A ten-year investigation commissioned by the Supreme Court at the end of the 19th century involved a review of some 500 of our founding documents[1] reaching back to the days of Columbus. The study was designed to discover the prevailing philosophy that informed the American Revolution. The court concluded, “… the case assumes that we are a Christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity …” The lawsuit originated in Pennsylvania, where a lower court also declared, “… the Christian religion is a part of the common law of Pennsylvania.”
The court cited additional evidence: Oaths on the Bible that invoked God – to lie is to lie against God; political and private assemblies which open with a Christian invocation – gatherings of the people, public and private assume the presence of the invisible God, who is to be honored and respected, and who invisibly presides over all; the standard language of last wills and testaments, “In the name of God, Amen” – even the transfer of property, ownership of the land, finds a reference in the sovereign laws of God; Sabbath laws directed the closure of courts and legislatures, offices and businesses on Sunday – thus the old ‘blue laws,’ those rising from the force of Scripture and thus the Church had equal force with state law; abundant Christians churches and organizations with missionary activity and charitable enterprises under Christian banners – we were founded as a Christian nation, a place where those who had been persecuted as Protestants by the Catholic Church could now be free to worship under new Bible-based reforms. All these are unofficial declarations of the nation’s Christian roots.
At the time of the research, there were forty-four states and all of their constitutions referenced the Christian Worldview.
“By our form of government the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon equal footing, and they are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty.”[2]
“No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country.”[3]
Dr. Donald S. Lutz[4] is a professor of political philosophy at the University of Houston. He and his research associate, Dr. Charles Hyneman, conducted a groundbreaking 10-year study published in The American Political Science Review. Some 15,000 documents of the 55 authors of the Constitution were examined, including articles from newspapers and pamphlets, books and monographs. They found that the Bible, specifically the book of Deuteronomy, constituted 34 percent of all the direct quotes of the Founders in the formation of our founding documents.[5] Of 15,000 possible sources to inform the discussion, the one dominant source from which the founders drew their ideas and perspectives, their values and notions about liberty and responsibility was the Bible. French philosopher Montesquieu was quoted 8.3 percent of the time, followed by English jurist William Blackstone and his Commentaries on the Laws of England 7.9 percent, and then English philosopher John Locke 2.9 percent.
In an even more astounding discovery, while 34 percent of the quotes were directly from the pages of the Bible, another 60 percent were from men who had used the Bible to inform their conclusions. Thus, ninety-four percent of the founding fathers quotes were based on the Bible, directly or indirectly. This nation was founded with a deep sense of reverence for God, and the moral laws of God.[6] Lutz compiled a list of over 180 sources from which quotes were derived. That one-third came directly from the Scriptures, in the face of such diversity, is a staggering fact, one rarely noted today.[7]
So was the U.S. Constitution based on the Bible? You be the judge!
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[1] This was conducted by the Supreme Court in association with Holy Trinity Church v. United States, a case dated February 29, 1892. Vine & Fig Tree, The Supreme Court of the United States, Holy Trinity Church v. The United States 143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226 February 29, 1892, http://members.aol.com/EndTheWall/TrinityHistory.htm, retrieved August 26, 2007.
[2] Bible Law Course, “Runkel v Winemiller,” 4; “Harris & McHenry,” 276 (Supreme Court: Maryland; October Term, 1799). http://www.moseshand.com/studies/RvW.htm, retrieved August 26, 2007.
[3] The Founders’ Constitution, Vol. 5, Amendment I (Speech and Press): “Updegraph v. Commonwealth,” 11; “Serg. & Rawle,” 394 (The University of Chicago Press, 1824). http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/amendI_speechs30.html, retrieved August 26, 2007.
[4] Dr. Donald S. Lutz is professor of political science at the University of Houston. He is author of The Origins of American Constitutionalism and A Preface to American Political Theory; editor of Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History, and co-editor with Charles S. Hyneman of American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760-1805. For a review of the latter book, see George W. Carey’s “Moral and Political Foundations of Order”.
[5] William J. Federer, American Minute. See http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-09-17, retrieved August 27, 2007.
[6] Alliance for Life Ministries, “America’s Christian Heritage, Part II: The Revolution and Beyond”, http://www.alliance4lifemin.org/categori…./ach_part2.htm, retrieved August 27, 2007.
[7] EarsToHear.net, Stephen Voigt, “How I learned about the root of law…but not in law school”, December 22, 2005, http://earstohear.net/Separation/rootoflaw.html, retrieved August 27, 2007.
