Which Constitution is John McCain referring to?

Question

John McCain is quoted as saying ""The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."

I have searched in vain for some Article in the Constitution that so establishes the United States as a "Christian Nation" and am unable to find it.

Given that I have graduate degrees in both Law and Theology I felt sure that I would be able to identify that portion of the Constitution that Senator McCain was referring to but, alas, my search has been to no avail.

I therefore conclude there must be another Constitution of the United States that he was thinking of when he made this assertion of fact.

Can someone please direct me to it? Or, in the alternative, cite to the section of the more commonly known Constitution that he was referencing.

Answer 1

He makes the same mistake that a significant segment of Christians make, that is, that the United States Constitution was written by Christians to reflect Christian values. This is a totally false and unsupportable assertion.

The Founders were certainly not Christians in the context of today’s Christian, with a number of them being Deists, and creating the Constitution of the United States as being founded in religious tenets was something far from their minds.

The Constitution of the United States is a document sourced in the roots of Common Law with a definable evolution from the first Great Charter, the Magna Carta of 1215. Those who wrote it were also influenced by such as Locke, Adams, Montesquieu, and even Paine.

If this is what McCain Stated, he has allowed his personal religious convictions to overcome historical fact.

Answer 2

Its a standard right wing expresson of biggotry. Since the US constitution was written by Christians therefore they intended the US to be a Christian country. We get the same thing in Canada where our country is called a "Dominion" which was taken from the bible ... ergo, we should kick out all non Christians from the country (except for the Jews of course cause that would be anti-semetic).

I see us moving toward a world where there are "real" Americnas (i.e. jeudo Christians) and those "others". That, to my mind and supported by the author of the link below, is a desecration of the thoughts and ideals of the framers of the Constitutuion and evry free thinking and proud American should fight to prevent that bastardization. The first ammendment is quite clear "make no law regarding the establishment of religion ..."

Answer 3

I think he mixed it up with another countries constitution. Or maybe confused the word constitution with "inquisition". You have to understand; it is a known fact that conservative people have difficulties with memory, abstract reasoning, grammar, and verbal fluency. Scientist speculate that the cause of the unusual pattern of cognitive deficits within conservative populations may be the result of excess cerebral blood flow in functional regions of the brain involved in wasting resources, creating ad hominem speeches, hating French, and Corporate scandals. This in theory results in hypoxia in regions of the brain involved in diplomacy, maintaining freedom, questioning anecdotes, applying the scientific method, cross examining motives, conservation, planning war before fighting them, and post conventional reasoning. Other phenomena of conservative cognitive deficit is the infamous "bible loop logic" dementia. For example when one asks a conservative "why is homosexual marriage a crime?" (Response) "Because God said it was wrong" then further examining their logic you ask them "what makes you convinced God said that it was wrong?"(Response) "Because it was written in the bible!" Then you ask, "How do you know if the bible is correct?" "Because God says it is!" Then under further inquiry you ask how do you if God exists" (response) "the bible says he exists!" Then you ask, "what if the bible is incorrect?” predictably the response "God said it was right!" and therefore goes on and on. Although the cause of cognitive deficit in conservative populations remains unknown, some theorize its origin may result from prenatal exposure to petroleum.

EDIT: Also there is no part of the constitution that says we are a Christian theocracy. Therefore senator McCain lives in a delusional world of "Happy Jesus Land". Or maybe he got it off Wikipedia.

Answer 4

He is assuming that the founding fathers were Christians, i.e. European descendants.
religion is only mentioned once in the constitution: not religious test can be given for politicians in office.

well, so much for McCain's hopes for being the prez....