Is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition (Regnery,1994...

...TheTrueWallofSeparation,"partIII ofhisseries"TheChristianHistoryoftheConstitution," will appear in our April issue...

...By the time of the American Revolution, this Lockean standard had been relaxed a bit, but only slightly...

...shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust...

...This stated, among other things, that "no man shall be permitted to be a freeman of Carolina, or to have an estate or habitation within it, thatdothnotacknowledgeaGod,andthatGodispublicly and solemnly to be worshipped...

...This was, for the time, asharp departure from prevailing standards...

...M A R C H 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 2 3 ThereafterCongresswouldlikewiseadoptaresolution of Thanksgiving, noteworthy not only for its explicitly Christian character but also for its Trinitarian nature...

...So deposing, the late governor (he passed away in 2004) defied two cherished precepts of the modern era: the rule of political correctness stipulating that no creed or value system has priority over any other...

...Those facts, it's worth noting, are of more than merelyhistoricalinterest,thoughthatisitselfaweighty matter.They'resignificantalsobecausemistakenteachings about such questions have consequences for the present day--not only as in the rhetorical blitzing of Governor Fordice, but in court decrees and political measures profoundly hostile to religion...

...Part II of a special three-part series, "The Christian History of the Constitution," which examines the eradication of religious values from American life since our country's founding...

...AddthefactthattheStatuteofReligiousFreedom itselfisverymuchareligioustract,beginningwiththe words, "Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free," and containing no fewer than four references to God in the opening sentence...

...Congresshadofficialchaplainsfromthatdayforward...

...This lasted until 1835, T H EC U S T O MO FT H EC O U N T R Y The religious views expressed so often by the Founders were widely reflected in the political customs of the age...

...The political institutions and social regulations adopted at the time reflected these beginnings...

...as to the crucial importance of religious faith to the well-being of the country, as well as their own beliefs and practice...

...In the resolution passed by the House of Representatives, the members expressed themselves as follows: "We acknowledge with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peacefully to establish a constitutional government for their safety and happiness...

...This was most famously true in New England, where the Puritan colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut had governing systems explicitly based on Biblical teaching as they construed it, and innumerable laws with a religious purpose...

...From its beginning in 1774, the Continental Congress was attentive to the interests of religion--especially in the matter of prayer...

...THE MANY RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS and provisos common in the states were conspicuous also at the national level...

...As John Adams wrote to his wife, "millions will be on theirkneesatoncebeforetheirgreatCreator,imploring his forgiveness and blessing...

...M .S T A N T O NE V A N S The many religious customs and provisos common in the states were conspicuous also at the national level...

...As to the repeated efforts to subsidize and promote the religious education of the Indians, John Quincy Adams would explain the project this way: "They were considered as savages, whom it was our policy and duty to use our influence in converting them to Christianity...

...The Federal Congress in this respect would be no different from its predecessor--a not very surprising outcome, as numerous members of the new legislature had been delegates to the old one...