Attention Evangelicals: God has No Role in Government

Biblicism defines Evangelicals as:

  • Having an over-rigid adherence to certain Bible texts or teachings at the expense of context and other biblical teachings.
  • Having a higher regard for the Bible as a higher authority.

If this is true, then Evangelicals must question why they support President Trump, who doesn’t follow many of the Ten Commandments nor any Christian teachings.

When was the last time anyone saw Trump keep the Sabbath? Praying to the Golf God on Sunday doesn’t count. Or thou shalt not commit adultery. Or thou shalt not bear false witness. Or when he bragged, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Of course, he didn’t carry this out but unfortunately, he understands his supporters. As long as he supports Evangelicals’ hot button issues, he can get away with just about anything.

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This article first appeared on Democrats of Greater Tucson.

Trump is a man whose lifestyle displays little regard for Christian or family values. His infidelity has been almost daily news items since before he took office. His bullying, narcissism, and a host of other sins and vices antithetical to Christianity have only continued to grow since he took office.

Important issues for Evangelicals are abortion, school prayer, conservative Supreme Court Justices, and taking away the Affordable Care Act. Not one of them will make their lives any better, or make their lives more secure, but losing one’s health care will certainly be the most drastic.

If a person is against abortion, then just don’t get one.

If school prayer is important, then enroll your children in a parochial school.

Having a conservative or liberal court will probably never affect the average American. If abortion foes are serious about this issue, they should then offer to adopt a child.

The US is Not a Christian Nation

Now let’s examine the Evangelical Christian’s biggest fallacy of all. “The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” John Adams wrote. Our founding fathers explicitly excluded any reference to God or Almighty or any euphemism for a higher power in the Constitution. Let’s be clear: We are not now, nor have we ever been, a Christian nation. Not one time is the word God mentioned in our founding documents. And as with the Constitution, at no time is God ever mentioned in the Federalist Papers. Our founding fathers could not be clearer in the point of God has no role in government.

Conservatives who so proudly tout their fealty to the Constitution want to trash our founding document by violating the First Amendment in hopes of establishing Christianity as the nation’s religion. This is precisely what the Constitution prohibits: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Our founding fathers explicitly excluded any reference to “God” or “the Almighty” or any euphemism for a higher power in the Constitution.

And in the Declaration of Independence, the most important assertion in this document is that “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Note that the power of government is derived not from any God but the people.  The 1777 Articles of Confederation give no authority to religion in civil matters, so too does the document deny “any authority of government in matters of faith.”

The only reference to religion, found in Article VI, is a negative one: “No religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States.” And of course, we have the First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Finally, Thomas Jefferson wrote in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association said: “that when the American people adopted the Establishment Clause, they built a wall of separation between the Church and State.”

 

3 thoughts on “Attention Evangelicals: God has No Role in Government”

  1. Thank you for the kind words. But I tried best to keep the bible out of the article. If you’re really interested about this issue read the book “Founding Myth” by Andrew Seidel. Terms such as Patriotism is no religion, and his explanation asking why God didn’t give the ten commandments to Adam and Eve, or Noah after the flood when just the people on the Ark were left? The book alone would make a good article by itself.
    Best Mr. Steele

  2. Thank you Mr. Steele for your well argued piece. What appalls me the most about Evangelical adherence to the Bible is them ignoring John 8:44: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” 200,000 dead. Probably 30,000 lies. How can they not see him as the Son of Satan?

    • Oh, don’t start quoting scripture, if right wing Christians start actually reading the Bible next thing you know they’ll be selling their homes to feed the poor and refusing to get out of bed in the morning because Trump matches up with the Book of Revelations description of the Anti-Christ and they’re just too scared.

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