Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI200482A
|
00:26 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:28 This is a program 00:30 that's designed to bring you news, views, information 00:34 and analysis on religious liberty events 00:37 in the United States and around the world. 00:39 My name is Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty Magazine. 00:43 And today on this program, 00:46 I want to look at the Constitution. 00:50 Now my tongue betrays me, I'm sure. 00:55 I grew up in Australia, or at least, 00:57 grew to teenagership in Australia. 01:01 I left when I was 16. 01:03 And then I went back briefly 01:05 to live as an adult. 01:06 But I've lived overwhelmingly 01:08 most of my time in the United States. 01:09 But I think by coming from somewhere else, 01:12 I look at it in a way 01:14 that maybe many Americans don't. 01:17 I know, when I go back to Australia, 01:18 now I look at it at a distance in a different viewpoint. 01:23 And I always look closely at the US Constitution. 01:27 And I've been amazed 01:28 at how little of this wonderful, 01:31 generally wonderful secular document Americans know. 01:35 Invariably, when people quote The Constitution, 01:39 they really are thinking of, and sometimes even verbally 01:43 repeating the Declaration of Independence, 01:46 which is a wonderful document primarily composed 01:49 by Thomas Jefferson, and of course, 01:51 authorized by the, I guess, 01:54 the Continental Congress. 01:57 But it's not a legal document 02:00 in the way that the Constitution is. 02:02 But very few people seem to know the Constitution. 02:06 As we do every four years, 02:08 the US has been roiled 02:12 by an election of a president. 02:16 And again, during this period, there seems gross ignorance 02:19 about how the Constitution works. 02:21 Even sometimes, I think, perhaps knowingly, 02:24 but even sometimes inaccurate 02:27 or incomplete statements made by lawyers at the time. 02:31 Again, in that vein, 02:34 I believe that in the year 2000, 02:36 it was unconstitutionally 02:38 determined through the Supreme Court 02:39 who won the Florida issue 02:43 and thereby determined the presidency 02:45 because the Constitution does not allow 02:47 for a presidential election settled that way. 02:51 I'd like to share something in advance 02:54 of what it says about religious liberty 02:57 that might clarify things for people. 03:02 It talks about the presidency. 03:04 And it says, "He will be elected as follows." 03:07 Now most people think, well, we all go to vote. 03:09 It's a general purpose and so on, 03:12 doesn't say anything about that. 03:13 It says, "Each state shall appoint, 03:17 in such manner as the legislature 03:19 may direct a number of electors." 03:23 Well, the states have decided, 03:25 and I think it was accepted early on 03:27 that they would do that by a vote within the state, 03:30 but it doesn't say so in the Constitution. 03:32 It says equal, a number of electors 03:34 equal to the whole number of senators 03:36 and representatives, 03:37 to which the state may be entitled in Congress. 03:40 And it says, "The electors shall meet 03:42 in their respective states 03:44 and vote by ballot for two persons 03:46 of whom one at least shall not be inhabitant 03:49 of the same state with themselves. 03:51 And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for 03:54 and the votes taken, 03:55 and which lists they shall sign 03:57 and certify and transmit sealed 04:00 to the seat of the government of the United States 04:02 directed to the President of the Senate." 04:05 And he now, without reading it, 04:07 "He's to open those, and then by telling them, 04:10 they will determine who is the president." 04:12 It says, "The person having 04:14 the greatest number of votes shall be the president. 04:16 If such number be a majority of the whole number 04:18 of electors appointed, 04:20 and if they'd be more than one who have such majority, 04:23 then the House of Representatives 04:25 shall immediately choose by ballot 04:27 one of them for president." 04:28 The House of Representatives 04:30 can decide if it's a confused 04:34 electoral vote. 04:36 We've ignored that and misunderstood it. 04:40 It's a reasonable system, 04:42 and it's consistent with the way the US 04:44 was established not as a pure democracy, 04:47 people misunderstand. 04:49 A democracy can easily lead to a tyranny of the majority. 04:53 And on religious matters 04:55 that's central to our understanding. 04:57 There has never been a question in the early America, 05:01 as in the, you know, the Puritan settlements, 05:04 if it were up to the majority, 05:06 they would have confirmed 05:08 a particular view of Christianity, 05:10 their doctrinal view, 05:12 as supported by law and harassed others. 05:16 But it's a representative government, 05:19 and it's designed particularly 05:22 to protect the minority from the majority. 05:27 In an earlier program, I held up, as I will again, 05:32 an early edition of Liberty Magazine. 05:34 Might be a little clearer on this camera. 05:37 This is a 1914 edition, 05:40 when they were looking 05:42 at a world collapsing around, 05:43 there is, everything under question. 05:47 And to me, it's very significant that 05:49 they had an article there on the American Constitution. 05:54 And I won't read the whole article, 05:55 but I wanna share a bit of it 05:57 and the view that was held then, 05:59 and I think should be pretty much consistent 06:03 with the way we see it today. 06:04 It says, "The First Amendment of the Constitution." 06:08 And remember what amendments are. 06:10 They are add-ons the Constitution, 06:13 the body of it was the initial thing 06:16 that was passed around 06:17 to those 13 colonies, then states. 06:20 And as a condition of ratifying it, 06:24 it was pretty soon decided they wanted certain amendments. 06:27 And the Bill of Rights is that series 06:31 of the first block of amendments 06:34 that determines the rights you have, 06:36 but the Constitution is very plain. 06:39 The government 06:40 only has the rights given to it, 06:43 not all rights. 06:45 They have to be enumerated or it doesn't have authority. 06:48 We've forgotten that one big time 06:51 in recent years. 06:52 But it says, "The First Amendment 06:54 of the Constitution which provides that, 06:56 'Congress shall make no law respecting 06:59 an establishment of religion, 07:01 or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'.'" 07:04 Hands off on religion. 07:06 Very interesting amendment at a time 07:08 when the vast majority of the citizenry, 07:11 when I say vast, they weren't that many people, 07:14 a few millions. 07:16 The vast majority of them 07:17 were pretty much officially Bible believing Protestants. 07:22 They weren't even that many Catholics at that time. 07:25 This was a Protestant society. 07:27 And yet they decided, I believe, 07:30 I have a great burden on this using the model 07:33 of the English Civil War, 07:35 where they saw the Puritan majority emerging 07:38 from the Civil War and their generals 07:40 and their agenda coming to power 07:44 under Oliver Cromwell. 07:46 Cromwell was not a desperate in the traditional sense, 07:49 but he was an autocrat. 07:51 And he used the power of this Puritan majority 07:54 to somewhat force religion on an unwilling populace. 07:58 And after a very few years, 08:00 they'd had enough of this Britishness 08:04 where they couldn't have dances 08:06 and simple entertainments 08:08 and plays and all the rest, you know, things that 08:11 the conservatives still frown on, 08:13 somewhat legitimately. 08:15 But, you know, religion 08:16 was mandating every element of life 08:18 and they rejected it. 08:20 And I think as the United States 08:22 was forming Christian believers who were highly moralistic, 08:27 even a few of them 08:30 in the constitutional Congress 08:32 tried to force religious views in but wasn't going to carry 08:37 and they decided that 08:38 they wanted religion to be a personal matter, 08:40 not mandated by this federal government. 08:43 State government, 08:44 maybe you could argue a little differently. 08:46 And it says, "This Amendment has been called 08:48 the Magna Carta, of religious freedom 08:51 in the United States." 08:53 Magna Carta, again, maybe since many of our viewers 08:57 are in the United States, not so up on English history. 09:00 The Magna Carta, you know, 09:03 back was it 1300 or so was back in England, 09:08 when King John, a despotic ruler, 09:12 following on from Richard the Lionheart, 09:14 so offended not the common people 09:16 who had very little rights 09:18 and views not educated or empowered, 09:22 but the gentry, 09:24 the aristocracy was so offended by the king, 09:27 that they came together with their arms showing, 09:30 it was basically an armed insurrection, 09:32 and under duress, 09:33 they forced the king under duress 09:35 to sign the Magna Carta 09:37 which gave certain rights and freedoms to individuals. 09:40 For example, freedom 09:42 against arbitrary arrest 09:44 and imprisonment without charge and trial. 09:47 And the Constitution 09:49 of the United States accepted that 09:52 and the idea that you have a speedy trial. 09:54 Most of the elements of the Constitution enshrine 10:00 came from the Magna Carta. 10:02 And so the First Amendment's been called 10:05 the Magna Carta of religious freedom, 10:08 the bedrock legal basis. 10:11 It says, "It separates at a stroke the church 10:14 and the state and deprives 10:17 the church of the use of secular power 10:20 for the furtherance of her ends." 10:23 Author George Bancroft says and I quote him, 10:26 "Vindicating the right of individuality 10:29 even in religion and in religion above all, 10:32 the new nation dared to set the example 10:35 of accepting in its relations to God, 10:38 the principle first divinely ordained in Judea, 10:42 it left the management 10:43 of temporal things to the temporal power. 10:47 But the American Constitution in harmony 10:49 with the people of the several States, 10:51 withheld from the federal government, 10:54 the power to invade the home of reason, 10:57 the citadel of conscience, the sanctuary of the soul, 11:02 and not from indifference, 11:04 but that the infinite spirit of eternal truth 11:07 might move in its freedom and purity and power." 11:12 That's from a book in 1882, 11:16 "History of the Formation of the Constitution 11:18 of the United States." 11:20 They're not that far removed from when they settled it. 11:22 So he understood, it says, "By this provision, 11:25 the Federal Constitution, 11:27 the lawmaking power of our nation is prohibited 11:30 from enacting any law, touching religion. 11:36 Deciding religious controversies, 11:38 and enforcing religious dogmas 11:40 are not within the proper sphere 11:42 of the federal government. 11:45 For this reason, 11:46 we are unalterably opposed to all legislation 11:51 by our national legislature upon the Sabbath question." 11:55 Now I've got to pause here 11:57 because I'm sharing this for a reason. 11:59 Seventh-day Adventist keep the seventh day Sabbath. 12:05 We think, a clear reading of the Old 12:08 and the New Testaments. 12:10 The Saturday is the seventh day. 12:14 That's the seventh day that God's people 12:18 in the Old Testament and then by continuum 12:21 in the new we're enjoined to keep. 12:24 Over the years before the Reformation, 12:27 and even after it Catholics first 12:30 and then even Protestants 12:32 were tempted on occasion 12:33 to use civil power to enforce public worship. 12:38 And unfortunately, after Judaism was put down 12:43 and replaced by a consciously Roman 12:47 form of Christianity, they rejected the seventh day 12:51 in favor of the sixth day, 12:54 which had overtones, not just of paganism, 12:57 but overtones of Roman civil power 13:00 as a way to differentiate. 13:02 And so, Seventh-day Adventists, 13:04 in particular, see these continued 13:06 historical attempts to compel people 13:10 to worship a Sabbath, 13:12 they see on this wrong dynamic and a wrong day. 13:17 And we've forgotten that in our recent history. 13:21 But the United States has dabbled 13:24 with Sunday legislation, 13:27 variously over most of the course of its history. 13:30 Let's take a short break now and we'll come back 13:33 and I'll read a few more clips 13:35 from this article explaining 13:37 why Seventh-day Adventists think Sunday legislation 13:39 is inappropriate to a constitutionally mandated 13:44 United States government. |
Revised 2020-11-30