I carry a copy of the US Constitution with me at all times. Why? Gather 'round my children and I will tell you.
Yesterday was Saturday, I was on the Route 12 going to work. Minding my own business, listening to Yes. A man gets on, we drive past a church and he starts an argument on the bus about God and the country, basically the "everyone should believe exactly what I believe" nonsense you don't hear that often in Seattle. The bus driver tells him "there were people who thought the same as you before, and they wanted everyone to be one race". The argument continued.
The passenger who started this told the bus driver that he needed to read the Constitution. "God is the first word," he proclaimed. I laughed, knowing that the word "God" is not anywhere in the Constitution of the United States (for a reason), and that the only mention of religion is in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
I unzipped my bag, and took out my pocket-sized Constitution. "The preamble to the Constitution says," I said in an authoritative manner, silencing the other bickering passengers. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Silence. I smiled.
As he was getting off the bus, the instigating passenger said "well that's just the preamble." Another woman following him off the bus said, "Well that's the great thing about America, everyone is entitled to their own opinion."
I responded cheerfully, "Yes, and some of the are based on fact."
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The moral of the story is: read the Constitution.
Affectionately,
Rachel
I love you, dear. However, there is another mention of religion in the articles about not using it as a test for office. I always find it difficult to deal with that ilk, because I have to run three arguments at once (existence of God, the dynamic Christian God, and religion as it pertains to politics). It's always a long and convoluted argument, and when those people don't comprehend what I'm saying, they say that I'm wrong.
--Mike
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I only breezed through it quickly, but I didn't see any mention of "no religious test". Can you cite it for me, please? Just so I know where it is.
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If I had had more time I would have written less. -- Thomas Jefferson
RachelSetzer.com
Gah! I can't find it, and it pisses me off because I got pwned on it a while back.
--Mike
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Keep an eye out for the new FAQ and Topic of the Week, coming this fall!
Article VI, setion 3
Here is Article VI with the line of interest in bold:
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
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If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. - Anatole France
Thanks!
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If I had had more time I would have written less. -- Thomas Jefferson
RachelSetzer.com
Article I Section 7 contains the "Sundays excepted" clause. This was included so that there would be no voting funny business on days when a significant portion of legislators probably would be in church instead of in Congressional chambers, and especially since there were Laws in some states that made it illegal to travel on Sunday.
Article II Section 1 contains the phrase "swear (or affirm)," which is also a religious reference. "To swear" means to take a religious oath, and "to affirm" means to take a non-religious oath. This construct allows for a potential president to give whatever oath he (or as has become lately possible, she) feels is most binding.
And, there is even the "in the Year of our Lord" reference at the bottom of the ratification section, though that was added later by a scribe, and was not a part of the Constitution itself that was ratified by the various States.
The real point, I suppose, is that our Founders crafted the Constitution in such a way as to recognize the fact that many Americans were religious, while simultaneously recognizing religious belief was not the basis for the law itself. The source of our Laws are "the People," not "God," which is why the preamble appeals to "the People" and not to any religious source.
This was an intentional component of our Constitution, as the writings of those founders most intimately involved in the drafting of the document clearly show. Their intention was to establish a secular government that respected the religious consciousness of its citizens, which protected the rights of those citizens to worship as they wished, while simultaneously ensuring that that right was reciprocally respected.
percivale
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"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination." ~ Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography
If our own President and his administration constantly deem the constitution irrelevant, I highly doubt the public believes the constitution is important enough to read anyway.