On Sunday, November 2nd, Monty Sharp, Director of Student Venture, brought the message to Lamb’s as a guest speaker. He referenced numerous citations and quotations that we thought would be helpful for you to be able to peruse.
OUR NATION’S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE
The Rebirth of America, published by The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation,c. 1986
The very purpose of the Pilgrims in 1620 was to establish a government based on the Bible. The New England Charter, signed by King James I, confirmed this goal:“…to advance the enlargement of Christian religion, to the glory of God Almighty…”Governor Bradford, in writing of the Pilgrims’ landing, describes their first act:“being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven…”
The goal of government based on Scripture was further reaffirmed by individual colonies such as Rhode Island Charter of 1683 begins:“We submit our persons, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His given us in His Holy Word.”
One of George Washington’s early official acts was the first Thanksgiving Proclamation, which reads, “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor…”It goes on to call the nation to thankfulness to Almighty God.
“It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”-Abraham Lincoln
“The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles…to this we owe our free constitutions of government.”-Noah Webster
“The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the Bible.”- John Quincy Adams
“All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated through this Book; but for the Book we could not know right from wrong.All the things desirable to man are contained in it.”- Abraham Lincoln
“…the Bible…is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and need of men.It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation.”- Woodrow Wilson
“Go to the Scriptures…the joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles.”- Andrew Jackson
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”- Calvin Coolidge
“In no other place in the United States are there so many, and such varied official evidences of deep and abiding faith in God on the part of Governments as there are in Washington.”- Senator Robert Byrd
June 25, 1962.The Supreme Court had just declared prayer in the schools unconstitutional.Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a Bible teacher and respected member of the U.S. Legislature, was so moved by the disastrous decision that two days later he delivered an address to his colleagues in Congress reminding them of the Christian symbolism throughout their own city.He verbally escorted them to the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Supreme Court, and other landmarks.Then he concluded:“Inasmuch as our greatest leaders have shown no doubt about God’s proper place in the American birthright, can we, in our day, dare do less?”
A sampling of these follow…
The Capitol - Every session of the House and the Senate begins with prayer.Each house has its own chaplain.The Eighty-third Congress set aside a small room in the Capitol, just off the rotunda, for the private prayer and meditation of members of Congress.The room is always open when congress is in session, but it is not open to the public.The room’s focal point is a stained glass window showing George Washington kneeling in prayer.Behind him is etched these words from Psalm 16:1:“Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.”
Inside the rotunda is a picture of the Pilgrims about to embark from Holland on the sister ship of the Mayflower, the Speedwell.The ship’s revered chaplain, Brewster, who later joined the Mayflower, has open on his lap the Bible.Very clear are the words, “the New Testament according to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”On the sail is the motto of the Pilgrims, “In God We Trust, God With Us.”The phrase, “In God We Trust,” appears opposite the President of the Senate, who is the Vice President of the United States.The same phrase, in large words inscribed in the marble, backdrops the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Supreme Court - Above the head of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are the Ten Commandments, with the great American eagle protecting them.Moses is included among the great lawgivers in Herman A. MacNeil’s marble sculpture group on the east front.The crier who opens each session closes with the words, “God save the United States and the Honorable Court.”
The Washington Monument - Engraved on the metal cap on the top of the Washington Monument are the words:“Praise be to God.”Lining the walls of the stairwell are such biblical phrases as “Search the Scriptures,” “Holiness to the Lord,” “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The Library of Congress - Numerous quotations from Scripture can be found within its walls.One reminds each American of his responsibility to his Maker:“What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with they God” (Micah 6:8).
Another in the lawmaker’s library preserves the Psalmist’s acknowledgment that all nature reflects the order and beauty of the Creator.“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
And still another reference: “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not” (John 1:5).
Lincoln Memorial - Millions have stood in the Lincoln Memorial and gazed up at the statue of the great Abraham Lincoln.The sculptor who chiseled the feature of Lincoln in granite all but seems to make Lincoln speak his own words inscribed into the walls.“…That this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”At the opposite end, on the north wall, his Second Inaugural Address alludes to “God,” the “Bible,” “providence,” “the Almighty,” and “divine attributes.” It then continues:“As was said 3,000 years ago, so it still must be said, ‘The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”
Jefferson Memorial - On the south banks of Washington’s Tidal Basin, Thomas Jefferson still speaks:“God who gave us life gave us liberty.Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”Senator Byrd cites these words of Jefferson as “a forceful and explicit warning that to remove God from this country will destroy it.”
“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day.”- Abraham Lincoln
“Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray.Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray — to really pray.Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight — all through the day.Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes.Let us pray for our churches.Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word ‘concern’ out of our Christian vocabulary.Let us pray for our nation.Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders.
Let prayer be our passion.Let prayer be our practice.” - Robert E. Lee
“Intelligence, patriotism…and a firm reliance on Him who has never forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.”-Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address
“Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment.Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits.”- Daniel Webster
John Adams, our second president, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” (Chuck Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Zondervan, 1989, pg. 47)
James Madison, fourth president of the United States, agreed:“The belief in a God All Powerful, wise and good, is essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man.”(A.D. Wainwright, Madison and Witherspoon: Theological Roots of American Political Thought,. 125)
Statesman Daniel Webster, in 1851, in reviewing the history of “this Great American Family” stated:“If we and our posterity neglect religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality…no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”(Don Feder, “Independence Day: A Nation in Historical Denial,” Orange County (Calif) Register, July 4, 1993)
Author and lexicographer Noah Webster stated:“The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil Constitutions and laws…All the miseries and evil which men suffer from vice, crime, ambitions, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”(Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven, Conn; Durrie & Peck, 1832,339)
In his first inaugural address, James Madison said, “We have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future.”(James Madison, First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1809)
John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence and member of Continental Congress, said:“God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable…He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion.”John Witherspoon, The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1802,. 46)
Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (appointed by President James Madison) called America a “Christian country” and slammed deism:“Christianity…is not to be maliciously and openly reviled and blasphemed against.It is unnecessary for us…to consider the establishment of a school or college, for the propagation of Deism or any other form of infidelity. Such a case is not presumed to exist in a Christian country.” (Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, 43 US 175, 1844)
“Over a ten-year period, political-science professors at the University of Houston collected and cataloged 15,000 writings by the founding fathers.Their goal was to determine the primary source of ideas behind the constitution by identifying the sources the founding fathers quoted most often.The three most quoted sources were French philosopher Charles Montesquieu, English jurist William Blackstone, and English philosopher John Locke.However, the primary source was the Bible.The Bible was quoted four times more often than Montesquieu, six times more often than Locke, and twelve times more often than Blackstone.Ninety-four percent of the founding fathers’ quotes were based upon the Bible: 34 percent directly from its pages and 60 percent from men who had used the Bible to arrive at their conclusions.(Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, America’s Providential History, Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1989,. 141)
No wonder Noah Webster introduced his book of American history with, “It is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion.”Verna Hall and Rosalie Slater, The Bible and the constitution of the United States of America, F.A.C.E., 1983, pg. 28)”(Five Lies of the Century by David T. Moore, Tyndale House, c. 1995)
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, claimed, “That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic stands.”
George Washington prized the Bible and its words:“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
Patrick Henry lavished unqualified praise upon the Bible as “a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.”Even Thomas Jefferson, who lost his first bid for president because he was labeled a deist by his opponents, said, “I have always said, and always say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens.” (David Barton, American’s Godly Heritage/Video Tape, Aledo, TX, Wallbuilders, 1990)
Benjamin Franklin (often identified as a deist due to his writings as a younger man) delivered his most famous speech on June 28, 1787.After the soon-to-be framers of the Constitution had struggled in fruitless labor for several weeks, the 81-year-old Franklin addressed the disagreeing convention that was about to adjourn in confusion and said, “In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection.Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered…Have we now forgotten this powerful Friend?Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance?I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man.And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.I firmly believe this.I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing upon our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed with business.”(Norman Cousins, In God We Trust, New York: Harper & Bros., 1958,. 42)
A page from George Washington’s diary certainly illustrates his personal faith: “Let my heart, gracious God, be so affected with Your glory and majesty that I may…discharge those weighty duties which thou requirest of me…Again, I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of sins…for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the cross for me.Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of salvation.”(William J. Johnson, George Washington, The Christian, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1919,. 23-8)
American statesman Patrick Henry said, “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not to be religionist but by Christians, not on religions but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”Charles Barton, The Myth of Separation, Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1991,. 25)
Ambassador to France Benjamin Franklin wrote, “He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity will change the face of the world.”(Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory, Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming Revell, 1986, p. 370)
On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the presidential oath of office and delivered America’s first inaugural address, acknowledging God as the reason for America’s birth:“It would be improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being…No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems tohave been distinguished by some providential agency…We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.”(James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents,1789-1897, vol. 1, Published by authority of Congress of 1899, 52-4)
Our second president, John Adams, once told Thomas Jefferson, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity…I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.”(Barton, Myth of Separation, 4)
John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, summarized American history:“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government and the principles of Christianity.”(Billy Falling, The Political Mission of the Church, Valley Center, CA, Billy Falling Pub, 1990, 40
Noah Webster, who literally wrote the English dictionary, claimed:“The religion which has introduced civil liberty, is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights.This is the genuine Christianity, and to this [Christianity] we owe our free Constitution of government.”(Noah Webster, The History of the United States, New Haven, CT, Durrie & Peck, 1832, 300)
James Wilson, who was unanimously confirmed as George Washington’s appointment to the Supreme Court, said:“Christianity is part of the common-law.”(Updegraph v. The Commonwealth, 11 Serg&R 3939, 1824)Common-law” referred to the basis on which all other laws were built and reflected to the posture of the Supreme Court for decades.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed the fact that America was a Christian nation.In the case Holy Trinity v. United States (1892) the unanimous decision stated:“Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teaching of The Redeemer of mankind.It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian…This is a religious people.This is historically true.From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation…we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth…These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.”(Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 143 US 457, 1824)
“Following the Court’s statement that America was a Christian nation, three pages were devoted to eighty-seven authoritative citations.From the commission of Christopher Columbus onward, the Court built an airtight case for its proposition that America is a Christian nation.
Congress saw no conflict with the First Amendment when it spent federal money to support ministers and missionaries for over one hundred years.Nor was there a conflict with appointing chaplains to the Senate, the House, or the armed forces.They saw no problem with Washington’s being sworn into office with his hand on the Bible opened to Deuteronomy 6.That’s also why the very same Congress that gave us the Constitution decided that President Washington’s inauguration would conclude with a church service at Saint Paul’s Chapel, led by the chaplains of Congress.The same Congress that approved the First Amendment also approved a national day of prayer and thanksgiving, “whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor.”(James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages and papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, vol. 1, Published by authority of Congress of 1899)”(Five Lies of the Century by David T. Moore, Tyndale House, c. 1995)
Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic text on early America’s political institutions says, “The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.”(Alexis de Tocqueville, The Republic of the United States and its Political Institutions, Reviewed and Examined, vol. 1, trans. Henry Reeves, Garden City, NY: A.S. Barnes & co., 1851, 335)
In 1781, a publisher petitioned Congress for permission to print Bibles.Congress not only approved his request but issued this statement in 1782:“The Congress of the United States approves and recommends to the people, the Holy Bible…for use in schools.”(Journals of Continental Congress, 1774-1789, vol. 23, Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1905, 574)
When the congressional recommendation was challenged, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, “Why not the Bible, and especially the new Testament, be read and taught as a divine revelation in the schools?Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the new Testament?”(Vidal v. Girar’s Executors, 43 US 205-6, 1844)
“The founding fathers saw such a blend of Christianity and civil government that most expected officeholders to be Christians.While denominational affiliation didn’t matter, a belief in God and the Bible was paramount.Nine of the thirteen colonies had written constitutions.Many of them required officeholders to sign a declaration that amounted to a statement of faith.The Delaware Constitution of 1776 is a perfect example:“Everyone appointed to public office must say:‘I do profess faith in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration.”(The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America, Boston, MA, Norman & Bowen, 1785, 99-100)”Five Lies of the Century by David T. Moore, Tyndale House, c. 1995)
John Jay, the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution, said, “Providence [God] has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”(Henry P. Johnston, ed., “October 12, 1816″, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 4, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890, 393)
Roger Sherman, the only founding father to sign all four of America’s major documents, wrote, “The right to hold office was to be extended to persons of any Christian denomination.”(Christopher Collier, Roger Sherman’s Connecticut, Middleton, CT, Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1979, 135)
In 1931 the Supreme Court continued to affirm America as a Christian nation.In the U.S. v. Macintosh, the Court ruled, “We are a Christian people, according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God.”
In 1937 the National Education Association had published a series of sixteen “Personal Growth Leaflets” to help public school students become “familiar with our great literary heritage.”The back of the booklet read, “It is important that people who are to live together and work together happily shall have common mind — a common body of appreciations and ideals to animate and inspire them.”(”Selections for Memorizing,” in The Journal of the National Education Association, ed. Joy Morgan, Grade 3, Personal Growth leaflet #193, 1944, back cover)
The NEA’s selections for inspiring American students is extraordinary:the Lord’s Prayer, the poem “Father in Heaven, We Thank Thee”; another poem that introduced the concept of daily prayers; a thanksgiving poem that admonished kids to “thank the One who gave all the good things that we have.”
When the Supreme Court can change the Constitution at whim from its original intent, then there is no consistency or dependability of law to which we can hold for protection and guidance. “In the 1963 decision of Abington v. Schempp, the Court removed Bible reading from public education.The Court’s justification?“If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be and have been psychologically harmful to a child.”Simply amazing.Suddenly, the best-selling book of all time and the most quoted source by the founding fathers was unconstitutional and psychologically harmful.The honorable court certainly didn’t share the religious values of the founders nor the sustainers of the Republic.Abraham Lincoln said, “But for the Bible we would not know right from wrong.”Exactly.One of the reasons we have lost our moral bearings is that the objective values of right and wrong have been removed from children’s education.
In the outlandish ruling for DeSpain v. DeKalb County Community School District (1967), the Court declared the following kindergarten nursery rhyme unconstitutional:“We thank you for the flowers so sweet; We thank you for the food we eat; We thank you for the birds that sing; We thank you for everything.”The Court’s logic baffles common sense.Although the word God was not contained in this nursery rhyme, the court argued that if someone were to hear it, it might cause them to think of God and was therefore unconstitutional. By 1980 this incredibly twisted approach made it unconstitutional to post the Ten Commandments on school walls.According to Stone v. Graham, “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps venerate and obey the commandments; this is not a permissible objective.”
James Madison, the man most responsible for the U.S. Constitution, said, “[We] have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.We have staked the future of all of our political Constitutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”(Harold K. Lane, Liberty! Cry Liberty!, Boston: Lamb & Lamb Tractarian Society, 1939, 32-3)“(Five Lies of the Century by David T. Moore, Tyndale House, c. 1995)
IN DEFENSE OF OUR CHRISTIAN HERITAGE
“AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE“ (John 8:32)
Did Christianity really have a significant role in the shaping and founding of our country or was it the intent of our Founding Fathers that there be a “high and impregnable wall, between church and state”?
Was it the intent of the Founding Fathers that religion, especially Christianity, should not be allowed in any government related activities or expressions? Are there evidences that show the Founders’ intent, and if so, what were they? Does the Supreme Court have the right, Constitutionally, to take away the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution by individuals and government institutions? In determining the Constitutionality of actions, activities, and laws etc., what is the criterion for the Supreme Court’s decision-making processes? Is it Constitutional for the Supreme Court to amend or revise the Constitution? Is it Constitutional for the Supreme Court to “make laws”? What was our Founding Fathers’ perspective on the Supreme Court and its purpose? We have many questions that need answers and those answers are critical to the health and prosperity of our country.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ORIGINAL INTENT
In discovering answers, it is important to remember that he who “defines the terms” controls the argument. Founder Noah Webster cautioned about the danger of people changing the intent of a passage by changing the definition of its words, when he said, “In the lapse of two or three centuries, changes have taken place which in particular passages…obscure the sense of the original languages… The effect of these changes is that some words are…being now used in a sense different from that which they had…[and thus] present wrong signification or false ideas. Whenever words are understood in a sense different from that which they had when introduced…mistakes may be very injurious.”
To avoid the “injurious mistakes,” one must look to the original intent of the writers or creators of a document or law. President Thomas Jefferson spoke strongly about this in his communication to Supreme Court Justice William Johnson when he said, “On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
Another one of the Founding Fathers of the Constitution, James Madison, who was also President of the United States, declared, “I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense of which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the Nation. In that sense alone it is this, the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful, exercise of its powers…What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense.”
Justice James Wilson, who is only one of the six who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and later served on the first U. S. Supreme Court, explained, “The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it.”
Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, who was the founder of Harvard Law School, was called the “foremost of American legal writers,” and was nominated to the Supreme Court by President James Madison, declared, “The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all instruments [documents] is to construct them according to the sense of the terms and the intention of the parties.”
As can readily be observed, it a fundamental maxim of law that one must determine the intent of the authors of a statute before attempting to apply it.
So what was the original intent of our Founding Fathers in creating the First Amendment as it regards to government and religion? It was simply to keep the Federal Government from establishing a national religion.
George Mason, a member of the Constitutional Convention and “the Father of the Bill of Rights,” in discussing this topic stated, “[A}ll men have an equal, natural, and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.”
James Madison, in discussing the same topic, purposed, “The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religions by established.”
