2008
Facts About the Second Most Controversial Topic in America - The First Is Abortion
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Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
Many who read the title to this article might think that the second most controversial topic in America today is whether the United States should continue its war in Iraq. Those who thought that would be, in fact, dead wrong.
This article is really about facts, not about our involvement in trying to make Iraq and its people adopt a democratic society, but to revisit the place God occupies in our public institutions and in our society.
Oliver "Buzz" Thomas explored this topic recently in USA Today (10-15-07), America's largest daily circulation newspaper. Thomas is a minister, lawyer and author of 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job).
First off, we have the oldest written constitution in the world, however, the United States Constitution was not the first constitution written in this country, that distinction belongs to the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, written in 1639.
The U. S. Constitution was written in 1787, was ratified and went into effect in March 1789, exactly 150 years after Connecticut's constitution.
Very few of our citizens could tell you when our Constitution came into being, and even fewer could tell you much about God's place in our U. S. Constitution.
Thomas says many Americans do not know what our Constitution says about our first freedom: religious freedom.
Ask most Americans what the Constitution says about God, and their answer may surprise you.
"One nation under God?" No, that is in our Pledge of Allegiance.
"Endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights?" No, that is in our Declaration of Independence.
A recent survey by the First Amendment Center asserted that 55% of Americans believe the our Constitution establishes us as a "Christian nation" and while nearly all Americans say freedom of religion is important, only 56% of the survey respondents think it should apply to all religious groups.
The plain truth is that the U. S. Constitution says nothing about God. There is not a single reference to "God" in our Constitution.
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