Critics of the new House Speaker Mike Johnson’s God-centered policies fail to understand the role that religion has played in American life since its founding.
Mike Johnson began his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives with a speech quoting God the Creator mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. The speech drew criticism from columnists at the Washington Post, Time, PBS, and the New York Times, among others. Much of the criticism was directed at Johnson’s support for Trump, his affiliation with the church, and his tendency to use biblical language.
Each column was about Johnson’s accusation of being a Christian nationalist. However, none of them offered a counterargument to the fact that the Declaration of Independence actually refers to God in justifying America’s separation from Britain. In fact, the Declaration contains four references to God, using the language of the eighteenth century.
The first reference is found in the opening paragraph, which refers to “the Laws of Nature and the Nature of God,” thus justifying the legitimacy of the new “thirteen United States of America” in natural and divine law. From the very beginning This nation is trying to conform to God’s moral order.
The second reference is found in the first sentence of the next paragraph and is the most famous: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Ensuring these rights succinctly expresses the American understanding of the purpose of government. The government derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.” But both the government and people are subordinate to the Creator, who stands outside the material world and is the creator of everything.
Thomas Jefferson and the Second Continental Congress assumed a general (though not compulsory) belief in God. Without God, the struggle for independence was unfair. Without God, the new nation would have no duty to defend life and freedom. Without God, the right of people to seek happiness, which the Founders understood as the classic pursuit of goodness and virtue, would not be worth mentioning. Without God, the statements of the Declaration become sophistry, since the very concepts of justice, goodness, and truth are subject to constant redefinition based on the conditions of the time.
This understanding of God-given rights led to another body of representatives, including the six signatories to the Declaration, enshrining religious freedom in the Constitution. Some things belong only to the Creator of mankind and should be untouchable by human officials. America’s limited government may affirm belief in God, but it will not trample on conscience or force belief; even those citizens who deny the existence of God deserve life, civil liberty, and religious freedom.
The Declaration goes on to make specific condemnations of the British monarch, explaining how the king violated the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God, as well as the freedoms granted by the Creator. The final paragraph then makes a logical transition to the last two references.
It begins with an appeal by the representatives “to the Supreme Judge of the world regarding the justice of our intentions.” This bold call asks God to judge not only their words but also their motives. This appeal returns to the medieval concept of the trial by combat, where God justifies the just and punishes the wicked. Using the concept of the Enlightenment, Congress argued that virtuous citizens, using their reason, could achieve victory by acting in accordance with the moral framework of the universe.
The final sentence reiterates this belief in God as a cosmic judge. Congress promises to “firmly rely on the protection of Divine Providence,” knowing that if they are proven wrong, they will lose their “Lives,” “Fortunes,” and “Sacred Honor.”
Even the least religious of the Founders was afraid of God’s judgment. Jefferson refers to God in his Notes on the State of Virginia, once again describing God as the Creator of the earth, man, and animals. Man is unique because he is the only animal that can create like the Creator. This sense of humanity as created in the image of God led Jefferson to fear God’s “wrath” against a country that still allowed people to enslave each other, because freedom is a “gift from God.” Jefferson, a man deeply troubled by his own culpability in perpetuating slavery, wrote: “I am indeed anxious for my country when I think that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever.” The same ideally ordered and just man, the one who he believes will protect America during the Revolution, can also punish America if it does not end slavery.
So why is it important today to study the Founders’ trust in God in the Declaration? Because this is the most important issue that underlies every political issue. Why are people equal? Because God created them that way. Why do all people have dignity? Because they are created in the image of God. Why can’t the government solve every problem? Because they are not God. Why can our judges wage war or kill criminals? Because God gave the authority to the civil government to punish evil and promote good. Why is the government’s power in society limited and why should it protect human freedom? Because God has distributed power to other human institutions (for example, the family and the church), and each person has a unique soul.
For the authors of the Declaration, civic theism went beyond a narrow set of religious practices or beliefs. The individual founders had differences in their doctrines, but they unanimously advocated a theistic republic. It was built on the premise that a good God not only created the world, but also demanded justice, freedom, and equality from those who govern it. Eliminate its foundation, and such a republic will be doomed to disintegration and collapse.
Source: RealClear Religion
Author of the article: Steele Brand, Professor of History at Cairn University.
Translation: Lev Zadorozhny