Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) this week warned Americans to remember that God “wrote the Constitution” based on the Bible. During an appearance on John Hagee Ministries’ Global Evangelism Television (GETV) network on Wednesday, host Matt Hagee asked the Texas Republican where the country had gone wrong…. “I think we got off the track when we allowed our government to become a secular government,” DeLay explained. “When we stopped realizing that God created this nation, that he wrote the Constitution, that it’s based on biblical principles.”…. “And I really feel now, Pastor Matt, the Lord has heard us, I see the Holy Spirit moving. And I pray every day for an awakening in this country,” he said, adding that people should get involved…. “Join a group, a tea party or whatever.”
If memory serves, and my power of recall is pretty dependable when it comes to history, America was founded by men and women fleeing religious persecution. In leaving behind what they viewed as the tyrannical policies and intolerance of England’s King George, the Pilgrims were looking for a place where they could worship their God as they chose. That’s part of the reason that the Constitution was written to make American governance secular. The Founding Fathers wanted to create a stable government that would not be subject to religious pressures. Thomas Jefferson was an atheist who feared that religion in government would bring out the worst in both entities. If you consider places like Iran and Pakistan, Jefferson’s prescience is impressive even 200+ years later. You could also look at the American Taliban today as reason enough to keep religion out of government.
The bottom line is simple: America is NOT a Christian nation. It’s a secular nation in which 80% of Americans self-identify as Christian. That difference is neither small nor insignificant. It continues to be ignored by theocrats who’d love nothing more than to turn America into a dominionist theocracy, ruled by “Biblical law.” Left unsaid is that dominionists want to create a system of government in which they and people like them- White Christians- would wield the levers of power.
Despite what theocrats may believe, the secular nature of American government was confirmed early in our history by the Treaty of Tripoli (1796):
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Mohammedan] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Despite what Tom DeLay may think, God did not “write the Constitution.” any more than God wrote the Bible. The Constitution was written by men, some of whom were committed Christians, and some (like Jefferson) who feared what they viewed as the corrupting power of religious belief and the self-righteousness which too often follows closely behind. DeLay is a textbook example of what Jefferson feared, a religious zealot more concerned with political power than with living a Christ-like life. Of course, it’s really not about DeLay’s Christianity. It’s about a self-righteous, hyper-religious lust for power; his faith is merely camouflage intended to give his machinations the patina of righteousness.
I don’t believe in God, but if I did, I suspect She wouldn’t concern herself with which party holds a majority in Congress. Those concerns are held by those who believe their faith conveys upon them the right to exercise dominion over lesser mortals- i.e., those who believe differently. They’re why the Founding Fathers created a secular form of government where the exercise of religion would be free and unencumbered. They feared what might happen if religion became a political litmus test. To understand the wisdom of those who wrote the Constitution, all one need do is look at Texas, where candidates for Lieutenant Governor are furiously trying to “out-Jesus” on another.
Tom DeLay is a holier-than-thou dominionist theocrat who believes that non-Christians and those who don’t share his radical, mean-spirited Christianity have no business wielding political power. He’s not the only one who believes God wrote the Constitution, and that’s why maintaining our secular democracy is more important now than it’s ever been. America cannot and must not be governed from the pulpit.
In the meantime, it might be a good idea for DeLay to read the Constitution he so reveres. He might be surprised by what he finds.
