Against the Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin
On Wednesday, November 30, 2005, Federal Judge David Hamilton issued a ruling barring the Indiana House of Representatives from offering prayers in Jesus' name or using any Christian terms in its prayers. This ruling should outrage every American who holds dear the Constitution of the United States. It is an egregious violation of the separation of powers doctrine.
David Barton, president of the Wallbuilders organization, has said the judiciary should not tell the legislative branch what to do concerning their internal practices. As Barton points out, Judge Hamilton has no right to tell a state legislature what it can and cannot do. It is none of the judge's business. I guess the judge's next ruling is going to be to bar the Indiana State Constitution. After all, its preamble contains these words: "We, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to Almighty God..."
The judge mentioned in his ruling that the mode of prayer in question violated separation of church and state. That phrase, however, never appears in our United States Constitution. This is one of the great myths of our time. The phrase "separation of church and state" actually appears in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in response to the Danbury Baptists, who were concerned because they had heard a widespread rumor that Congregationalism, another denomination, was to become the official national religion. Jefferson was trying to allay the Danbury Baptists' fears that government would make dictates to the church. In other words, the church was to be protected from the state and be able to teach the people biblical values without government interference.
Prayer has always been a part of our heritage from the first explorers to the Pilgrims and Puritans to the Founding Fathers of our nation. In fact, Benjamin Franklin, considered to be one of the least religious of the founders, gave an extremely effective impromptu speech at the Constitutional Convention when tempers were flaring and division threatened to frustrate attempts to "form a more perfect union."
He caught the eye of George Washington, who was presiding over the convention, and Washington allowed him to speak these words:
In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered... And have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance?
I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man... We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writings that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this. I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in the political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages...
I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business.
Franklin knew the importance of prayer for wisdom before trying to conduct the business of government. It is interesting to note that from that time on, Congress continued to have prayer at the opening of every session, and that tradition continues today. In fact, one of the first orders of business for Congress under the new Constitution was to create the offices of Christian chaplain for the House of Representatives and for the Senate. We the taxpayers still pay the salaries of the two chaplains today; and every morning these chaplains open the sessions with prayer.
The founders never intended for government not to make mention of religion. They knew that religion was the basis of morals, and morals the foundation of any free republic. Since prayer is the quintessential practice of religion, to remove prayer from the business of our government is to remove the very foundation upon which it was built. So the next time you hear someone make the claim that government should not make mention of God, remember the words of a man much wiser than that person, the words of Benjamin Franklin.
By Kyle McClure
The judge's decision is available online: http://www.insd.uscourts.gov/News/1-05-cv-0813 Opinion.pdf.
Available online: http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/inconst.html.
Available online: www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=98.