A Religious Minority's Ode to the Constitution

Our tradition of religious liberty is one of our Constitution's finest achievements.

As a Christian who belongs to a relatively small Protestant denomination with no history of established state power, or an ability to influence the majority of the people on earth, I have a special appreciation for and love of the United States Constitution. The United States is one of the first liberal democracies in history, and its Constitution has built-in safeguards against threats of religious tyranny, majoritarian tyranny, and minority rule. In terms of protecting religious liberty, no other nation has done more to that end. 

The religious section of the First Amendment to the Constitution is genius. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” In the first clause here the Framers clearly establish the principle of an institutional separation between Church and State. This does not mean, as some secularists and leftists like to claim, that religious arguments are banned from the public square or that religious individuals in public office need to keep their personal faith hidden in the closet. But it does mean that no particular church or religious body is going to, under the Constitution, employ the arms of the state to enforce particular dogmas or religious practices on non-believers. If some item or the other is going to become law in the United States, the proponents will have to make their case through the lawmaking arms of the U.S. government. The second clause is equally as important and genius as the first. While Congress shall not establish a state church, they also have no right to prohibit the free exercise of religion. The First Amendment is a check on what the government can do in the realm of religion, and not on the religious expression of individual citizens.

There are some today on the Christian right who are beginning to have doubts about the way the Constitution deals with religious liberty issues. They say that making the federal government neutral in questions of religion sets the country up to deny God or for the elevation of secular values over principles of faith, but I think this is misguided. In putting the problems of Old World Europe aside–factional Christian warfare, Christian-Muslim warfare, and persecution of faithful Christians from non-state churches–the Founders breathed fresh air into the American religious scene. When everyone who goes to your church, synagogue, or mosque is there because they legitimately desire to seek and know the truth, you get a more faithful religious body. To this point, in comparison to every other industrial first world nation America is far more pious and religiously affiliated. 

Furthermore, the government being neutral between competing religious groups doesn’t mean that citizens who happen to belong to said religious groups cannot influence government policy and action. Religious people in America have had a profound impact on American culture both in the private sphere and the public square. Evangelicals often led the charge for slavery abolition, Christians (particularly the Black Church) were on the front line of the anti-Jim Crow and pro-desegregation fights, and the anti-communism fight was often portrayed in religious terms. Many other issues of importance in America were framed by faithful religious Americans. 

As a religious minority myself  (Seventh-Day Adventist) I think I have a particular vantage point from which to praise the wisdom of the drafters of the First Amendment to the Constitution. When you belong to a faith tradition that holds to some beliefs that are different from any state church that has ever existed you grow up very grateful to live in a nation that recognizes your freedom to practice your faith according to the dictates of your conscience. Not only Adventists but many other minority religious communities have fared very well in this land of ours, and been able to shape both the country as a whole and specific communities with their values. As an Adventist I think of communities like Berrien Springs, Michigan or Loma Linda, California or Silver Springs, Maryland, and how deep rooted Adventist communities have been free to take shape naturally. These communities have organically started to take on an Adventist flavor that even non Adventist residents can appreciate. They tend to have more vegetarian dining options, natural health resources, and a commitment to community service.

Another religious group that has flourished under America’s regime of liberty is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known colloquially as Mormons). They have shaped the culture and politics of an entire American state-Utah- and a splinter group has shaped history in a similar fashion in Beaver Island, Michigan. I also think of how even in a majority Protestant land, Catholics (despite massive discrimination at first) have also been able to flourish and create solid communities in this land, and make their own voice heard in the public square. 

Leaving the broad tent of Christianity, in America Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Other, and of course Atheist citizens have all been able to integrate into an American identity. This kind of religious pluralism is not without its difficulties, but we have largely pulled it off in America. We should never abandon our core commitment to religious liberty. I am reminded of the words of the founder of the Rhode Island colony and devout Baptist Roger Williams when he said, “Forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils.” The Creator of the universe created mankind in His Image, and as such man is a rational animal capable of reasoned assent-the God of the

Universe wants that assent in the worship of Him. To deny men that assent is an affront to the Creator. 

As you dwell on the importance of the United States Constitution, never allow yourself to be ashamed of the core natural right to freedom of religion that our Constitution recognizes. If you are a person of faith, say a prayer of gratitude that you live under the United States Constitution. I will close with a portion of a speech that President Ronald Reagan gave on religious liberty: 

The history of religion and its impact on civilization cannot be summarized in a few days or – never mind minutes. But one of the great shared characteristics of all religions is the distinction they draw between the temporal world and the spiritual world. All religions, in effect, echo the words of the Gospel of St. Matthew: “Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. What this injunction teaches us is that the individual cannot be entirely subordinate to the state, that there exists a whole other realm, an almost mysterious realm of individual thought and action which is sacred and which is totally beyond and outside of state control. This idea has been central to the development of human rights. 

Only in an intellectual climate which distinguishes between the city of God and the city of man and which explicitly affirms the independence of God’s realm and forbids any infringement by the state on its prerogatives, only in such a climate could the idea of individual human rights take root, grow, and eventually flourish.

Joey Carrion is a political science student at Andrews University, studying pre-law as well as psychology. He co-hosts the Gio and Joey podcast and operates the Michigan Reagan Caucus Twitter/X account. @adventistcowboy