WAS THE USA FOUNDED ON JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES? – By Dave Seivright
I wrote recently that the USA is “theistic” not Secular – because its founding was on the basis of all men being “CREATED” which obviously in the context means created —imago Dei— “in the image of God”. But it is only “theistic” in the sense of being Judeo-Christian, as I will now explain:
1. Some scholars say that Sufi Islam also accept the concept of “imago Dei”, but that is certainly not true in terms of the real meaning of the phrase imago Dei which is expounded in the New Testament, which is not accepted by any type of Islam – hence Islam’s abominable treatment of women, etc.
2. Here is what the New Testament says: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 ESV.
3. Contextually there is no doubt that the Founding Fathers, were opposed to Christian denominations of different states, at that time, being accepted at a Federal level. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that in their minds, and in the minds of the ORIGINAL readers of the Constitution, they were contemplating any religion other than Judeo-Christianity.
4. They wanted equality of all Christian denominations! That is the context. That is how the Rules of Interpretation for at least 1000 years have been understood – that laws were to be interpreted, according to “original intent” of both the writers and the readers of laws, books, history, etc. at the time of their ORIGINAL writing. It is in this context that the establishment clause in the First Ammendment should be understood.
5. Our founding fathers were in support of “toleration” of all religions (christian or not) but not “pluralism” (or equality) of all non-christian religions with Judeo-Christianity. We can tolerate the church of Satan, but our founders did not intend the Church of Satan, Islam, Buddhism, or any other religion being the foundation of our values, or our laws and Government. Indeed the founders approved of images of Moses and the Ten Commandments being in Important government buildings, and they still adorn the Supreme Court of the USA.
6. Pluralism, or the equality of all religions, would have been unthinkable as each religion contradicts the other on fundamental principles and values and this would have led to chaos (like what we are seeing in our own day).
7. “Toleration” was a well known concept dating back to Old Testament times when God told Israel to allow foreigners to practice their religion “within the gates” of Israel, but that did not make these pagan religions equal to the Jewish religion found in the Jewish Scriptures.
8. Toleration has never meant allowing foreign religions to have equality at the state or national Level. Even Angela Merkel has recently stated that Germans should prevent the “Islamization” of Germany by singing Christmas Carols.
9. Similarly, religious toleration was practiced by many Protestant countries of Northern Europe, even by Elizabeth 1 of England, unlike the non-toleration of the Roman Catholic Countries of Southern Europe.
10. This is why no Constitutional Amendment should have been necessary for the abolition of slavery in the USA. It was only done out of practical necessity because of the opposition of the Southern congressmen and Governors. Even though Jefferson, a Southerner, continued to own slaves, he would have gone along with the abolitionists, if he could have got the cooperation of the South. Democrats, in particular, were for slavery and later Jim Crow.
