“May it [the Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be (to

4.2.12 WC: 191694 “May it [the Declaration of Independence] be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to other later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessing and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbound exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimacy, by the grace of God. Jefferson, who himself believed in the God of Deism—that is a non-Biblical, not Judeo Christian diety—saw the Declaration as freeing Americans (and hopefully the rest of the world) from the stifling influence of the church (“monkish ignorance and superstition”) and encouraging “the free right to the unbound exercise of reason and freedom of opinion.” Even earlier, Jefferson, while President, had written to the Danbury Baptist Association, describing that the “act of the whole American people which declared their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, [as] thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” Even earlier, while Adams was president and Jefferson Secretary of State, they jointly signed a treaty, ratified by the Senate, with the Barbary regime in Tripoli, that stated unequivocally that “the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” (emphasis added). It is difficult, therefore, for any reasonable person, especially anyone who gives weight to the original understanding, to dispute Jefferson’s conclusion that the First Amendment built a wall of separation between church and state and that our state is not based on the Christian religion. Despite this wall of separation guaranteed by our Constitution and despite the unambiguous statement in the early American treaty, approved by two of our most influential founding fathers, there are those who continue to insist that the United States is a Christian nation, as a matter of law. I became personally involved in this divisive controversy in 1988, when the Republican Party of Arizona proposed the enactment of a resolution declaring the United States to be “a Christian nation...based on the absolutes of the Bible.” The leader of the group (characterized by the late Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater as a “bunch of kooks”) wrote to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court asking her to support their efforts. “Republicans are making some interesting advances in this heavily controlled Democratic area. Some of us are proposing a resolution which acknowledges that the Supreme Court ruled in 1892 that this is a Christian nation. It would be beneficial and interesting to have a letter from you.” 307 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017394