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One Nation Under God: America as a Theocracy—Part 1

Shortly after 9/11, I attended a local prayer breakfast at which service club members, clergy and town officials gathered to consider the Pledge of Allegiance’s phrase “one Nation under God.”  
As I reflected on that theme, it occurred to me that Osama bin Laden and his cohorts—the Taliban of Afghanistan—might also say their objective is “one Nation under God.”  After all, they speak of the “nation of Islam” and call for an Islamic theocracy.   
A theocracy, Mr. Webster tells us, is a state governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials—a monarch, council or junta—who are regarded as divinely guided.  What distinguishes the Islamists’ version of nationhood from ours?
Although our Founders had a wide variety of denominational affiliations, they unanimously believed that Man is made in the living image of God.  Furthermore, they said, the basis on which our nation stands is acknowledgment of God as the supreme authority for the conduct of our national life and our personal life.  No less an anticlerical deist than Tom Paine said in the dark days of the Revolution that he was not so much of an infidel as to suppose that God “has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils…”  
The Declaration of Independence, our founding document, has four references to deity.  They are “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme Judge of the World” and “divine Providence.”  (John Adams also referred to God as the “Spirit of Liberty.”)  Those phrases collectively declare that God is the mighty author of our being and the moral authority for our laws, and that we humans, by virtue of our spiritual nature derived from God, are created equal and are endowed with “certain unalienable rights.”  The purpose of government, the Declaration says, is to ensure that those rights are not violated because each individual citizen is sacred, sovereign and equal in moral value to all others.  Government, it adds, exists legitimately only when it has the consent of the governed.
Did bin Laden and the Taliban offer anything comparable?  That’s a rhetorical question.
Look at Afghanistan under the Taliban, which hosted bin Laden.  Where was the freedom we cherish—freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech and the press, freedom to assemble and to travel, freedom to criticize the government, freedom to seek redress of grievances, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom to work as we wish, freedom of education, and so forth?  The Taliban suppressed all that.  Radio, TV and entertainment were forbidden except for government-approved forms.  There were no minority parties campaigning for election because critics of the government were publicly executed.  
As for other religions, Christians were persecuted and jailed for the “crime” of teaching about Christianity.  Hindus were forced to wear a sign on their clothing to identify themselves as non-Muslim.  Ancient Buddhist sculptures regarded by the world as art treasures were blown up.
Also look at the condition of women under Taliban rule.  They had to be covered from head to foot, including their face; they were beaten on the street for showing even an ankle.  They couldn’t vote.  They couldn’t go to school or work outside the home.  Female teachers couldn’t teach.  Even female doctors, whose medical services were badly needed, were forbidden to practice their profession.  (Please note that this terrible treatment of women is not inherent in Islam, but was due to the twisted mentality of the Taliban.)  
Noble-sounding words can be misused to disguise something totally opposite to their meaning.  That is what the Taliban, bin Laden and their followers did.  Their version of “one Nation under God” was a brutal totalitarian dictatorship—the antithesis of everything for which America stands (and, according to some Muslim scholars and clerics, the antithesis of what Islam stands for also).  
(To be continued)

The Rational Basis for Easter – Part 2

The Image of the Man in the Shroud.  As for the image of the Man in the Shroud, research likewise indicates it is no hoax.  The blood stains are real (type AB) and contain human male DNA.  The man was about 5’ 11” and weighed about 170 pounds.  The Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), a group of scientists who began researching the Shroud in 1978, stated in its report:  “…the actual image was created by a phenomenon (as yet unknown) or a momentous event that caused…a sepia or straw-yellow colored image similar to that of a scorch.”  

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America’s Foundation Is Spiritual, Not Political—Part 2

American self-government is based on these eight fundamental ideas which our Founders held:
1. First, the fountainhead of American government and society is God.  God is the mighty author of our existence and the moral authority for our laws.  Our Founders declared it was “self-evident” truth.  The Declaration of Independence contains four references to deity.  They are “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme Judge of the world” and “Divine Providence.”  (John Adams also called God “the Spirit of Liberty.”)  These terms make clear that in the political theory expressed by the Founders of America, God, not government, is the source of our freedom, our sovereignty, our equality, our rights, our justice, our human dignity and all else which creates a good society.  Therefore we are “one Nation under God.”  
2. The second fundamental idea is this:  We are made in the image and likeness of God, and by virtue of our spiritual nature, every human being is sacred, sovereign and inviolable.  Therefore, as the Declaration of Independence puts it, “all men are created equal.” 
3. The third fundamental idea upholding America is this:  God’s purpose in granting us freedom is to use it to show forth His glory in our entire existence.  Some Founders, such as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, referred to America as the New Jerusalem and the New Israel.  By that they meant not a Jewish nation but rather a God-centered society whose will was to reflect heaven on earth.  In that way, our pursuit of happiness would be permanently and abundantly fulfilled.  
4. The fourth fundamental idea is this:  Because all freedom comes from God, it carries an inherent responsibility to use it properly—that is, morally and lawfully—to fulfill our obligation to our Creator.  Freedom and responsibility are therefore intimately related; without responsibility, liberty becomes libertinism or immoral, destructive behavior.  
5. Idea number five:  Our political experiment in self-government is predicated on each citizen governing himself morally and taking personal responsibility for his or her words and deeds.  The more we obey God’s laws, the less need there is for man’s laws.  The result is a godly society dedicated to glorifying our Creator.  However, an immoral people is incapable of self-government.  Any government it may set up will devalue honor, honesty and civility; it will legalize plundering, abridge rights and erode freedom.  
6.  Idea number six:  Government has always been the greatest enemy of freedom, and therefore our Founders wrote a Constitution which established a minimal government for what was deemed necessary at the federal level, leaving all other powers and rights to the states and to the people themselves.  The authority of the federal government was delegated by “we the people” and its powers were strictly enumerated and defined.  Our Founders wanted freedom from government, not dependence on government.  The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are, in simplest terms, a carefully devised system to govern the government, not the people.  They were not written to restrict the citizens of America; they were written to restrict the government and to protect our rights and liberty. 
7. Idea number seven:  Although God is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence provided the philosophical  and metaphysical framework for the system of government established in the Constitution.  Moreover, the Founders expected that government officials would conduct themselves in accordance with that moral view of life.  The American theory of government reflects the Founders’ understanding that God demands moral behavior of us all as the basis for growth to deeper understanding of our nature and destiny.  Elected officials are required to take an oath or to affirm that they will support the Constitution.  Obviously, supporting the Constitution means upholding and honoring the fundamental principles it embodies.  
8. Last of all, our Founders wisely separated church and state, but not God and state.  We have a secular government but a religious society.  Our government makes no religious test of civic officials but nevertheless requires moral behavior of them, using moral standards arising from Judeo-Christianity, especially the Ten Commandments which became part of the basis of English—and hence American—civil law.  God and nation are one.  However, the Creator whom we recognize as the fountainhead of American government and society is not the exclusive property of any denomination.  The First Amendment prohibits any denomination from becoming the established, official religion of America; likewise it prohibits government from interfering with religious freedom and thereby allows full public expression of religion according to one’s conscience.  
Of all political documents in history, only the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution offer a seamless theory and practice of enlightened government.  Together, they address all levels of our existence.  From the physical through the mental to the spiritual, from the individual through the local, state and federal government, they declare God as the divine basis of our existence.  We are one nation under God.  Patriots honor that in word and deed.  
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