[Vision2020] The Bible and the Constitution

[Nick Gier]

Greetings:

I think that conservative evangelical theologian Carl Henry, author 
of the largest work of systematic theology in American history, got 
it right when he declared that the Bible grants rights only to God 
and strict duties to his created men and women, whom he owns, 
according to John Locke, because he has mixed his labor with the dust 
of the earth to create them.  We should all admire Locke, but this 
was one holler that got by his otherwise thoroughly liberal mind.

So much for biblical foundations for the American Constitution or any 
other liberal democratic state for that matter.

Nick Gier, proud theistic humanist along with many other founding 
American thinkers

At 01:09 PM 8/26/2007, you wrote:
I don't see where separation of power is a Christian concept.  I don't think
the Bible addresses such issues as inalienable rights, or freedom of speech
or the freedom of religion (for all).  If such directives exist and are
recognized as Christian theology I'm glad to admit being wrong, but after
years of Sunday School and church, I don't recognize them as Christian
principles I've been taught or heard.  Of course I grew up Anglican and
Episcopalian.

I don't think Christianity forms the basis for our Constitution.  I'm
certainly willing to consider examples from the Bible that prove me wrong,
if they can be provided.  And I certainly don't see God standing between us
and those interpreting away the rights recognized in the Constitution.  When
I think God agrees with me, I certainly hope for that outcome...

Sunil


 >From: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
 >To: nickgier at adelphia.net, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com>
 >CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
 >Subject: Re: [Vision2020] and speaking of religion in public places
 >Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:53:29 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 >Nick Gier and his cronies just don't understand what Sali is saying.
 >
 >   The principles of our Constitution are etched from the rock of
 >Christianity. You cannot remove the rock without removing its authority.
 >The Constitution is meaningless if it doesn't have Christianity as a bases
 >of its authority, derived only because of Christianity.
 >
 >   Who says all men are equal? Who says you have unalienable rights? Who
 >says you have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom
 >from unfair trial?
 >
 >   Those rights are not granted to men by men, they are granted to men by
 >God, the Christian God. And that is what gives the US Constitution its
 >authority, its greatness, and truthfulness. Otherwise, the Constitution was
 >written, and the rights granted us within, are not real rights, or moral
 >principles of God's justice, but in fact, just something a bunch fat
 >balding rich guys wearing white wigs came up with on a hot sweaty day in
 >July at the turn of the 18th century hiding from the British authorities.
 >
 >   I believe certain rights are given to us by God, and that many of those
 >rights are engraved into the Constitution. If you don't believe this too,
 >then the only thing giving the Constitution, and your rights are men, men
 >who decide arbitrarily what rights you have and don't have at any time or
 >place. It makes the Constitution a document that is enforceable only by the
 >threat of a gun and the will of the powerful men that yield it.
 >
 >   Best,
 >
 >   Donovan
 >
 >

"Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to 
human affairs."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Abstract truth has no value unless it incarnates in human beings who 
represent it, by proving their readiness to die for it."
  --Mohandas Gandhi

"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of any system cannot be 
discovered by dividing it into its component parts and studying each 
part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the whole 
and on the interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our 
intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between 
science, religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the 
sum of its various parts." --Max Planck

Nicholas F. Gier
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho
1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843
www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/home.htm
208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950
President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm

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