Before Andy Griffith walked the streets of Mayberry as its loveable country sheriff, father to Opie, nephew to Aunt Bea, boss of Barnie, customer of Floyd, and landlord for Otis, he was a standup comedian. His comedy album, Just For Laughs, had a cut titled, What It Was, Was Football. In that comedy routine, he played a country boy who traveled to a nearby college town to help with a religious tent service. While trying to “get us a bite to eat a-fore we set up the tent,” he is caught up in a crowd and swept into a football stadium. As he didn’t know anything about the sport his description is from a unique perspective.
“…And what I seen was this whole raft of people a-sittin’ on these two banks and a-lookin at one another across this pretty little green cow pasture. Somebody had took and drawed white lines all over it, and drove posts in it, and I don’t know what all, and I looked down there and I seen five or six convicts a-runnin’ up and down a-blowin’ whistles.” “…It was that both bunches of them men wanted this funny-lookin’ pumpkin to play with.” He later goes on to conclude that he still didn’t know what he saw that day but he had studied on it. He concluded, “…it’s some kindly of a contest where they see which bunchful of them men can take that pumpkin and run from one end of that cow pasture to the other without getting’ knocked down or steppin’ in somethin’.”
This routine gets its humor by pointing out that looking at something with fresh eyes provides a perspective that is unique to the observer. That observation may be somewhat descriptive but not necessarily accurate. This brings us to the Bible. According to some estimates there are over 3,030 versions in over 2,011 languages. Since 1526, Tyndale’s English translation alone has created around 900 different versions. According to Global University’s guide, there are at least eight popular versions in common usage today.
The Bible has both the Old and New Testaments based on 66 books written by various authors over hundreds of years. These books were translated from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. They were hand-copied by scribes which resulted in errors and discrepancies as well as a wide variety of interpretations. The first portion covering the life of Jesus wasn’t written until decades after his death by Paul the Apostle who admits he never met Jesus. Much of the New Testament was originally written 70 to 110 years after his death.
All of this is to say that the Christian Bible was written by a wide variety of people with varying points of view over a long period and none of it was from contemporaneous observation. Like the football analogy above the Bible should not be taken “as gospel.” There are admittedly errors, and bias, and to use the current vernacular, some of it is “fake news.” None of this is to deny the importance of the Bible or the solace it may provide to the millions of Christians who follow its teachings, but to attribute this great book with some divine certainty would be disingenuous.
With the background described above, the thought that current judges like Chief Justice Tom Parker of the Alabama Supreme Court are quoting Bible scripture in their rulings as justification that supersedes existing law is ludicrous. The Bible may guide his conscience, but it should not be cited as a legal foundation or precedent. In his concurring opinion, Parker wrote, “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself.”
Aside from the fact that current law allows all Americans to practice any religion they want and not just a Christian religion and allows them the privilege of being atheist or agnostic if they choose, separation of church and state is legally well established. In current polls, the vast majority (73%) of Americans agree that religion should be kept separate from government policies.
We see this as a recurring theme where government officials advocate for Christian nationalism that seeks priority for Christianity over all other religions and beliefs. US House Speaker Mike Johnson went so far as to proclaim that our church-state separation was a “misnomer.” His position mimics many others in power who are attempting to promote their own interpretation of our Constitution as a Christian Constitution.
Among those who drafted our Constitution and Declaration of Independence-Washington, Franklin, Madison, and Monroe, were deists. While they all held to some religious beliefs, they were more often theistic rationalists who believed in both religion and rationalism. In this philosophy, they held that rationalism is the predominant element. Deists believe in a supreme being who created the universe that would operate solely by natural laws. They believed that after creating the universe, God would be absent from the world. The founders believed in reason over dogma.
They would respect religions like Christianity and believed that one person’s faith was not to be intruded upon by the government. Likewise, religious doctrine should not be enshrined in governance. Rationalism is a philosophy involving the study of nature, origin, and scope of knowledge, so that it may be used to apply reason as justification. The theistic rationalists would want to draw conclusions from existing information in a search for the truth. They would not be of the mind to search through a Bible to find the truth. They would use their knowledge and experience to form rational thoughts that could be applied to their decisions.
For our present-day leaders to proclaim that ours is a Christian nation founded on a Christian Constitution is a complete fabrication. There was no intent to create a Christian nation. Not a single Founding Father made any such claim in our founding documents or in any piece of private correspondence. These current politicians, judges, and government leaders who make any claim of Christion Nationalism based on our historical origins are wholly inaccurate and self-serving.
Our current national idolatry and proclaimed self-righteousness based on Scripture is merely an attempt to use the Bible as a tool to support a political agenda. The Bible as previously mentioned is not as accurate or infallible as some might claim, and it is vague and cryptic enough to provide reference for almost any cause or position. While our Founding Fathers were generally religious men who wanted to protect religion, they never identified Christianity as a national choice. Ours was not to be a Christian Nation but merely a nation where religion might be allowed to be of some influence.
Just as football is played by the most recent NFL Rulebook, our laws are defined by our Constitution and any enacted under that authority. The NFL rulebook is changed regularly and our Constitution may be amended as needed. Judges and referees interpret these rules and laws. It is not up to these judges and referees to change what was intended when the laws and rules were drafted. Using the Bible as some preeminent authority to make laws or provide interpretation would be like having Taylor Swift decide whether or not Travis Kelce had both feet in bounds for a go-ahead touchdown. In neither case would the decision be without bias.
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