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Johnson: We're Not A Democracy, We're A "Biblical" Republic And Separation Of Church And State Isn't Real (www.joemygod.com)

submitted 1 year ago by narwhal@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 104 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

They treat the Constitution like they do their bible.

They don’t read it.

If they do read it, they just read the bits they agree with.

If they read the parts that don’t fit their desired narrative, they engage in mental gymnastics to reinterpret what was written to fit their desires.

Edit:

Jefferson's reply did not address their concerns about problems with state establishment of religion — only of establishment on the national level. The letter contains the phrase "wall of separation between church and state," which led to the short-hand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: "Separation of church and state."

Which led to the Establishment Clause…

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...

And also The point of Article 6 wherein no religious test is to be given to hold office.

Better?

[–] AUniqueGeek@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From article VI (3rd paragraph)

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executige and judicial officers, both of the united states and of the several states, shall be bound by oath of affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

[–] Tyfud@lemmy.one 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It literally couldn't be any clearer. I guess he's the shittiest constitutional lawyer ever. But nobody will care. They eat up his arguing from authority fallacy bullshit

[–] CountryBreakfast@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's an easy game to play actually. Strict contructionists will only recognize discourse that can be understood in 1790, or whichever relevant time. They use dictionaries from that time and the writings of the amerikan founders to make their points. You won't easily find anything from that era that implies "religion" is anything other than Christianity and it's various sects. To assert otherwise would be to legislate without congress. So they can argue that excluding non-Christians and non-Protestants is in line with the intentions of the authors regardless of article 6.

Is it a perfect line of thinking without contradictions? Of course not, but neither is the counter idea that America was designed to accommodate non-Christians.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

A lot of the founders were explicitly not Christian.

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

They're lawyers, they are idiots and they twist every word to suit their agenda - that's what lawyers do.