While America did not create a theocracy, it was deeply shaped by Christian moral truths, and the Founders created a government that was hospitable to Christians and other religions. To a person, the Founders were committed to protecting religious liberty and, almost without exception, they agreed that civic authorities could promote and encourage Christianity. So, if Christianity was so influential, why did the colonists violently rebel? Would not Christian morality oppose this conflict? Mark David Hall, Ph.D. provides us with an answer:
On the surface, the War for American Independence appears to be an inherently un-Christian event. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 13, seems to leave little room for revolution: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained by God. Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”
Historically, Christian thinkers have taken this and similar biblical passages to prohibit rebellion against civic authorities. However, in the 12th century, some Christian scholars began to allow for the possibility that inferior magistrates might overthrow evil kings. These ideas were developed and significantly expanded by the Protestant Reformers. John Calvin, the most politically conservative of these men, contended that, in some cases, inferior magistrates might resist an ungodly ruler. However, Reformed leaders such as John Knox, George Buchanan, and Samuel Rutherford of Scotland, Stephanus Junius Brutus and Theodore Beza of France, and Christopher Goodman and John Ponet of England argued that inferior magistrates must resist unjust rulers and even permitted or required citizens to do so.
It is worth noting that all of these men wrote before Locke published his Two Treatises of Government and that this tradition was profoundly influential in America. Indeed, between 55 percent and 75 percent of white citizens in this era associated themselves with Calvinist churches, and members of the tradition were significantly overrepresented among American intellectual elites.
The influence of the Reformed political tradition in the Founding era is manifested in a variety of ways, but particularly noteworthy is the almost unanimous support Calvinist clergy offered to American patriots. This was noticed by the other side, as suggested by the Loyalist Peter Oliver, who railed against the “black Regiment, the dissenting Clergy, who took so active a part in the Rebellion.” King George himself reportedly referred to the War for Independence as “a Presbyterian Rebellion.” From the English perspective, British Major Harry Rooke was largely correct when he confiscated a presumably Calvinist book from an American prisoner and remarked that “[i]t is your G-d Damned Religion of this Country that ruins the Country; Damn your religion.” (“Did America Have A Christian Founding?”)
Read this entire article. . . .
Like this:
Like Loading...
Filed under: Bible, Christianity, Constitution, Education, Founding Fathers, Freedom, Government, History, Preaching, Worldview | Tagged: Apostle Paul, Christian, Christopher Goodman, Constitution, Freedom, Government, John Calvin, John Knox, John Ponet, Theodore Beza, Two Treatises of Government | 3 Comments »