The Declaration of Independence is not a legal document. It is essentially a polemic. Nevertheless, even the Declaration would disappoint John Ashcroft.
<<< Once again we have heard so many people trot out the old saw about how the country was founded on Christian principles and how, through this type of action, we turn our backs on our own history. To support that belief, they cite the Declaration of Independence, which says people are, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . . ”
The Declaration of Independence is one of this nation’s, and the world’s, most revered documents. But neither that individual reference, nor the other handful of references to a deity in the Declaration, form the foundation of our nations principles. When the Declaration gets down to its real business, it speaks, “in the Name, and by the Authority, of the good People of these Colonies.” And when all is said and done, it must be understood that the Declaration of Independence is NOT the law of the land. In fact, it is not a law at all.
If the Declaration is among the world’s most revered documents, the United States Constitution must be the single most important document in the history of the world. And the Constitution IS the law of the land. The Declaration was a highly emotional document written in about two weeks by Thomas Jefferson (a Deist), with input from John Adams and some others. The Constitution, on the other hand, was hammered out piece by piece over an entire summer by about fifty men, many of whom were very religious. It represents the greatest advance in human government that has ever existed. Every item and every clause in the Constitution is there because it withstood many harsh tests of debate and compromise from some of the greatest minds the country had to offer.
The words are spare and clear. If the framers had intended to dedicate this country to “God,” or to base its laws on the principles of “God,” they had ample opportunity to do so. They could have said, “In dedication to the Lord, we endorse these laws,” or “In the name of God, we declare these to be the laws,” or “As guided by the hand of God, blah . . . blah . . . blah.” But they didn’t. Instead, they started the Constitution out with the clear and simple words, “We the People.” >>>
humanistsofwashington.org
Nevertheless, the Constitution will just have to live with its own references to God, like this one in Article VII: "in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven."
Okay, I'll give you credit for this good joke.
Tom |
