Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Supreme Court Affirms U.S. as Christian Nation (1931)

This blog has several posts about whether our nation is rooted as a Christian Nation. The point is not that we have or ever had a theocracy, but that our founders were either Christian or were strong supporters of Christian beliefs as a benefit to society and to government. In 1931, The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Christian foundations of our nation. The case was U.S. v. MACINTOSH, 283 U.S. 605 (1931), 283 U.S. 605. The court referred to the earlier 1995 Holy Trinity case as precedent. Some have discounted Trinity, saying that the reference to Christian nation was not a valid precedent. However, the Court in 1931 apparently thought that is was entirely valid:

"We are a Christian people (Holy Trinity Church v. United States. 143 U.S. 457, 470 , 471 S., 12 S. Ct. 511), according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God. But, also, we are a nation with the duty to survive; a nation whose Constitution contemplates war as well as peace; whose government must go forward upon the assumption, and safely can proceed upon no other, that unqualified allegiance to the nation and submission and obedience to the laws of the land, as well those made for war as those made for peace, are not inconsistent with the will of God."

Read the case at FindLaw:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=283&invol=605

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