This July 4, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that throws off the yoke of a divinely appointed ruler. But President Donald Trump is exploiting this occasion to promote a revisionist history of America as “one nation under God.”
These words, importantly, appear nowhere in the declaration. It wasn’t until 1954, during the height of the Cold War, that the words “under God” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance after heavy lobbying of Congress by religious groups and clergy. Similarly, “In God We Trust” was adopted as the nation’s motto in 1956.
Those who insist America is “one nation under God” or even a “Christian nation” look to the Declaration of Independence as proof. Presumably, this is because it contains four passing references to deity: “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Providence,” and “Supreme Judge of the world.”
Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of this document, archived at the Library of Congress, has only one deistic reference, to “the laws of nature & nature’s god.” This is the vocabulary of a Deist of the Enlightenment, as historians classified Jefferson. Years after writing the declaration, he bade his nephew in a letter to “question with boldness the very existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of Reason than of blindfolded fear.”
Jefferson was a skeptic who literally cut out references to the supernatural from the New Testament, creating what became known as the Jefferson Bible. As President, he refused to issue any proclamations of prayer or thanksgiving, and coined the phrase “separation between church and state” in reference to the First Amendment, which holds that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
It’s absurd to propose, as some do, that Jefferson’s reference to “nature’s god” was intended to suggest that the newly birthed United States of America should become a theocracy. Jefferson’s original draft of the declaration contains just one use of the word “Christian”—a mocking reference to “the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain,” who he blamed for introducing the horrors of slavery to this continent.
The declaration in final form does not reference Christianity, Jesus, the Ten Commandments, a church or a sect, or the Bible. Its stated point was “to dissolve the political bands” and declare independence from a monarchy. It’s a repudiation of the king of England, citing twenty-seven grievances, quite a few of which could be thrown back in Trump’s face, such as: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people.”
Jefferson’s most important thought—that governments derive their powers “from consent of the governed”—is profoundly anti-scriptural. There is no democracy in the Bible.
It’s also important to remember that the declaration simply is not our governing document. That is the U.S. Constitution, the first constitution in history not to invoke a deity as sovereign but “We the People,” its only references to religion exclusionary. Article VI specifies “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
The declaration was tantamount to divorce papers, but the Constitution is like vows for a new marriage. This is especially important today, when almost three in ten U.S. adults have no religious affiliation and another 7 percent subscribe to non-Christian faiths. They are part of “We the People,” whether the President likes it or not.
So let’s toast to America’s 250th birthday and the “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” by rededicating America to our original motto, “E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one),” chosen by Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin. “Christian nation” zealots have never understood its wisdom: that unity requires inclusion, pluralism, and freedom of conscience.
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.