Friedman, Howard M. wrote:
It seems to me that the absence of a specific reference to God in the Constitution has more to do with the nature of the document than the nature of the founding generation. In the Declaration of Independence, a product of the same founding generation, reference to God was central. The Articles of Confederation did not mention God, and we do not think there is anything strange about that. I would suggest that the Constitution was seen by its drafters as a document having to do with the distribution of political power, like the Articles of Confederation. It is only after the adoption of the Bill of Rights-- and really after the adoption of the 14th Amendment-- that we began to look at the Constitution as the basic charter of personal rights that reflects the moral values of our nation.
********************************** Howard M. Friedman Professor of Law Director, Cybersecurities Law Institute University of Toledo Toledo, OH 43606-3390 Phone: (419) 530-2911, FAX (419) 530-4732 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *************************************
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 5:50 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Subject: Re: God in the Constitution
I find this persuasive, but not completely so. There's a
wide gap, in my estimation, between the "recognition of the havoc
that governmental connections to religion might produce" and
avoiding any mention of the community's connection to (and
dependence upon) divine authority in any way at all. Indeed, is it
unimaginable that suitable language could not been formulated to
express both the commitment to religious liberty (in the original
document) and "the recognition of the havoc that governmental
connections to religion might produce"?
That said, Alan's post raises a potentially more
interesting question, namely, just how
do we assess the level of religiosity of the founding generation. There are actually two problems here: (1) How do we assess the level
of religiosity of any community at any time at all? Isn't
religiosity one of those systematically complex attitudes, motives,
and reasons that while not precluding assessment in principle, is
notoriously difficult to assess? I recall hearing that in colonial
Virginia, Jews were required to attend Sunday Church services. (I
can't vouch for the truth of this recollection.) If so, can that be
a factor in assessing the level of religiosity among the population.
I doubt it. And how often do people engage in the most apparent
forms of expressing religiosity, for example, attending religious
services, and in the modern era answering a pollster by saying one
is religious, even very religious, when one is not? Justified or not
our culture has embraced religious devotion as an indication that
one is a good person (although not of course to the same degree
throughout our history). Just how truly devotional Americans
are seems quite elusive. (2) I think there are special problems
arising when making this assessment of a past community. But I'm
not a historian and will say no more about this now.
I think there are just some aspects of human society that
are too complex to sift through with any reliability, especially
when this requires putting aside one's own substantive normative
views on the issue. But perhaps this is too far afield from the
purpose of this List.
My own hunch is that explaining the omission of divine
authority in the Constitution says something important about the
founding generation. But I'm not sure that our usual explanations
get to the heart of the matter. But, as I said, that's just my hunch.
Bobby
Robert Justin Lipkin
Professor of Law
Widener University School of Law
Delaware
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