01 the Christian Belief of James Madison

Published on July 2016 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 40 | Comments: 0 | Views: 251
of 5
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

The Christian Belief of James Madison The claim is often made that the founding fathers of America were deists who believed that God created the world and then stepped back to allow events on earth to run their own course. It is hypothesized that these men were “men of the enlightenment” who rejected the idea that God communicates directly with men through visions, supernatural manifestations or sacred books. It is proclaimed that these men believed in a god who might as well not even exist and that the government of our nation should operate under that assumption. There is very little documentary evidence which secular revisionists can use to support these claims, but there are a few random quotes floating around the internet that have been construed in that light. Explanations for most of those quotes are fairly easy to obtain, but I would like to address a statement by James Madison that seems to have eluded the consideration of other Christian historians. Here is the quote that I would like for us to consider:
I must admit moreover that it may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions & doubts on unessential points. The tendency to a usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded ag'st. by an entire abstinance of the Gov't. from interference in any way whatever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, & protecting each sect ag'st. trespasses on its legal rights by others.

Taken at face value with no consideration of context, it does seem to support the claim that Mr. Madison opposed any intermingling of government and religion. However, when we consider this statement within its historical context, it takes on an entirely different meaning altogether. This particular quote is taken from the conclusion of a letter that Mr. Madison wrote to Rev. Jasper Adams in response to a request for his opinion on Mr. Adams' sermon "The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States." It is a sermon that any student of American history would do well to read, and you can find it online at this link. To aid in our understanding of Madison's statement, let me present a somewhat lengthy but very necessary collection of excerpts from that sermon.
The misfortune was that there soon came to be a legal preference of one form of Christianity over all others. Mankind are not easily inclined to change any institution which has taken deep root in the structure of society, and the principle of the union of one form of Christianity with the imperial authority under the Roman Emperors, had acquired too many titles to veneration to be relinquished, when the new kingdoms were founded which rose upon the ruins of the Roman

Empire. This principle has always pervaded and still pervades the structure of European society, and the necessity of retaining it is still deeply seated in the convictions of the inhabitants of the Eastern continent... The argument against the use of an institution arising from its abuse, is not valid, unless, when, after sufficient experience, there is the best reason to conclude, that we cannot enjoy the use without the accompanying evils flowing from the abuse of it. Such perhaps is the case in regard to the union between any particular form of Christianity and civil government. It is an historical truth established by the experience of many centuries, that whenever Christianity has in this way been incorporated with the civil power, the lustre of her brightness has been dimmed by the alliance... No nation on earth, perhaps, ever had opportunities so favorable to introduce changes in thein institutions as the American people; and by the time of the Revolution, a conviction of the impolicy of a further union of Church and State according to the ancient mode, had so far prevailed, that nearly all the States in framing their new constitutions of government, either silently or by direct enactment, discontinued the ancient connexion. A question of great interest here comes up for discussion. In thus discontinuing the connexion between Church and Commonwealth;--did the people of these States intend to renounce all connexion with the Christian religion! Or did they only intend to disclaim all preference of one sect of Christians over another, as far as civil government was concerned; while they still retained the Christian religion as the foundation of all their social, civil and political institutions? ... Did the people of the United States, when in adopting the Federal Constitution they declared, that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," expect to be understood as abolishing the national religion, which had been professed, respected and cherished from the first settlement of the country, and which it was the great object of our fathers in settling this then wilderness to enjoy according to the dictates of their own consciences?... I. The originators and early promoters of the discovery and settlement of this continent, had the propagation of Christianity before their eyes, as one of the principal objects of their undertaking ... The Christian religion was intended by them to be the corner stone of the social and political structures which they were founding. II. We shall be further instructed in the religious character of our origin as a nation, if we advert for a moment to the rise and progress of our colonial growth ... They were designed to be Christian communities. Christianity was wrought into the minutest ramifications of their social, civil and political institutions. III. To examine with a good prospect of success, the nature and extent of the changes in regard to Religion, which have been introduced by the people of the United States in forming their State Constitutions, and also in the adoption of the Constitution of the United States ... THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES HAVE RETAINED THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AS THE FOUNDATION OF IncreasingLearning.com Page 2

THEIR CIVIL, LEGAL AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS; WHILE THEY HAVE REFUSED TO CONTINUE A LEGAL PREFERENCE TO ANY ONE OF ITS FORMS OVER THE OTHER. (emphasis in original) The Constitution of the United States contains a grant of specific powers, of the general nature of a trust. As might be expected from its nature, it contains but slight references of a religious kind. In one of these, the people of the United States profess themselves to be a Christian nation. In another, they express their expectation, that the President of the United States will maintain the customary observance of Sunday; and by parity of reasoning, that such observance will be respected by all who may be employed in subordinate stations in the service of the United States. The first amendment declares, that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" This leaves the entire subject in the same situation in which it found it; and such was precisely the most suitable course. The people of the United States having, in this most solemn of all their enactments, professed themselves to be a Christian nation; and having expressed their confidence, that all employed in their service will practice the duties of the Christian faith;--and having, moreover, granted to all others the free exercise of their religion, have emphatically declared, that Congress shall make no change in the religion of the country. This was too delicate and too important a subject to be entrusted to their guardianship. It is the duty of Congress, then, to permit the Christian religion to remain in the same state in which it was, at the time when the Constitution was adopted. They have no commission to destroy or injure the religion of the country. Their laws ought to be consistent with its principles and usages. They may not rightfully enact any measure or sanction any practice calculated to diminish its moral influence, or to impair the respect in which it is held among the people.

As we can see, Mr. Adams came to the same conclusion on this topic that Mr. Story arrived at in his Commentaries on the Constitution. In particular, he concluded that America is a Christian nation and that the First Amendment prevents Congress from establishing a particular sect of Christianity as a national church but does not prohibit them from conforming to or encouraging the spread of Christianity in general. It is in the context of this sermon that we must consider Mr. Madison's letter. The full text of that letter can be found in the ninth volume of The Writings of James Madison compiled by Gaillard Hunt in 1910 which can be accessed online here. In the letter, Mr. Madison addresses a minor point that he believed to have been overlooked in Mr. Adams sermon:
[T]he simple question to be decided is whether a support of the best & purest religion, the Xn religion itself ought not so far at least as pecuniary means are involved, to be provided for by the Gov't. rather than be left to the voluntary provisions of those who profess it.

IncreasingLearning.com

Page 3

The body of Mr. Madison's letter consists of an analysis of the history of this practice, and he arrived at the following conclusion:
Under another aspect of the subject there may be less danger that Religion, if left to itself, will suffer from a failure of the pecuniary support applicable to it than that an omission of the public authorities to limit the duration of their Charters to Religious Corporations, and the amount of property acquirable by them may lead to an injurious accumulation of wealth from the lavish donations and bequests prompted by a pious zeal or by an atoning remorse.

In other words, history has proven that religious organizations which are not paid for by the government receive more income from charitable donations than they would have received from the government. It was only after presenting this conclusion, that Mr. Madison penned the paragraph containing the quote in question. Here is that paragraph in its entirety:
Whilst I thus frankly express my view of the subject presented in your sermon, I must do you the justice to observe that you very ably maintained yours. I must admit moreover that it may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions & doubts on unessential points. The tendency to a usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded ag'st. by an entire abstinance of the Gov't. from interference in any way whatever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, & protecting each sect ag'st. trespasses on its legal rights by others.

So, does this letter by James Madison support the claim that he was not really a Christian but rather a deist? Not in the least. In fact, it proves the exact opposite since in the first section of the letter, Mr. Madison stated expressly that Christianity is the best and purest religion, and in the same paragraph as the quoted portion, he affirms that Mr. Adams "ably maintained" his position that America is a Christian nation. What, then, is the meaning of the quote that we are considering? In light of the context in which the quote is found, it would appear that Mr. Madison was expressing the following idea. He seems here to be stating that the task of identifying the separation of the rights of religion and government can be difficult when discussing issues of minor importance and that it is therefore best for the government to refrain from interaction on those particular issues altogether. He was not saying that the government should be completely separated from religion on all issues but rather that the government should stay out of the discussion of the minor issues of disagreement between the various branches of Christianity. Thus, we can conclude that Mr. Madison's letter to Jasper Adams is fully consistent with the view that James Madison was not a deist. On the contrary, he thought the Christian religion to be the best and purest religion, and he presented no contention against the claim that America is a Christian nation.
IncreasingLearning.com Page 4

That Mr. Madison claimed to be a Christian is further evident from two of the letters that he wrote to William Bradford. The first letter is dated November 9, 1772, and contains this statement:
A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.

The second letter is dated September 25, 1773, and Mr. Madison stated therein that:
I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; & I wish you may give in your evidence in this way.

In these two letters, Mr. Madison clearly expresses his belief in a Heaven that men must strive to enter as well as his desire for politicians to be fervent advocates of Christianity. These cannot possibly be the words of a deist who was opposed to any and all intermingling of government and religion. Such advice could only have come from a man who genuinely thought the religion of Christ to be superior to all others, and our current politicians would do well to heed his advice.

IncreasingLearning.com

Page 5

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close