Religion—A set of beliefs, values and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
Greetings my fellow Americans!
The full text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows (formatting mine):
“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.”
Insofar as there are no less than six discrete prohibitions or limits of government power explicated and weaved into this amendment, and it is the very first listed in the so-called Bill of Rights, I consider it to be the most seminal and fundamental of those in the Bill, and warranting a multi-part unpacking of its meaning and purpose. This Part 1 shall focus on Establishment of Religion, and start with a parsing of the language used by our Founders to rediscover their original intent.
Full disclosure: I am not a Constitutional nor Legal scholar in the formal or credentialed sense. What I consider myself is an American who believes in the divine providence upon which the United States both won its independence against seemingly insurmountable odds and established a federated republican system of government unprecedented—and still unmatched or surpassed—in human history. On that premise I have no interest in examining the various and sundry intellectually elitist interpretations, permutations and machinations which have been foisted upon the relatively simple words of “the supreme law of our land” by those with the credentials to sport the badge of “scholar.”
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….”
Let’s start with the basics of this clause. Firstly, this is an opening statement of what Congress is or is not authorized to do under our Constitution, and it is made in the context of Article I, Section I of the main body: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.” That Congress is mentioned first in both the Constitution proper and the Bill of Rights is no accident, nor is that the First Amendment immediately explicates what that Congress is NOT authorized to do (“shall make no law”).
“…respecting an establishment….” Though considered archaic by today’s language standards, “favoring,” “preferring” and “adhering to” are still recognized synonyms of “respecting,” and provide the modern context for its use by the Founders. “Establish” here means “to cause (as in institution) to come into existence or begin operating; found; set up.” So far, we’re being told that Congress is not allowed to legalize, nor mandate adherence to, some new institution.
“..of religion….” The mention of the word “religion” here conjures up, for most, an immediate connection to a supreme being known as God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, et. al., from which the so-called “separation of Church and State” was contrived in the 20th Century (based on misinterpretations of a single letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802). Yes, the Founders were sensitive to the notion of a State-established church, from which many had fled to the American colonies from Mother England; because of this they wanted to make sure that forced compliance with a particular belief system was expressly prohibited.
The American Heritage Dictionary proffers a definition of “religion” which I believe best encapsulates the true spirit of the Founders’ intent: “A particular variety of [the belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers], especially when organized into a system of doctrine and practice.” Though many may still infer “God” here, this definition I believe generically encapsulates the notion of human worship of anyone or anything outside of our human form, and is what is implied in the First Amendment.
So, based on these interpretations, we have a supreme clause which prohibits Congress from making any laws which mandate adherence to, or compliance with, any system of beliefs or doctrines suborning worship or reverence. Regardless of whether the religion is church-based or not, the U.S. government was not allowed to codify, superimpose, nor force the citizenry to comply with such behavior as to ascribe to the beliefs of those within that government, nor was the power of government to be used for this purpose. I submit that all forms of social engineering upon which our government has embarked and in which it has embroiled itself is unconstitutional on that basis. Likewise, any such initiatives as controlling the climate or otherwise “saving the planet” have no standing within the “supreme law of our land.”
To be continued.
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