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America, A Christian Nation
by Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer
(1890-1910)
We classify nations in various ways,
as, for instance, by their form of government. One is a kingdom, another
an empire, and still another a republic. Also by race. Great Britain is
an Anglo-Saxon nation, France a Gallic, Germany a Teutonic, Russia a
Slav. And still again by religion. One is a Mohammedan nation, others
are heathen, and still others are Christian nations.
This Republic is classified among the Christian nations
of the world. It was so formally declared by the Supreme Court of the
United States. In the case of Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, 143
U.S. 471, that Court, after mentioning various circumstances, added,
"these and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of
unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a
Christian nation." (Unanimous opinion, Feb. 29, 1892).
But in what sense can it be called a Christian nation?
Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or that
the people are in any matter compelled to support it. On the contrary,
the Constitution specifically provides that " Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof." Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its
citizens are either in fact or name Christians. On the contrary, all
religions have free scope within our borders. Numbers of our people
profess other religions, and many reject all. Nor is it Christian in the
sense that a profession of Christianity is a condition of holding office
or otherwise engaging in the public service, or essential to recognition
either politically or socially. In fact the Government as a legal
organization is independent of all religions.
Nevertheless, we constantly speak of this
Republic as a Christian nation - in fact, as the leading Christian
nation of the world. This popular use of the term certainly has
significance. It is not a mere creation of the imagination. It is not a
term of derision but has a substantial basis - one which justifies its
use. Let us analyze a little and see what is the basis.
Its use has had from the early settlements on our
shores and still has an official foundation. It is only about three
centuries since the beginning of civilized life within the limits of
these United States. And those beginnings were in a marked and marvelous
degree identified with Christianity....
Christianity Inspired Colonies
It is not exaggeration to say that Christianity in some
of its creeds was the principal cause of the settlement of many of the
colonies, and cooperated with business hopes and purposes in the
settlement of the others. Beginning in this way and under these
influences it is not strange that the colonial life had an emphatic
Christian tone....
In Delaware, by the constitution of 1776, every office
holder was required to make and subscribe the following declaration: "I,
A.B., do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only
Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore: and I do
acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given
by divine inspiration."
New Hampshire, in the Constitution of 1784 and 1792,
required that senators and representatives should be of the "Protestant
religion," and this provision remained in force until 1877.
The fundamental Constitutions of the Carolinas
declared: "No man shall be permitted to be a freeman of Carolina, or to
have any estate or habitation within it that doth not acknowledge a God,
and that God is publicly and solemnly to be worshipped."
The Constitution of North Carolina, of 1776, provided:
"Than no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the
Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New
Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the
freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office
or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State."
And this remained in force until 1835, when it was amended by changing
the word "Protestant" to "Christian," and as so amended remained in
force until the Constitution of 1868. And in that Constitution among the
persons disqualified for office were "all persons who shall deny the
being of Almighty God."...
Christianity Fundamental to Office Holding
In Maryland, by the Constitution of 1776, every person
appointed to any office of profit or trust was not only to take an
official oath of allegiance to the State, but also to "subscribe a
declaration of his belief in the Christian religion." In the same State,
in the Constitution of 1851, it was declared that no other test or
qualification for admission to any office of trust or profit shall be
required than the official oath "and a declaration of belief in the
Christian religion; and if the party shall profess to be a Jew the
declaration shall be of his belief in a future state of rewards and
punishments." As late as 1864 the same State in its Constitution had a
similar provision, the change being one merely of phraseology, the
provision reading, “a declaration of belief in the Christian religion,
or of the existence of God, and in a future state of rewards and
punishments.”
Mississippi, by the Constitution of 1817,
provided that "no person who denies the being of God or a future state
of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department
of the State."
Another significant matter is the recognition of
Sunday. That day is the Christian Sabbath, a day peculiar to that faith,
and known to no other. It would be impossible within the limits of a
lecture to point out all the ways in which that day is recognized. The
following illustrations must suffice: By the United States Constitution
the President is required to approve all bills passed by Congress. If he
disapproves he returns it with his veto. And then specifically it is
provided that if not returned by him within ten days, "Sundays
excepted," after it shall have been presented to him it becomes a law.
Similar provisions are found in the Constitutions of most of the States,
and in thirty-six out of forty-five is the same expression, "Sundays
excepted."...
By decisions in many states a contract made on Sunday
in invalid and cannot be enforced. By the general course of decision no
judicial proceedings can be held on Sunday. All legislative bodies,
whether municipal, State or national, abstain from work on that day.
Indeed, the vast number of official action, legislative and judicial,
recognize Sunday as a day separate and apart from the others, a day
devoted not to the ordinary pursuits of life....
God's Name Prevails
While the word "God" is not infrequently used both in
the singular and plural to denote any supreme being or beings, yet when
used alone and in the singular number it generally refers to that
Supreme Being spoken of in the Old and New Testaments and worshipped by
Jew and Christian. In that sense the word is used in constitution,
statute and instrument. In many State Constitutions we find in the
preamble a declaration like this: "Grateful to Almighty God." In some he
who denied the being of God was disqualified from holding office. It is
again and again declared in constitution and statute that official oaths
shall close with an appeal, "So help me, God." When, upon inauguration,
the President-elect each four years consecrates himself to the great
responsibilities of Chief Executive of the Republic, his vow of
consecration in the presence of the vast throng filling the Capitol
grounds will end with the solemn words, "So help me, God." In all our
courts witnesses in like manner vouch for the truthfulness of their
testimony. The common commencement of wills is "In the name of God,
Amen." Every foreigner attests his renunciation of allegiance to his
former sovereign and his acceptance of citizenship in this Republic by
an appeal to God.
These various declarations in charters, constitutions
and statutes indicate the general thought and purpose. If it be said
that similar declarations are not found in all the charters or in all
the constitutions, it will be borne in mind that the omission often
times was because they were deemed unnecessary, as shown by the
quotation just made from the opinion of the Supreme Court of Louisiana,
as well as those hereafter taken from the opinions of other courts. And
further, it is of still more significance that there are no contrary
declarations. In no charter or constitution is there anything to even
suggest that any other than the Christian is the religion of this
country. In none of them is Mohammed or Confucius or Buddha in any
manner noticed. In none of them is Judaism recognized other than by way
of toleration of its special creed. While the separation of church and
state is often affirmed, there is nowhere a repudiation of Christianity
as one of the institutions as well as benedictions of society.
In short, there is no charter or constitution
that is either infidel, agnostic or anti-Christian. Wherever there is a
declaration in favor of any religion it is of the Christian. In view of
the multitude of expressions in its favor, the avowed separation between
church and state is a most satisfactory testimonial that it is the
religion of this country, for a peculiar thought of Christianity is of a
personal relation between man and his Maker, uncontrolled by and
independent of human government.
Notice also the matter of chaplains. These are
appointed for the army and navy, named as officials of legislative
assemblies, and universally they belong to one or other of the Christian
denominations. Their whole range of service, whether in prayer or
preaching, is an official recognition of Christianity. If it be not so,
why do we have chaplains?
Christ Honored in All States
If we consult the decisions of the courts,
although the formal question has seldom been presented because of a
general recognition of its truth, yet in The People vs. Ruggles, 8 John.
290, 294, 295, Chancellor Kent, the great commentator on American law,
speaking as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, said; "The
people of this State, in common with the people of this country, profess
the general doctrines of Christianity, as the rule of their faith and
practice."... The New York Supreme Court, in Lindenmuller vs. The
People, 33 Barbour, 561, held that: "Christianity is not the legal
religion of the State, as established by law. If it were, it would be a
civil or political institution, which it is not; but this is not
inconsistent with the idea that it is in fact, and ever has been, the
religion of the people. This fact is everywhere prominent in all our
civil and political history, and has been, from the first, recognized
and acted upon by the people, as well as by constitutional conventions,
by legislatures and by courts of justice."...
In Arkansas, Shover vs. The State, 10 English,
263, the Supreme Court said: "This system of religion (Christianity) is
recognized as constituting a part and parcel of the common."...
If now we pass from the domain of official action
and recognition to that of individual acceptance we enter a field of
boundless extent, and I can only point out a few of the prominent facts:
Notice our educational institutions. I have already called your
attention to the provisions of the charters of the first three colleges.
Think of the vast number of academies, colleges and universities
scattered through the land. Some of them, it is true, are under secular
control, but there is yet to be established in this country one of those
institutions founded on the religions of Confucius, Buddha or Mohammed,
while an overwhelming majority are under the special direction and
control of Christian teachers....
The Bible, the Guide to life
You will have noticed that I have presented no
doubtful facts. Nothing has been stated which is debatable. The
quotations form charters are in the archives of the several States; the
laws are on the statute books; judicial opinions are taken from the
official reports; statistics from the census publications. In short, no
evidence has been presented which is open to question.
I could easily enter upon another line of
examination. I could point out the general trend of public opinion, the
disclosures of purposes and beliefs to be found in letters, papers,
books and unofficial declarations. I could show how largely our laws and
customs are based upon the laws of Moses and the teachings of Christ;
how constantly the Bible is appealed to as the guide to life and the
authority in questions of morals; how the Christian doctrines are
accepted as the great comfort in times of sorrow and affliction, and
fill with the light of hope the services for the dead. On every hilltop
towers the steeple of some Christian church, while from the marble
witnesses in God's acre comes the universal but silent testimony to the
common faith in the Christian doctrine of the resurrection and the life
hereafter.
But I must not weary you. I could go on
indefinitely, pointing our further illustrations both official and
nonofficial, public and private; such as the annual Thanksgiving
proclamations, with their following days of worship and feasting;
announcements of days of fasting and prayer; the universal celebration
of Christmas; the gathering of millions of our children in Sunday
Schools, and the countless volumes of Christian literature, both prose
and poetry. But I have said enough to show that Christianity came to
this country with the first colonists; has been powerfully identified
with its rapid development, colonial and national, and today exists as a
mighty factor in the life of the Republic.
***********************
United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story --
“The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much
less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating
Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects
[denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of
the national government.”
Patrick Henry --
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great
nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on
religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason
peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum...here.”