Secularism is the revolutionary idea held by some people that government and religion should occupy separate realms. While theocracy has been a common and popular form of government in many parts of the world, secularism envisions a separation of church and state. The founding of the United States in the eighteenth century is sometimes hailed as the establishment of the secular state.
While the philosophy of secularism has deep historical roots in European thought, secularism as a formal political belief developed during the nineteenth century.
In 1851, the Central Secular Society was formed in London. Among the principles espoused by this society: (1) science is the true guide of man; (2) morality is secular, not religious, in origin; (3) reason is the only authority (4) freedom of thought and speech are basic rights; (5) man should direct his efforts toward this life only.
In the United States, secularism has focused on the idea that there should be a wall between government and religion. Secularists have sought to end the special privileges enjoyed by the religious majority and an end to the legal barriers against religious minorities (largely non-Christian) and unbelievers (often called “infidels” in the nineteenth century). In his entry on secularism in The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, David Tribe writes:
“This meant the absence of prayers, acts of worship, and tendentious religious instruction in state schools, and the end of public funding for religious schools.”
David Tribe also writes:
“The secular principle defends the basic rights of freedom of conscience, worship, speech, publication, and assembly, and equality of opportunity. A country’s government is for all its people, regardless of the ideology of individuals.”
Belief in God
For many people the idea of a secular United States has simply meant that there is no official version of Protestant Christianity. The requirement to believe in the concept of the Christian God or Creator was viewed as compatible with the idea of a secular state. Thus, several state constitutions—Maryland (1867), North Carolina (1868), Arkansas (1874), and Texas (1876)—required that people holding public office believe in this God. In other words, atheists were barred from public office. In many states, people who refused to swear on oath to this God were also prohibited from testifying in court. Article 19 of the Arkansas state constitution declares:
“No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.”
In a number of cases during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, courts refused to allow atheists to testify, as they would not swear an oath to a god. One of these cases involved the freethought lecturer Charles B. Reynolds (1832-1896) who expounded a “Gospel of Humanity” based on the principles of “Do Justice, Love, Mercy, Promote the Happiness of Others and thus Promote Our Own.” While his meetings were fairly popular, he ran into conflict with Protestants and Catholics in Boonton, New Jersey, in 1886. He was arrested and charged with blasphemy.
The trial was held in Morristown. As was customary, witnesses were required to swear on oath “under God” on the Bible. Like other states, New Jersey allowed an exception for witnesses, such as Quakers, who had pious scruples against such an oath. In Reynolds’ trial, however, the prosecutor argued that atheists were not covered by this exception:
“The laws of New Jersey say you must believe something. New Jersey rules out infidels.”
Reynolds was, of course, convicted. In his book Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation, Leigh Eric Schmidt reports:
“It stands as a cautionary tale of just how coercive church-state entanglements have been, notwithstanding the American mythos of exceptional religious liberty.”
In 1959, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in a case involving the state constitution which required a belief in God for holding public office and for serving as a witness or juror. According to the Court’s ruling:
“It seems clear that under our Constitution disbelief in a Supreme Being, and the denial of any moral accountability for conduct, not only renders a person incompetent to hold public office, but to give testimony, or serve as a juror. The historical record makes it clear that religious toleration, in which this State has taken pride, was never thought to encompass the ungodly.”
In 1961, the United States Supreme Court, in Torcaso v. Watkins, ruled that atheism as a civic disqualification was unconstitutional.
Ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling, in 1991 South Carolina denied Herb Silverman certification as a notary public because he was an atheist.
In the twenty-first century, there are still many who feel that the ability to take an oath on the Christian Bible is a requirement for elective office. In commenting on a Muslim member of Congress using the Qur’an in taking the oath of office, one conservative wrote:
“Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress.”
Enshrining God
When there have been major crises in American society—wars, droughts, hurricanes, crime, mass shootings, epidemics, and so on—there have always been those who see the causes of disaster as the American failure to honor their god in the proper fashion. The solution, therefore, is to return their god to his proper place in the institutions of American government.
Lest we think the call for enshrining god in the United States is a fairly recent trend, let’s look back to the middle of the nineteenth century and a conflict known as the Civil War. In her book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, Susan Jacoby reports:
“The real cause of America’s fratricidal conflict, many religious leaders asserted, was the failure of the founders to enshrine God in the Constitution.”
Susan Jacoby goes on to report:
“The only way to stop the destruction was to amend the Constitution’s preamble and finally acknowledge not only God but Jesus Christ as the source of all governmental power.”
To return their god to his proper place in American government, the National Reform Association was founded in 1863. They called themselves a nondenominational group, but all members were Protestant. They debated how to word a new preamble so that it wouldn’t offend any Protestant churches. Susan Jacoby writes:
“They were not worried about offending Jews, Catholics, or dissident Protestant sects like Hicksite Quakers, who were appalled by the idea of tampering with the Constitution in order to blur the distinction between church and state.”
They finally agreed on the new wording for the preamble to the Constitution:
“Recognizing Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil governments, and acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ as the Governor among the nations, His revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government…”
Fortunately, it failed to become law. In the twenty-first century, however, there are still many Fundamentalist Christians who favor this alternative wording.
The United States as a Christian Nation
Is the United States a Christian nation? Many people, including many of today’s political and religious leaders, feel that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. Other the other hand, secularists disagree.
There is, however, a rather interesting feature of American law that is based on the premise that the United States is a Christian nation: the Doctrine of Discovery. The Doctrine of Discovery is not well-known to people who are not: (a) historians, (b) legal scholars, or (c) American Indians. In brief, this is an ancient European Christian legal concept which says that Christian nations have a right, if not an obligation, to rule over all non-Christian nations. Thus, the European nations, and the United States after 1787, felt that they had a legal right to govern American Indians. The Doctrine of Discovery gave Christian nations, including the United States, the right to take land away from indigenous peoples paying for it with the gift of Christianity.
The Doctrine of Discovery entered into American jurisprudence in 1823 when the Supreme Court ruled on Johnson and Graham’s Lessee versus McIntosh. The Court found that the Doctrine of Discovery gave sovereignty of Indian lands to England and then to the United States. Indian nations, under this Doctrine, have a right of occupancy to the land. Christian nations, such as England and the United States, have superior rights over the inferior culture and inferior religion of the Indians. According to the Court, Indians have been compensated for their lands by having the gift of Christianity bestowed upon them.
The Supreme Court’s use of the Doctrine of Discovery in Johnson and Graham’s Lessee versus McIntosh laid the foundation for Indian law that still continues. The decision reinforced the superiority of Christianity as a governing philosophy and paid little attention to either Indian history or the possibility of Indian religions.
In 1954, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in the Tee-Hit-Ton case. The government argued that under international law, Christian nations can acquire lands occupied by heathens and infidels. It was an argument made by the United States government on the basis of the Christian religion. In their argument, the United States government not only cited the nineteenth century case of Johnson v McIntosh, but also the Papal bulls of the fifteenth century and the Old Testament from the Bible.
In 1955, the Supreme Court announced its decision which denied the Tee-Hit-Ton any compensation for the taking of the timber. According to the Court:
“The Christian nations of Europe acquired jurisdiction over newly discovered lands by virtue of grants from the Popes, who claimed the power to grant Christian monarchs the right to acquire territory in the possession of heathens and infidels.”
The view of the United States as a Christian nation is also seen in the opposition to non-Christian religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, Wicca, and others. For example, in 1992 a mosque was proposed to be constructed in Edmund, Oklahoma. Christians opposed the construction of the mosque and one woman testified:
“The constitution says One nation under God and that’s a Christian God. These people have absolutely no right to be here.”
At the present time, a majority of Republicans in the United States support establishing Christianity as the national religion. There is also strong support in many areas for establishing Christianity as a state religion and many people feel that the Constitution allows this. On the other hand, the number of people who indicate “none” when asked about religion is growing and for many of these people living in a theocracy or a theocratic-centered nation would not be tolerable.
Religion 101
Religion 101 is a series exploring religious topics in which the concept of religion is not defined by the Abrahamic religions, and includes non-Western religions. Some recent essays from this series include:
Religion 101: Confucianism
Religion 101: Naturalism
Religion 101: The Evolution of Morality
Religion 101: Divination in Ancient Civilizations
Religion 101: Demons
Religion 101: Shamanistic Ceremonies
Religion 101: Atheism
Religion 101: Zoroaster's Vision
