America is often referred to as a city upon a hill.
From the beginning of our country, religious liberty has been a foundational element of American life. Most of the original Pilgrims who came to Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620 were motivated by the desire to live where they could worship freely.
Until this time in history, living without fear of religious persecution was not common. America’s earliest leaders believed their new land, where religion could be practiced without fear, was unique in the eyes of God and would serve as an example for all. A Puritan leader, John Winthrop, wrote in 1630, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” This refers to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:14).
The early clergy in America made an important connection between religion and liberty. Reverend Thomas Hooker of Connecticut stated in 1638 that “the foundation of authority is laid in the consent of the people.” Later, Reverend John Wise of Massachusetts stated in a 1710 treatise that “Democracy is Christ’s government in church and state.” Statements like these influenced our founding generation when it came time to establish the United States.
The Faith of the Founding Fathers
Much has been written about the faith of the Founding Fathers. There are many misconceptions about this. There is a somewhat common theme that the Founding Fathers were agnostics, meaning they believed the existence of God could never be known, or deists who believed in a supreme being who did not influence the universe. Neither of these labels applies to the founding generation in any meaningful way.
It is fair to say that some of our Founding Fathers questioned specific theology pertaining to Christianity, then as it is today, the nation’s predominant religion. Specifically, there were questions about the Holy Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ. But, with very few exceptions, the founding generation believed in a God who, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “governs in the affairs of men.” No consequential Founder was an atheist.
When it came time to declare independence and establish the United States, liberty, not theology, was at the forefront of the Founders’ thinking. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the revolutionary words in the Declaration of Independence that “we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.” This is one of four references to God in our founding document. Jefferson, like most of the Founders, believed in a moral order to the universe that is only governed by God. As such, God grants each of us rights that human authority cannot take away.
The Founders understood an important truth. A society cannot be considered free unless its people are free to worship openly. A government cannot dictate the individuals’ ability to choose what to believe or not believe. If governments were to do this, it would mean that people would not be free to express their own thoughts or hold their own beliefs. The Founders viewed this as the road to tyranny.
At the time of the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, seven of the thirteen states had some official state religion. These were all denominations of Christianity. The Constitutional framers did not want the federal government to become a place of division over theological disagreements so they established the principle that a federal religion that had power over the states would not be established.
For the Founders, religion was instrumental to civil society. It offered the moral foundation necessary for people to largely govern themselves, so they sought to encourage faith without forcing it upon society. Thus, the wording of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Through this language, the Founders wanted to establish a religious people who could worship of their own accord.
George Washington as depicted in “The Prayer at Valley Forge” by Arnold Friberg.
While there are numerous examples of Founders expressing their belief in the importance of religion, it is President George Washington’s 1796 “Farewell Address” that best summarizes the strong consensus of the time on the role religion should play in American society:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion…Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
By 1831, when French citizen Alexis de Tocqueville made his famous trip to the United States that he wrote about in Democracy in America, the Founders’ vision for the country was fully displayed. The religious faith of Americans struck him immediately. “Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention.” He continues, “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
In Tocqueville’s view, America’s religious faith set the country apart from his native France and the other European countries of the time. Tocqueville believed this was what made America a great and unique nation.
On the clergy, Tocqueville states, “Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Religion has played an instrumental role in the shaping of the American character. Clergy members were some of the leading voices in our country against the evils of slavery and segregation. Religious charities have been the leaders in giving to those in need. Religious institutions building schools and hospitals, helping the homeless, and offering assistance to those who require it has made the United States the good country Tocqueville describes.
Washington National Cathedral has been the site of many of the nation’s prominent religious services.
The Prayers of Our Nation
Prayer in America is the result of religious liberty. In this tradition, leaders, especially presidents, have asked the country to pray so many times in our history. These prayers all have a commonality: A recognition there is a God who watches over the American people.
The history of prayer in America is long. The attached link by author William J. Federer summarizes this history in a very concise way: History of Prayer in America
While there is no official United States prayer, there is a prayer that some have considered an unofficial national prayer. While this prayer has been attributed to Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, the evidence does not support this. It seems to have first appeared in the 1928 Christian Book of Common Prayer and is entitled For Our Country:
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail.
Below are a few other notable American prayers:
The First Continental Congress, 1774
George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789
Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863
Franklin Roosevelt on D-Day, June 6, 1944
George W. Bush three days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001
There are also prayers before each new session of Congress, as well as these words spoken before each new session of the Supreme Court.
Starting with George Washington, presidents understood the importance of prayer for the country. In 1952, President Harry Truman made a National Day of Prayer an annual observance in the United States. On May 5, 1988, President Ronald Reagan established the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer.
The Elimination of Religion from Public Life
To see religion’s importance to American society, one needs to study what happens to societies where the government eliminates God and religion from public life. Communist countries prove to be unfortunate examples.
Communism’s founder, Karl Marx, was an atheist who ominously wrote, “Religion is the opium of the masses.” Religion had no place in his perceived utopia. Instead, communism’s morality isn’t based on Judeo-Christian or Bible-based principles but rather on death, a lack of freedom, and a complete disregard for human life. Christians, Jews, and believers of virtually every other religion were instead persecuted, tortured, and killed. If there is no God to be accountable to, humans can be incredibly cruel to one another. History has shown this far too many times.
For a totalitarian government to take hold of a population, religion is one of the early targets to control. There cannot be any authority greater than the state, so religion must be either strictly controlled or completely eliminated from society. This pattern repeats itself with nearly every totalitarian state in world history.
President Ronald Reagan referenced the differences between a free country like the United States and a totalitarian one like the Soviet Union. In 1983, Reagan gave an address known as the “Evil Empire” speech about the Soviet Union. While the entirety of this speech is worth watching, the first six minutes are particularly relevant to this discussion. Find a link attached here.
The Supreme Court
Before 1947, the United States functioned similarly to the country described by Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s and envisioned by the Founders. The federal government even gave direct funds to some religious organizations. The Supreme Court of the United States largely left the First Amendment’s religious clauses alone.
In 1947, the Supreme Court heard Everson v. Board of Education, a case involving the use of New Jersey state funds to reimburse the parents of Catholic school students for busing expenses. Associate Justice Hugo Black, a Franklin Roosevelt appointee and former Ku Klux Klan member, wrote the Court’s opinion.
While the Court’s decision did allow New Jersey state funds to be used for the reimbursement of Catholic school parents, it was another part of the Court’s ruling that is remembered today. Using language that appeared in an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Church, Black declared that a “wall of separation” existed between church and state that “must be kept high and impregnable.” Black also declared the First Amendment’s religious clauses now applied to local and state governments as well as to the federal government.
Thus, the phrase “separation of church and state,” one never contemplated by the Founders, nor appearing anywhere in the Constitution, has been with the country ever since. It is important to note that Jefferson was not present at the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787 and even attended church services in the House of Representatives just two days after writing his letter, something he did with regularity throughout his presidency.
The net result is that since the Everson ruling, the Supreme Court has produced a series of inconsistent and illogical decisions regarding the religious clauses of the First Amendment. This has largely been at the expense of public displays of worship and the religious liberty of the individual.
However, the Court did uphold one change. In 1953, to contrast American values with communist values, President Dwight D. Eisenhower urged the words “under God” to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance. Congress made this law in 1954.
Americans must be vigilant in protecting religious speech and expression, both privately and in the public square, to remain the free people envisioned by our Founders. As stated by evangelist Billy Graham: “The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”
Recommended Reading: The Five Thousand Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen