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Lee v. Weisman

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Anti-Separation
of Church and State Page

Religion is the Foundation of Government
The Founding Fathers Believed Government was of God

The modern doctrine of "separation of church and state" is a myth. It is anti-American. Modern secularists have problems understanding the American relationship between religion and government because they do not understand that the Founding Fathers believed:

• Religion was the foundation of government;
• There was a true religion and there were other false religions;
• It would be suicidal to base a commonwealth on a false religion;
• The Government, in order to survive, must endorse and promote the true religion.

Every single person who signed the Constitution agreed with these four premises, and they agreed that the true religion was Christianity. It doesn't matter that they didn't agree among themselves as to the details of the Christian religion. It doesn't matter that they made sure that one variety of Christianity would have no legal power over other varieties of Christianity. What matters is that not a single signer of the Constitution believed in the "separation of church and state" where the word "church" means "Christianity, the true religion." A secular (that is, atheistic) government was not in the mind of a single signer of the Constitution. None of them accepted the possibility of a Civil Magistrate separated from true religion and independent of God, owing no duties to God to abide by His Standard of Justice.

Both Church and State were under God, though there was a "wall of separation" between these two Christian institutions. And make no mistake: the "minister of justice" in the State was just as directly responsible to God as a "minister of the Word" in the Church.

All of these beliefs were largely deduced by the Founding Fathers from a single passage of Scripture. All of their political thinking ultimately rested on this single Biblical text.

Probably one of the most important Biblical texts in the history of political science in Western Civilization is the thirteenth chapter of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans. Since the time of Augustine, this passage has been the starting point for all discussions of government. And that starting point led to the conclusion -- universally held by the Founding Fathers -- that the human task of forming civil governments was a religious obligation. If you're a Christian, you probably don't need to click those links.

Yet most Secular Humanists haven't the foggiest idea what this passage of Scripture says, nor have they the remotest sensitivity for how the Founding Fathers reverenced this text. History shows it pervaded their thinking. It was an underlying assumption. Even today, when people speak of "the powers that be" they are using the language from Romans 13, likely without knowing the source.

If you know nothing about Romans 13, start by reading the passage here.

Then review some history. Romans 13 and a Biblical doctrine of government pervades Western thought and influenced the Founding Fathers. (The ironic thing about the use of Romans 13 in Western political science is that the passage, though clearly intended to inculcate non-resistance to the magistrates, has been most frequently cited in treatises which advocate violent revolution.)

Romans 13 says that the civil magistrate is "the minister of God." The Founding Fathers, to a man, agreed.

Here is a sampling of what the Founders believed about government's dependence on God:

[T]he only true basis of all government [is] the laws of God and nature. For government is an ordinance of heaven, designed by the all benevolent Creator.
Samuel Adams
Writings, vol. I, p. 269, Samuel Adams in the Boston Gazette of Dec. 19, 1768 as "Vindex."

Has it [government] any solid foundation? Any chief corner stone?  . . . I think it has an everlasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God. . . .  The sum of my argument is that civil government is of God.
James Otis, mentor of Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty
The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (London: J. Williams and J. Almon, 1766) pp. 11, 98.

[W]e will look for the permanency and stability of our new government to Him who bringeth princes to nothing and teacheth senators wisdom [Isa. 40:23; Ps. 105:22]
John Hart, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Address, October 5, 1776, in, The Papers of William Livingston (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1979) Vol. I, p. 161.

[T]he rights essential to happiness . . . . We claim them from a higher source -- from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth.
John Dickinson, Signer of the Constitution
The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington: Bonsal and Niles, 1801) Vol. I, p. 111.

If civil government is ordained by God, and answerable to God, then the fact that civil government and ecclesiastical governments were "separate" does not contradict the fact that both forms of government were "under God," and based on a religious foundation. The modern doctrine of "separation of church and state" is not concerned with a separation between civil and ecclesiastical powers. It attempts to assert a separation between the life of man and the Law of God. The modern doctrine is a myth.

The pages below are designed to expose the myth of pluralism and to show that pluralism was universally denied by the Founding Fathers. The truths found in the links below stem from the belief of our Founding Fathers that the institution of civil government is ordained by God. The "separation of church and state," as understood today (the separation of religion and civil government) is a myth.

• Religion is the foundation of government. There can be no secular government. Deism, infidelity, and atheism are threats to good government.
• There is a true religion, others are "false religions."
• America's attitude toward false religions is peaceful and respectful the more those false religions resemble Christianity.
• But if false religions require anti-Christian conduct, they will be penalized by the criminal code. There is no such thing as "pluralism."
• This means the government in America endorses Christianity, and the "separation of church and state" as it has become expressed in the "no-endorsement" test of the Supreme Court, is completely mistaken.
• Not just passive approval, favoritism, or endorsement -- the government in America must actively promote Christian piety, according to the Founders.
• The establishment of Christianity is the goal of America.

Vine & Fig Tree's Romans 13 Home Page
The most disastrously misunderstood Biblical text in history!

|| Romans 13 and Parallel Texts || Romans 13 in American History || Romans 13 in Western Political Thought || Romans 13 and the American Revolution || Romans 13 and the "Separation of Church and State" ||

Christian "Anarchism" is Our Goal  | |  All Evil is Predestined by God   | |  Pray for a Servant's Understanding  | |  Angels and God's Throne of Government  | |  Stars and Idolatry  | |  Why the State Always Encourages Immorality  | |  Unlucky 13 -- Romans 13, Revelation 13 and Isaiah 13  | |   A Roman's-Eye View of Romans 13  | |  "Principalities and Powers"  | |  Lakes of Fire in "Smoke-Filled Rooms"  | |  Romans 13: The Burden is on the Archists  | |  Taxation, Representation, and the Myth of the State  | |   Why the State is not a "Divine Institution"   | |  Angels and Autarchy  | |  95 Theses Against the State   | |   Here is what a Christian Anarchist looks like after he has joined The Christmas Conspiracy.

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