American Enlightenment

This post is a continuation of a conversation I've been having with Sibby on his blog. Here is the original post and here is his response to my comment and now my response to his response.

Sibby,

I appreciate your thoughtful and researched response. I still don’t agree with your conclusions however. You and your Social Conservative brethren are understandably forever trying to make the case that the United States is a Christian country founded by a bunch of Christians. I understand that your entire worldview depends on making this case, but in my opinion the argument just doesn’t hold up.

For one thing political power in the United States is and always has been given by the people, not derived from God. The Declaration of Independence says as much, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This is in direct opposition to you’re (and by you I mean all those who believe as you do) contention that freedom is based on Laws of God. Obviously Jefferson and all those who signed the Declaration believed freedom was inherent, not granted by God or anyone else. In fact they believed that man could not even voluntarily give these freedoms away, they are always there.

You mentioned the part of the Declaration of Independence that mentions a “Creator”. You somehow take this as proof of Jefferson’s Christianity. First, Jefferson was a Deist. If he were truly espousing a Christian worldview would he not refer to God instead of some non-descript Creator? The mention of a Creator instead of a Christian God is deliberate. Most founding fathers were Deists. That is they believed in a Creator who set the world in motion and then let man determine his own destiny. To the Deist there was no such thing as God’s Will. No point in praying because the Creator was not going to become involved in life on Earth beyond creating it. Not exactly a Christian worldview but a fact of life for many, many founding fathers.

There is absolutely no mention of Christianity or the Bible in the Constitution. Do you imagine this is by accident?

The suggestion that John Adams was somehow guided by Christianity is disingenuous. According to Darren Staloff in his book Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson – The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding, Adams father had wanted John to enter the ministry but “his years at Harvard raised troubling doubts. His immersion in the learning of the Enlightenment led him to question several of the central dogmas of the reigning Congregational churches of Massachusetts.” (pg. 138)

Staloff goes on to point out that “For Adams, it was not the Renaissance recovery of classicism that created a new age for public liberty, but rather the development of enlightened scientific learning. This modern revolution in knowledge was sparked by the rise commerce and printing in the age of the Protestant Reformation and reached its apogee in the works of Newton and Locke.” (pg. 146)

Alexander Hamilton believed that “class and self-interest” were the glue of politics (pg.50) again, not exactly the same as believing that a Christian worldview is the glue of politics.

Thomas Jefferson said the following, “our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.” (The Portable Thomas Jefferson, p. 252) Again, it seems obvious that Jefferson never believed that our freedom comes from God.

Jefferson also said this, “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god” (The Portable Thomas Jefferson, p. 285). This does not sound like someone who believes that government should favor religion over non-religion, or declare one religion—i.e., Christianity—superior to others.

Maybe we should hear from James Madison on the subject, “The example of the Colonies, now States, which rejected religious establishments altogether, proved that all Sects might be safely & advantageously put on a footing of equal & entire freedom.... We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Gov. [James Madison, Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822, The Writings of James Madison, Gaillard Hunt]

I could keep going if you like, but I think the point is clear. America’s freedom is derived from inherent rights that everyone possesses regardless of religious affiliation. Power is derived from the governed not from God. America’s founding and traditions are secular not Christian.

I know this is a long response so if you don’t want to post I don’t blame you. I will post it on my blog www.proudlib2.blogspot.com if you simply want to send your readers there instead. I think this conversation is important and one that we as a nation need to have.