Ramblings

United States Constitution and Christian Religious Teachings

Note! Reading does not mean you have understood. 

Definitions:

Per Noah Webster’s Dictionary

Test (definition): to subject to trial and examination; to prove; as by experimentation or by some fixed standard; a criterion; as standard; means of discrimination; a gauge of ability, knowledge or aptitude.
Establish (definition): make firm or stable, to install or settle on a permanent basis, to prove or verify, to institute or ratify, to enact or decree authoritatively for permanence. 
Religion: (definition): Recognition on the part of man of a controlling superhuman power entitled to obedience, reverence and worship; the feeling or the spiritual attitude of those recognizing such a controlling power, with the manifestation of such feeling in the conduct or life: the practice of sacred rites or observances; a particular system of faith in and worship of a supreme being or god or gods; the state of life of the members of a religious order; a practice of devotion or conscientiousness as: He has made a religion out of making money.
Christian (definition): One who believes, professes to believe, or who is assumed to believe, in the religion of Christ, i.e. (Jesus),  and whose behavior exemplifies His teachings.
Right (definition): In accordance with what is just or good, as conduct; in conformity with fact, reason, or some standard or principle. Correct in judgment opinion or action.
Disparage (definition): to bring reproach or discredit upon; lower the estimation of: belittle: cause loss of dignity or reputation.
Abridge (definition) to make shorter; to curtail; to condense; to lessen
Privilege (definition): a law in favor of or against an individual; and a right or immunity enjoyed by a person or persons beyond the common advantages of others.
Immunity (definition):Exemption from obligation, service, or duty; freedom from liability to taxation or jurisdiction.
Qualification: to furnish with the knowledge, skill, or other prerequisites necessary for a purpose; to make fit for any purpose, office or capacity;  to make oneself capable of holding any office or enjoying  any privilege; to establish a right to exercise any function

Original Constitution:

Article VI.

“Clause 3: 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. “

Rephrased :

NO practice of devotion or conscientiousness as a standard or means of discrimination shall ever be required to make oneself capable of holding any office or enjoying any privilege to office or public trust under the United States

Amendments:

                                                                                        

Article I

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of  religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Rephrased :

Congress shall make no law respecting installation or settlement on a permanent basis of the state of life of the members of a religious order; or  a practice of devotion or conscientiousness, i.e., “the so called separation of church and state”

One of the founding fathers:

Other Learned opinions:

The phrase "separation of church and state" is not found in the Constitution

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Absolutely true, and absolutely irrelevant. As noted earlier, separationists take this language from Thomas Jefferson's 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists in which he argued that the Constitution created a "wall of separation between church and state." But, as noted above, separationists have never taken the phrase as anything more than a handy (if historically significant) summary of the intent of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Separationist scholar Leo Pfeffer, for example, notes:

"No magic attaches to a particular verbalization of an underlying concept. The concept at issue here is more accurately expressed in Madison's phrase 'separation between Religion and Government,' or in the popular maxim that 'religion is a private matter.'" (Church, State, and Freedom, pp. 118-119).

Second, accommodationists don't apply this argument consistently. Pfeffer, for example, observes that:

(T)he phrase "Bill of Rights" has become a convenient term to designate the freedoms guaranteed in the first ten amendments; yet it would be the height of captiousness to argue that the phrase does not appear in the Constitution. Similarly, the right to a fair trial is generally accepted to be a constitutional principle; yet the term "fair trial" is not found in the Constitution. To bring the point even closer to home, who would deny that "religious liberty" is a constitutional principle? Yet that phrase too is not in the Constitution. The universal acceptance which all these terms, including "separation of church and state," have received in America would seem to confirm rather than disparage their reality as basic American democratic principles (pp. 118).

Madison's summary of the First Amendment:

“Congress should not establish a religion and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contrary to their conscience, or that one sect might obtain a pre-eminence, or two combined together, and establish a religion to which they would compel others to conform” (Annals of Congress, Sat Aug 15th, 1789 pages 730 - 731).

“The settled opinion here is, that religion is essentially distinct from civil Government, and exempt from its cognizance; that a connection between them is injurious to both; that there are causes in the human breast which ensure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of the law; that rival sects, with equal rights, exercise mutual censorships in favor of good morals; that if new sects arise with absurd opinions or over-heated imaginations, the proper remedies lie in time, forbearance, and example; that a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and with a toleration, is no security for and animosity; and, finally, that these opinions are supported by experience, which has shewn that every relaxation of the alliance between law and religion, from the partial example of Holland to the consummation in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, &c., has been found as safe in practice as it is sound in theory. Prior to the Revolution, the Episcopal Church was established by law in this State. On the Declaration of Independence it was left, with all other sects, to a self-support. And no doubt exists that there is much more of religion among us now than there ever was before the change, and particularly in the sect which enjoyed the legal patronage. This proves rather more than that the law is not necessary to the support of religion” (Letter to Edward Everett, Montpellier, March 18, 1823)

Contrary to the claims of many accommodationists, virtually nothing in the Constitution references Christian thought and morality. The only explicit mention of religion is the article VI declaration that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Otherwise, the Constitution is wholly concerned with the secular issues of defining federal power, and distributing that power among the various branches of government. Quite against the practice of state constitutions, the federal Constitution does not quote or refer to the Bible, does not set up any religion above another, does not refer to God, and does not raise or rule upon religious questions. It is a remarkably secular document for its day and age.
The absence of Christian thought and morality in the Constitution is powerful evidence that the founders did not intend to create a Christian nation. Indeed, a popular early criticism of the Constitution is that it allowed non-Christians to serve in federal offices, and did nothing to promote Christianity (see Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, The Godless Constitution, ch. 2). If the founders wanted to favor Christianity or Judeo- Christian morality, they failed utterly in that task. This should make us suspect that the Constitution was never intended to set up Christianity as a preferred religion in the first place.
There is no relationship between the Constitution and the 10 Commandments. The Constitution fairly repudiates the first two commandments (i.e., it leaves us free to worship other Gods than the LORD, and to make graven images), and is silent on commandments three through ten. Laws against blasphemy, Sabbath breaking, dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, and coveting are left entirely to the states.
Article IX
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”

Rephrased :

The numbering or listing in the constitution of certain rights shall not be interpreted to deny or to bring reproach or discredit upon; lower the estimation of: belittle: cause loss of dignity or reputation, to other rights retained by the people.

Article X
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Rephrased:

Not necessary as the meaning is clear.

Article XIV
“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. “

Rephrased:

No State shall make or enforce any law, which shall shorten, curtail or lessen, against an individual; and a right or exemption from obligation, service, or duty; or freedom from liability to taxation or jurisdiction, enjoyed by a person or persons beyond the common advantages of others or Exempt from obligation, service, or duty; or freedom from liability to taxation or jurisdiction of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; NOR DENY to any person within its jurisdiction the equal cover or shielding of the laws.

Note! It was not until August 18, 1920 and Article XIX that women had any say in the matter. And Article XV (not ratified by Oregon, until February 24, 1959; California, until April 3, 1962 and Maryland on May 7, 1973) that the black man had any say either. Nor could they vote, own property or have a respected opinion.