Because I Said So" And Christian Nationalism

 

Many of us remember having heard the, “Because I said so,” explanation used to tell us something was a fact and that no further discussion was necessary or wise.  It generally came from a parent and was used to demand obedience.  You knew not to question the directive.  When we became adults, we could decide what was to be accepted as factual.

As America heads toward a new period influenced by theocracy, it is time to question those who would mandate that their religious beliefs are the law of the land. Those of this opinion think they should not be questioned because "it is written."  Many on the more radical fringes of Christianity believe their faith is that of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the authors of the US Constitution.  All of that is true, but only if you ignore the facts.

While it is true that many of our founders participated in Christian functions, several tempered their beliefs with another philosophical form of religious interpretation, Deism.  In the 17th and 18th centuries, Deism was the belief that accepted a supernatural creator but did not believe in a supernatural deity who interacted with humans.  They believed in the possibility that God created the universe based on rational thought but that none of this relied on or revealed any religion or religious authority.  In Deism, God’s existence is revealed through nature and not by mystical revelations to man.

During our country’s foundation, many theologians rejected religious texts and accepted only what could be revealed through nature.  The Deism accepted by many of our founding fathers therefore rejected orthodox Christianity.  The fact that many were baptized and attended church services proves only that their parents wanted them baptized and takes into account that the church also functioned as a center of social life in colonial America.

If you read the US Constitution, there is not a single reference to Christianity or any other religion for that matter.  The Declaration of Independence specifies that our rights come from a “Creator” while not specifying who that is.  It would seem that our founders went to great lengths to avoid specificity in religious philosophy and expressed only a desire for religious freedom that would allow various belief systems.  Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech coincided with an acceptance of personal freedoms and not one of conscription to a Christian philosophy.

Our founders believed that we have free will and a right to use rational thought to decide where we stand on other matters.  These beliefs should not be mandated by any governing body.  We should never again accept, “Because I said so,” as a foundation for acceptance of someone else’s ideas or mandates.  Claims of some a priori theoretical deduction that excludes empirical observation should be reserved for parental guidance not laws for adults.