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Religion is at the forefront of the founding documents of many nations.  Some, like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Costa Rica, are unapologetically theocratic.  They explicitly announce the role of religion as a co-equal to secular sovereignty.  Others, like Canada and Poland, acknowledge the role of God in their preambles but then eschew religion later in the governing framework. Still others, like Japan, India, and France, are explicitly secular and explicitly reject any notion religion in the governance of their nation.  The Constitution of the United States is somewhere in the middle.  In its original document (1787) makes no mention of God.  While there is evidence that many of the founding fathers were sincerely religious, they chose to omit these beliefs from our foundational document and focus solely on structure of the government.  Later, in 1793, they will amend the Constitution, but this amendment will come in the form of a prohibition on establishing any laws in support of religion, not an affirmation of God.  It’s clear that the intent of the founding fathers that our new republic NOT be a Christian (or any other religious dogma) nation!  One can govern without invoking God and our founding fathers saw their religious and civic responsibilities as wholly separate and separable.  We were always meant to be a secular nation!

This perspective, that God is not part of the government, is a new and radical idea for 1787/1793.  It is a wholesale departure from the form of government we experience under the British monarchy.  In almost every western nation (except the Netherlands) the King is holds his office by “divine right.”  These kings are coronated by bishops and popes.  They are charged with defending the church in all matters, and in return, they are defended as messengers “God’s will.”  While not explicitly denying religion in our Constitution (a lesson the French will learn in their revolution) we sought to create a government that was sovereign in its right.  Power to govern comes not from God but rather from the “consent of the governed.”  This means that the government of the United States could not be overruled by a mullah or bet din.  No Pope can nullify the laws of our country in the name of God.  The will of the people was supreme.  The laws of our country applied to dissenters, heretics, and atheist just as much as they did to the faithful.

While the people were free to worship (or not) as they see fit, the Church could no longer demand adherence.  The Church could not demand tithes.  People could not be jailed (or in some cases, like the Salem Witch Trials, executed) for violations of religious laws.  The wide variety of religious practice (especially among Protestant Christians) was unlimited and unregulated.  The practice of religion could not be stifled by national dogma.

Of course, during the colonial period, the British colonies WERE SUBJECT to a King who was the head of the Church of England, and everyone was expected to be a part of this institution.  This history meant that the prejudice, strictures, and other limitations the Church imposed upon society were inherited by the new republic.  It was woven into our society that Catholics, non-Christians and dissenters from the Anglican tradition were inferior.  Regulations, laws about church attendance, voting restrictions, business restrictions, and other local laws ran in direct opposition to the stated secular nature of our federal republic. The only solution to this dilemma was to acknowledge George Mason’s admonition that unless the rights of the people were EXPLICTLY spelled out in the Constitution, those rights would not be guaranteed. First on this list of rights was FREEDOM FROM RELIGION.  “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.”  The United States was not and shall never be a Christian nation!

Now we stand on the precipice of a Constitutional crisis.  The current MAGA party wishes to demolish everything that makes our nation special.  One of these pillars that is under assault is our religious freedom.  They wish to countermand two and a half centuries of painful learning; they wish to reverse two hundred and fifty years of difficult and delicate work toward making “a more perfect union.” They seek to allow “the dumbest goddamn student” William Kelly ever had to teach at Wharton to reestablish the prejudice, xenophobia, hatred, and degenerative nature that our new republic inherited from Great Britian’s divine right monarchy and in the name of a Christian god, take us back to a time when the will of the people was not supreme and the “will of God” was interpreted by a few elites for political advantage.  We cannot allow this to happen.  THERE CAN NEVER BE A DIVINE RIGHT KING IN AMERICA!

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