It’s almost July the fourth. That’s the anniversary of the founding of our nation, for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Who of us could not agree more with the sentiments of the founding fathers? This was a great experiment which turned out right. There is not any form of government we know that is any better, in spite of its flaws; but do we really understand where it came from? The first two parts seem pretty clear. Everyone has the right to life, once that life is established. We should all have the opportunity to pursue our goals, and achieve fulfillment in life in keeping with our native talents. Ok so far; but what is this “pursuit of happiness?” Is this the same for everyone, or does it vary from one person to the other? Does what is happiness for one person become sorrow for another?
One thing is a cinch: this grand experiment did not start in religious purity, and did not start in trust. Our founding fathers did not trust any one form of government to remain pure. They felt that any government which held all the authority in one body was bound sooner or later to become corrupt. They were right. They formed a government in which there were three equal bodies of authority. Each has the right to attack the other if they find one or more has turned corrupt. How fortunate. There are multiple examples in our nation’s short history of the executive, legislative, or judicial branches following their own self-aggrandizing agenda rather than taking care of the job that has been entrusted to them. In each case that corruption has been eventually recognized and at least partially corrected. This government founded on distrust of our chosen leaders has so far shown how important it is to distrust any one form of government. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Secondly, our nation was certainly not founded on religious principles. Our most influential founding fathers were agnostics or atheists, including Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison and George Washington. They fervently argued that there had to be separation of church and state. They were acutely aware that religious belief and morals, although commonly considered one, are not one at all. In fact, they are more often than not, at odds with each other. Our founding fathers were deeply aware that every government which has been tied closely to a religion has become intensely corrupt, bigoted, inhumane and callous. The uniform result is inquisitions, crusade inspired massacres, witch hunts, beheadings, hangings, and economic depravity. How right they were. This is not a nation founded on religion; it is a nation dedicated to the separation of religion from state. We worry when the federal government gives money to religious organizations for any purpose. We find it frightening when religious leaders proudly proclaim this to be a “Christian nation.” This is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Confucianist, Muslim or Jewish nation. It is a nation founded on justified deep distrust in any religion. It was founded on moral principles. The moment we allow any religion to assume a part of our government, we are in trouble.
Thirdly, it certainly was not founded on purity. The most eloquent of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was a slave holder and philanderer. He had one particular slave, Sally Hemings, who was more to him than a black woman. He was her lover. He had sex with her as often as he could. She bore him 6 children. Don’t you think that somewhere in his head he was thinking of this black woman he loved and the children of his and hers when he wrote the phrase “the pursuit of happiness?” Don’t you think he wondered about her happiness and the happiness of his black children? I think he did. I think that we may owe some of the rock principles on which this nation was founded to a black woman, Sally Hemings.
Is what is happiness and/or good to one person, sorrow to another? Oh, yes. All Americans consider the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers a great act of evil. Conservative Muslims consider it an act of great religious triumph. Americans mourn the loss of 1500 soldiers killed in Iraq, but consider the attack on Iraq as just and good. Iraqis consider the 15,000 Iraqis killed in this attack on their sovereign nation as an act of American evil. None of us ever looks at anything quite the same.
Happy Birthday, America. The more we can keep religion and a personal god out of our government, the healthier it will be, and the happier we will be.
“During almost 14 centuries, the legal establishment of Christianity has been on trial. What have been its fruits? These are the fruits, more or less, in all places: pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, and in both clergy and laity, superstition, bigotry, and persecutions.”
– James Madison
“Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”
– James Madison