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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Founding Fathers' Insistence On Religious Toleration, Including Muslims and "Infidels"


Jefferson's Advocacy For Protection Of Jew, Gentile, Mahometan, Hindu And "Infidel"


Dear J,


The separation of church and state was not specified in the constitution because it was presupposed.


To specify church-state separation would be like making a "supply list" and including "breathable air."


The American "experiment" began when religious refugees fled England because The Church of England and The Royal Family were co-terminous: one sectarian religion and one autocratic government fused in a single identity.


With a depth of passion now hard to imagine, The Founding Fathers sought to avoid any behavior that hinted at Church/State merger.


What the Constitution specifies is this: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution


Note the opening phrase: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." 


"An establishment of religion" harkens back to the establishment of one - and only one - religion in England.


In the Founders' view, all religions -- all belief systems including those of "infidels" -- are on equal constitutional footing.


If we adhere to the constitution's "original intent" (so cherished by Antonin Scalia) we can grant equal time (in public space) to all Christian sects as well as to Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, Taoism, Animism, Pantheism, Jainism (an atheistic religion), Mormonism (a non-Christian religion) and probably to atheism itself. (See Romney, Mormonism and Christianity: http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/romney-mormonism-and-christianity.html)


Or, we can decide that no religion has access to public space.

I think the former is preferable. I can settle for the latter.


Consider the following passage by Thomas Jefferson, the single most influential voice in the creation of the Constitution. 

Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography

1821 Works 1:71
"The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason and right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. 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 the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read, "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination." (For more insight into Jefferson's relationship with Islam, see http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2007/01/jeffersons_quran.html

Jefferson's religious latitudinarianism was common among the founders - "a great majority" as Jefferson categorized them.


America is a better place for such breadth of tolerance.


Share this post with conservative friends and see what they think - not in terms of sentiment and tradition, but in terms of constitutional principles.


Pax vobiscum


Alan


PS Concerning the poster caption: "Why are judges making laws?"... 
     The most momentous instance of "legislating from the bench" was the recent Citizens United decision issued by the Roberts Court. With the stroke of a pen, it was ruled - insanely - that "corporations are people." And with that fateful act of judicial legislation, a hundred years of settled law was overturned. Beyond bizarre. A monstrosity. A legal abomination that makes most biblical abominations look like fit fodder for pre-school. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_united

Background

On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 11:45 AM, JT wrote:


----- Original Message -----
From: FR
To: Undisclosed
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2012 10:50 AM
Subject: How many people to you think know this?



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