Some American Constitutions are Christian Documents

In my last post, I made the case that the United States Constitution is clearly not a Christian document.  The framers of the government and the document in 1787-1789 purposefully crafted this sort of document, complete with the disestablishment of all churches and the promise of religious freedom.

But that was for the nation, and for the national Congress.  The story of the state constitutions is a very different story.  From the 1770s through the 1790s, leaders in every state (not every leader) came together to craft state constitutions which in some way, aimed at creating specifically Christian societies.  Here are some of the ways they did this:

Established Churches
The state constitutions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire all established a particular religious denomination as the official religion of the state.  Essentially (although the laws could get very convoluted), this meant that if you were a resident of the state, part of your taxes went toward supporting this denomination.  The State of Massachusetts was the last state to finally disestablish the state-supported church.  It did this in 1833, more than forty years after the ratification of the Constitution and the First Amendment.

Limited Religious Freedom and Toleration
Every state which did not officially establish a Christian denomination still limited freedom and toleration in some way.  Pennsylvania required that all citizens believe in God.  North Carolina's "Declaration of Rights" promised freedom of religion, so long as it was "to worship Almighty God" (This article pointed out an attempt a few weeks ago in North Carolina to return to something like this, and the Washington Post's poor coverage of it).  The 1777 Constitution of South Carolina stated that all people would be "freely tolerated," as long as they "acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshiped."

Religious Tests for Public Office
While the U.S. Constitution specifically barred religious tests, many states specifically required them.  Almost every state required that elected officials profess a belief in the God of Christianity.  Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Vermont required officials to believe in the divine inspiration of the Old and New Testaments.  North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey, and New Hampshire required members of the state legislature, judges, and governors to be Protestants.  Ironically, most of these constitutions contained the promise that "no further religious test" would ever be required of anyone - except, of course, for the religious test they just had to take.

Religious Tests for Voting
Some states even required religious tests for citizens who wanted to vote.  Pennsylvania only granted civil rights like voting to those who acknowledged "the being of a God."  South Carolina required a belief in God and in "the future states of rewards and punishments."  And don't forget, in most every place, voting was already restricted to property-owning white males.

So What?
All of this information puts the national, constitutional calls for the free exercise of religion and disestablishment of churches in the 1780s in a fascinating context.  Some American leaders in the 1780s were stalwart on the issues of disestablishment and the separation of church and state in the national Constitution because they were such strong proponents of religious freedom.

But many leaders were bent on clarifying the language of the Constitution on religion not because they wanted a nation or government without church influence, but because they wanted the national government to be limited in its religious power.  With that settled, they could return to their states, and state constitutions, in order to exert precisely that power.

So Christians, as you have conversations about the issues surrounding the role of religion in our constitutions, laws, or history, keep in mind that these are historically complex issues.  You should seek answers, and you should take stands.  But you should base it on the varied history of the role religion in American life and laws, not based on a God-and-country caricature of it.


Helpful Links
Constitutions
You can find the early constitutions of all the states, territories, and nation in the multivolume book "The Federal and State Constitutions," freely available on Google Books.  Click here for a link to one of these volumes.

Books and Articles
David Sehat, The Myth of American Religious Freedom
John Fea, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?
Thomas Kidd, God Of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution
Benjamin Park, "North Carolina's 'Official Religion': The Convoluted History of American States and Established Religions

What Were the Pilgrims' Religious Motives for Coming to America?

Usually, Pilgrim posts don't start popping up until Thanksgiving! However, a friend of mine texted me some questions about Pilgrims that came up earlier today as part of a Fourth of July breakfast conversation, and I thought that the answers might be of general interest to all of our readers.  And July 4th seems as good a day for a Pilgrim's post as Thanksgiving!

DID THE PILGRIMS COME TO AMERICA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?

Short answer: 
Not like you think.

Long answer:
When we think of religious freedom, especially in our pluralistic culture, we usually mean the right of all individuals to practice their religious beliefs as they see fit.  This was most certainly NOT a principle to which the Pilgrims were committed.

The Pilgrims believed they were rightly practicing Christianity and that the established state churches in Europe were not.  However, the state churches refused to allow the Pilgrims to practice their faith outside their institutions, so the Pilgrims fled in response to the ensuing persecution.

So they certainly fled to America for religious freedom for themselves.  However, they could be quite harsh in dealing with religious dissidents within their own communities.  What the Pilgrims valued was establishing right-practicing Christian communities ... NOT religious communities where individuals were free to practice their faith according to their own conscience.


DID THE PILGRIMS COME TO AMERICA TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL?

Short answer: Ummm, sort of?

Long answer:
The Pilgrims came to America to consciously create a "city on a hill." However, I would say that the "light" from this "city" was intended to shine more brightly on Europe than the Americas. They hoped that by establishing communities that rightly practiced Christianity they could bring about conviction and repentance in Europe through their example.

That said, the Pilgrims were interested in evangelizing the Native American population, at least in an official sense. In fact the original seal of the Massachusetts colony had a picture of a Native American saying, "Come over and help us." (This is a reference to a story in the book of Acts in the Bible where Paul receives a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come share the gospel with them.) However, actual evangelistic efforts by Pilgrims among Native Americans were quite limited.

I would say that the Pilgrims saw themselves as establishing right-practicing Christian communities with more of an eye toward church reformation in the Old World than evangelism in the New World, though the latter was certainly not completely absent from their plans.