Reason and Discovery

Spirituality Column #151
September 29, 2009
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis North Suburban newspapers)

Reason and Discovery
By Bob Walters

It slipped my notice, but Sept. 17 was the 222nd birthday of the U.S. Constitution.

I am fascinated by the Christian and non-Christian implications of America’s founding philosophies, and by the mix of religious and non-religious Colonials who all agreed that personal liberty, economic autonomy, spiritual freedom and limited government composed the best state-of-being for mankind.

“Separation of church and state” appears nowhere in America’s founding documents. It was penned in an otherwise obscure letter written by Thomas Jefferson; a “reason and nature” deist who believed God created the world and left it to run itself.

While “Father of Our Country” George Washington wrote fabulous Christian prayers, Jefferson, like several of his contemporaries, was a humanist who dismissed the Christian supernatural – virgin birth, miracles, Christ’s resurrection, etc.

Jefferson framed the liberty-loving language of the Declaration of Independence and had almost nothing to do with the writing of the Constitution. “Separation of church and state” is nonetheless considered a Jeffersonian dictum and Constitutional tradition.

Nearly forgotten is that it was uber-patriot Thomas Paine, not Jefferson, who wrote rebelliously against religion.

Famed for “Common Sense” published in January 1776, Paine provided the American revolutionaries – from farmers to intellectuals – with a compelling call to arms. The Declaration of Independence was signed that summer, and in late 1776 Paine’s “Crisis” was published containing the line, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Paine’s words crystallized the Colonials’ yearning for freedom and lit the emotional fires of the American Revolution. Yet negative blowback from his anti-religious views caused him to leave America for Europe where he was an outcast in England and nearly executed in France. His 1794 anti-religion book “Age of Reason” sparked further outrage.

Paine considered scripture to be mere hearsay. Not quite an atheist, he believed in one God, hoped for “happiness beyond this life,” and obviously conceded the existence of men’s souls.

But he saw no faith, only “reason,” and considered any church or religion an impediment to man’s freedom. “My own mind is my own church,” he wrote.

How many times we Christians hear that line, or some version thereof, when non-believers are invited to share our faith. “I’m too smart for church,” they imply.

It seems reasonable that God gave us the great gift of intelligence not so we could merely find ourselves, but so we could discover Him.

That’s the proper use of freedom.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com) hopes we are indeed “one nation under God,” and not a reasonable facsimile.