Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Moral Authority

 It has been the tradition in the United States of America, ingrained in our founding documents, that God is the moral authority. That is to say, the Christian God, Jesus Christ being his son. The Bible delineates that authority. Using that Bible as a guide it was determined that the separation of church and state was of paramount importance. The reason for that was obvious to the people at that time. To put it simply, wasn't gonna be the Catholics making the law, or the protestants either. No, religious doctrine was to remain separate from legislation. The belief being that each representative elected would consult with their personal " moral authority " in the execution of their duties. It was known that that others didn't practice their faith in the same manner as others, that was accepted as normal, but the absence of any moral authority wasn't considered. The closest thought they had regarding that was being a Deist. A Deist believes in only one God as being the creator. They reject the notion of revelation of a divine moral authority but rather believe man can learn that by observation of the natural world and common sense. The important thing to remember is that they believe in moral authority. From whence the person gets that moral authority is not so important, the possession of such is! That being said, I believe any sane person that has read and studied the history of the United States would have to agree we, as a nation, have derived our moral authority from the Christian God. I'd say that was the main reason " In God we Trust " is the official motto of the United States. That happened in July of 1956 when President Eisenhower signed that legislation. We didn't have an official motto before that. I highly doubt that legislation would pass through Congress today. A lot has changed in 63 years regarding moral authority. In fact, as far as government goes, it would seem to me that moral authority has been abandoned altogether.
 We often hear about the separation of church and state and the first amendment. You know those words don't appear in the Constitution. That's correct no where is that written in that fashion. Thomas Jefferson is often credited with coining that phrase. What it does say is, " congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. " Why is that? If you read your history you would discover that the Baptists first used the separation of church and state in their arguments in 1786. At that time Episcopalian was the official religion of Virginia. That's correct, in 1786 each state had an official religion. Remember it wasn't until 1791 that we had the Bill of Rights. Prior to that no such separation existed in law and as a result " religions " what we would call denominations of the Christian faith and their related practices and rituals, did discriminate against those not following the official state religion. The United States of America never had an official religion. The reason? Religion then was a denomination, not simply a belief in a higher power. It was universally accepted that the majority of people believed in God. It was also believed that the persons " moral authority " was that God.
 As I watch, listen and read about the political machinations going on in Congress today I am left wondering. Where did that moral authority our country was founded upon go? It appears it has either been perverted or abandoned entirely. The moral authority I am bound too requires everyone to follow the same authority. My God doesn't say to just treat everyone equally, my God requires those people to reciprocate in kind. And that is a distinction that is being lost altogether and indeed being used by others as a tool against those of us that do believe. They believe, they can do whatever they like with impunity, and as a Christian I should embrace that. If I don't, I'm not a " real " Christian at all. That is at the root of all this. Moral authority is being abandoned in favor of political power and money. It was that "moral authority " that our founding fathers believed would create and sustain our Constitutional Republic through the ages. They believed in the people and the inherent goodness in people. Honor, trust, integrity and piety were the attributes they admired in people. They did believe those people would rule, with divine guidance, over this nation. And now, I, for one, am disgusted with the whole mess in Washington.            

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