Founding principles?

Question

I keep hearing the phrase "Judeo-Christian principles that this nation was founded upon" and want someone to explain these principles. As far as I am concerned, if credit for the ideas (principles) that this nation was founded upon is to be given, then it must be given first to the Greeks & Romans and second to the great secular thinkers of the enlightenment. Both Jefferson & Madison while practicing (to varying degrees, and with varying levels of sincerity) Christians also left us with many warnings regarding the influence of religion, and they most assuredly meant the one they were familiar with.

Kato- your ignorance is amazing. Show some proof that relates the Constitution to the bible. Judeo-Christian- you realize that Christianity started as a minor Jewish sect, Jesus was a Jew, and the Old Testament is taken from the Torah, you know this right and still say there is no Judeo-Christian.

Ron- While I disagree with your line of thinking-especially anything that comes from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, are these your thoughts or theirs, I do respect the fact that you presented in these thoughts in an intelligent, unargumentive manner.
Like all historical arguments many books have been written defending both positions and obviously I favor the second.
I think in many ways God is thrown into these documents in an off hand manner, I tend to believe Jefferson believed more in the laws of nature then nature’s god. There are also many biblical quotes that would oppose these ideals, so I would still believe that the principals in our founding documents are the ideals of men.

Ron- there can also be a good argument made that many of the founding fathers did not even believe in the idea of the Christian god but tended to lean more towards Deism.

Answer 1

You are correct. It's rather like the principle of welcoming "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" that people invoke from time to time - nice ideals, for what they're worth, but not inscribed anywhere in our law. Of course, the "Judeo-Christian tradition" contains more potential for abuse, since it implies that a narrow portion of religious beliefs deserve precedence over all others. As a student of history, I can't find much of anything so valuable in the teachings of Judaism or Christianity - just wars, enslavement, and greed. It seems to me that the appeal of these two religions derives primarliy from their antiquity, and the fact that they are taught to defenseless children, who grow up with so many hang-ups they can't escape. The U.S. was not founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, or the rights of the minority would not have been so well protected by our law.

Answer 2

Firstly, many of the principles are explicitly Christian. The idea that all men are equal does not come from Rome or Greece.
The idea that all Christians are equal brothers comes from the phrase " Neither Jew nor Gentile, we are all One in Christ."
Separating government from society comes from "Render unto Caesar, what is Caesar's, render unto God what is Gods."

The American Founders came from the Puritan and Whig tradition of English politics. The Roundheads, ie the anti-monarchical or Parliamentarists in the English Civil War were largely Calvinist. Oliver Cromwell was a Puritan.
The Congregationalists (official name of Puritans) and Presbyterians in America were the backbone of the revolution.

The Whig political philisopgy, although started by John Locke, whose "Two Treaties on Government" did look to Christian beliefs, but in a non-denominational manner, relied heavily on St. Thomas Aquinas's "Summa Theologica", which itself was dependent on "City of God" by St. Augustine of Hippo.
Ironically, Thomas Hobbes, often simplistically called "Locke's opponent", was the founder of the theory of social contract, upon which constitutionalism is based. One cannot read "Leviathan" or "The Citizen" without seeing a religious reference in almost every page.

If you pick up the Declaration of Independence, the first two and final paragraphs mention God. In fact it closes thusly:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


The Seal of the United States, proposed by Franklin Adams and Jefferson was a depiction of the Children of Israel being from Egypt by a Pillar (God) with the inscription "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God."

I could go on and on, but books have been written on this subject.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/fp7.cfm

Faith of Our Fathers
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDliOGUzMjJkNmQ3ZjI4Nzc3MGRlYTg2NWNiMjBmYjA=

Answer 3

It was founded upon Christian principals, the Constitution is 95% out of the Bible. There is no such thing as Judeo-Christian