Declaration of Independence - Separation of Church and State?

Question

If the Declaration of Independence was meant to be a separation of church and state, then why does it end with these words?

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the devine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Answer 1

In the beginning of our country did you know that unless people were christians and claim to believe in God then they were not allowed in office? Speration of Church and State? I and the founding fathers meant for the state to stay out of the church, not the other way around.

Go ahead, you can look it up...

Answer 2

It was written by a group of people who were generally pretty religious, Protestant wise. For them, separation of Church and State meant that any one church wasn't favored over any other church. Some were atheist or at least agnostic, but most were, as so many still put it, "God-fearing men."

Why wouldn't they bring their faith into it? Faith is what they stood on when they declared independence, and therefore entered into war with the most powerful nation on the planet.

The difference is that they did put in the first amendment in the Constitution which governs our country which did legislate that the State shall not regulate the Church and, when it comes down to it, the Church may not attempt to regulate the State either because in so doing, they violate the right to religious freedoms of those who don't follow the Church. Unlike the nations most of them came from, there was no single Church running the show.

Besides, other than a few points of law where the words aren't clear and therefore to interpret the intentions of the forefathers should be understood (such as what does a militia mean), all that truly matters about what the forefathers intended was that the government not concentrate power in one place, that the government and law can be altered at any time given certain majority vote conditions, and that the people have basic rights.

Answer 3

The Declaration was not meant to be a symbol of Soc&S, it was meant to declare that the US was a separate and free country. Technically, if you think about it, the Declaration isn't even a US document because it was written up before the US was recognized as a separate country.

Now, the CONSTITUTION says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." What this means is that Congress has the responsibility to not pass laws that include religious ties (i.e. making a law requiring a religious phrase to be in every government building). As you can see, this is being violated nonstop (i.e. the pledge and currency).

So the Declaration had no intentions what-so-ever to promote Soc&S, but the Constitution did. To prove it, ponder over this: How many times does the Constitution make a reference to God? 0. The closest thing it comes to mentioning God is something like "...endowed by their creator..." which can obviously mean parents. Speculation, though, is uncertainty.

Answer 4

The Declaration of Independance does not mention the separation of church and state, that would be the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Remember too, that those who drafted the Constitution as well as the Declaration were largely Deists, not Christians and did not impose a belief in "their" god upon other people.

The First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "

You can read the Declaration of Independance online at http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html

You can read the Bill of Rights (Ten Amendments) online at http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html

Peace,

Beki

Answer 5

The announcement of Independence got here in the past the form. the seen separation of church and state became into embodied in the form in 2 factors, Article VI which states that no religious attempt would be required for public provider and the 1st modification which states that government won't enact rules to envision faith, which ability it is going to neither limit nor sell any religious perception. the 1st quote you have of Jefferson became into an opinion, no longer a criminal rfile. There are different costs from Jefferson that promptly help the assumption of separation of church and state. in the announcement of Independence, Jefferson became into careful to declare "author" rather of "God". Jefferson became into no longer a Christian yet maximum in all danger a Deist, as have been many of the Founding Fathers. it incredibly is in all danger the reason that particular be conscious became into used.

Answer 6

I think your point is good. However, some sort of, "separation of church and state" is appropriate. I prefer to promote an appropriate definition instead of saying it shouldn't exist.

For example, people should have equal protection under the law regardless of their professed religion or lack thereof. In addition there shouldn't be any law that gives a preference for one religious faith over another. By the way, atheism is a religion since it represents a belief regarding God (e.g., that he doesn't exist).

It is never appropriate to prevent someone from exercising their religion in some way while in office. Atheists tend to believe that theists can leave their religion at the door, but what they frequently misunderstand is that religion is part of who we are and can't be separated.

Answer 7

The declaration of indipendance wasn't what declared the seperation of church and state, that would be a later document, the constitution. The declaration is more or less just a piece of propaganda dear to our hearts, appealing to the majority in any way that works is fair game in propaganda though, and the United States government wasn't established until years after the declaration.... In addition, the signees refer to their own individual pledges, and individuals fighting for something are free to do it for whatever reasons they like, that isn't creating a state sponsored religion at all.

But even ignoring this, did you notice the ambiguity of that? "The devine (sp) Providence" could refer to any higher power, even nonsentient ones or powers that consisted of paterns and the natures of things (So my atheistic tao/ law of accelerating returns fits in, yay!). The men who wrote this were theists, and they didn't actually belong to any church...... So even if it did vehemantly endourse their individual beliefs, it wouldn't favor any religion, other than "Jeffersonian".

Answer 8

Where did you get the idea that the Declaration of Independence had anything to do with separating church from government?

It doesn't, by the way.

Answer 9

The Declaration of Independence has to do with the US's separation from the UK; it is not law.

Besides, I doubt you would like what religion the author of that piece believed in. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence; he was a Deist, not a Christian.

Answer 10

the Bill of Rights is what contains the separation of church and state, not the Declaration of Independence.

pay more attention in History or Government class.

Answer 11

So just so you understand, the Constitution is the law of the land, not the Declaration of Independence.

It is within the Constitution that we derive the separation of Church and State.