That is the title of a Washington Times' op-ed written by Jay W. Richards and James Robison, co-authors of the new book, Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late (Ignatius Press, 2012):
Secularists often invoke the Founders or quote the Constitution whenever sex or something they deem “religious” is involved. Few really care, and many fail to ask, “What would the Founders do?” It’s a good question nonetheless. So, how would the Founders respond to these recent controversies?
First, none would invoke a “wall of separation between church and state” to overturn the historic meaning of marriage or to force Catholic Charities to pay for abortion-inducing drugs. In fact, the phrase “wall of separation” isn’t in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights; it comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. The Baptists were being persecuted by the Congregationalists, whose denomination was the state-sanctioned, established religion in Connecticut at the time. Jefferson did not object to the public display of religion. Rather, he defended religious liberty.
The Founders did not want a federally established religion, but they also never imagined a naked public square in which any issue supported by people of faith would be a ripe target for secularist snipers. Founders such as James Madison argued that the sheer number of different denominational groups would serve as a check on their individual ambitions. At the same time, they would and should work together to defend “principles … of justice and the common good.”
The Founders also defended the necessity of religion for morality. In his inaugural address, George Washington spoke characteristically:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports … . Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
The American Founders were a theologically diverse lot, but they shared several points of agreement, such as ...
Read the entire piece. For more about Indivisible, visit the book's website.
Comments