In spite of its title, David Barton’s book fails to grasp the Original Intent of the Constitution regarding separation of church and state. Original Intent was published by WallBuilders of Alemedo, Texas in 2000.
David Barton Argues Constitution Did Not Separate Church and State
The book emphasizes religious aspects of the Constitution, especially the doctrine of separation of church and state. Mr. Barton attempts to show this was not part of the original intent of the founding fathers.
The author claims that the 1947 Everson case departed from the founders’ intention not to erect a “wall of separation” between church and state in the U.S. Constitution. The negative fallout from Everson is traced through eight subsequent Supreme Court religious liberty cases.
Thesis Is Flawed
The problem with the book is a flawed thesis. The founders did in fact intend to separate the new government from the authority of biblical law. Surprisingly, David Barton actually applauds this, as we shall see below.
Mr. Barton asserts there is “no historical foundation for the proposition that the Founders intended to build the ‘wall of separation’…” (p.179) into the Constitution. While it is a fact that the words “wall of separation” cannot be found in the Constitution, the principle is there nonetheless in Article VI, Section 3.
The little known requirement of this section sets up an inviolable wall of separation between the legal system and the law of God: “no religious test shall ever be required for any office…,” This section outlawed the so-called religious test oath that was found in most of the colonial charters and constitutions. These required the prospective officeholder to swear by oath to govern according to the law of God. The ban on the religious test oath thus opened the door for any belief system to compete with God for supremacy in the nation.
David Barton thinks this arrangement is just fine: “…it was therefore not within the federal government’s authority to examine the religious beliefs of any candidate” (p.34). In his discussion of Article VI, Section 3, he agrees with the founders that “the investigation of the religious views of a candidate should not be conducted by the federal government…”
Religious Neutrality Condemned
That is the heart of our problem. A declaration of religious neutrality by the Federal government. This would be like Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai and declaring that he wasn’t going to favor any particular religion, but would leave it to the tribes.
And so we see that David Barton does not comprehend this most foundational building block of Biblical civil government. That is, the requirement that the government only install officials who are willing to commit by oath to uphold the law of God in judgment. God requires this commitment to Christianity — not a particular denomination — and will gradually bring His destructive judgment on any nation that ignores it.
We are not afflicted by our failure to abide by the founder’s original intent. Instead, it is the founder’s original intent to establish a wall of separation between God and state that is destroying America today.
For more on the anti-Christian nature of the U S Constitution visit the America Betrayed website. Webmaster at “America Betrayed” is Oliver Woods, who also serves as headmaster for King’s Way Classical Academy an online classical, Christian school for grades 7-12.