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The Myth Of The Secular State
"None of the above" was never an option
Constantine Option
August 28, 2024
Can you still smell the chalk?
Recall if you can when you were first taught about the founding of the United States, and were invariably told about its secular system of government. I remember it well. At the time, being that we were in third grade or so, it certainly didn’t strike us as strange that every government ever formed prior to ours was explicitly religious. Does it strike you as strange now? It should.
There is a lie in this claim we were taught, but it was not that there were no secular governments prior to 1776, that is certainly true. Consider how remarkable this is, that in the history of mankind of all the states he has formed on eath, not one failed to appeal to heaven. There is a good reason for this, which we will arrive at in a moment. First, the subtle misdirection in what we think we know about our own history.
Hey look! It says “gullible” on the ceiling!
The Constitution of the United States is entirely disinterested in the issue of religion, and this alone is used to justify the claim that America was founded as a secular state. On a federal level, this is true, but we must remember how relatively tiny the federal government was at the time of its founding. Much more power was left to the states, and if we’re to really understand our founding, we have to consider their constitutions also. Below are excerpts from three states constitutions in 1776, sourced from here (emphasis added), there are several others with similar language.
Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath, or affirmation, if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, to wit: “I, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”
I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.
That no other test or qualification ought to be required, on admission to any office of trust or profit, than such oath of support and fidelity to this State, and such oath of office, as shall be directed by this Convention or the Legislature of this State, and a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion.
Sons and daughters of America, behold your birthright. There are those who think you so foolish as to forsake it by failing to believe it ever existed. May it never be true of us.
The Secular Hallucination
We see now that no state was secular before 1776, and in truth none was founded secular then, either, but this is only half the picture. That there was never a secular state (until recently) only begs the question: Why were all states explicitly religious until the modern era?
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