No
The following Treaty of Peace and Friendship
between the United States of America and the Bay and Subjects of Tripoli
of Barbary was written by Joel Barlow. It was negotiated near the
end of Washington's second term, passed unanimously by the Senate and
signed by Adams once he came into office. :
Ariticle 11
As the government of the United States of America
is not in any sense founded on the Christian Rel;igion, –
as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion
or tranquility of Musselmen, – and as the said States never have
entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation,
it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions
shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the
two countries.
Our Constitution is a
Secular Document
It contains no mention of “God” or
“Christianity.” If we are a Christian nation, as some would
have us believe, why isn't it in the Constitution. Although the majority
of Americans are some form of Christianity, the Constitution protects
the rights of minorities.
(Art. II, Sec. 1)
The presidential oath of office doesn not contain the words, "so
help me God," or even any requirement to swear on a Bible.
(Art. VI) "No religious test shall
ever be required as a qualification to any offisce or public trust."
(First Admendment) "Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof."
(Declaration of Independence) We are
not governed by the Declaration. The references to "nature's God,"
"Creator," and "Divine Providence" does not endorse
Christianity. Thomas Jefferson, its author, wa a Deist, opposed to orthodox
Christianity.
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The framers of our Constitution in 1787 establishing
the first government in history to separate church and state, hereby eliminating
official religious intolerance and bloodshed.
In 1797, America made a treaty, approved by the
Senate under President John Adams, declaring that "the government
of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
Fundamentalist like to ignore facts that conflict with what they would
like them to be.
Although the pharse "a wall of separation
between church and state" was writen by Thomas Jefferson in a letter
to a church, the pharse has become a well-established constitutional principle.
The Supreme Court has made a test for a law to
be permitted under the Constitution. (1) It must have a secular purpose.
(2) It must have a primary effect which neither advances no inhibits religion.
(3) It must avoid excessive entanglement of church and state.
The pharse, "One nation under God,"
did not appear in the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, when Congress,
under McCarthyism, added it. But it doesn't say which god. Many believe
that it will have to be eventually removed to comply with the Constitution.
The pharse, "In God We Trust" on our
currancy did not appear until 1957. The origional U.S. motto, chosen by
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, is E Pluribus
Unum ("Of Many, One").
American law is not based on the Ten Commandments
and have nothing to do with ethical behavior. The only commandments that
are relevant to modern law are homicide, theft, and perjury. Two of the
commandments, coveting and graven images, would be impossible to inforced
and if they were, would distory our civilization.
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