Last Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a video in which Christian nationalist pastors express their opposition to the idea of women voting. “I would like to see this nation being a Christian nation, and I would like this world to be a Christian world,” said Christian nationalist Doug Wilson. In his repost of the video, Hegseth wrote “All of Christ for All of Life.”
But the government of the United States of America is not, and never has been, based in Christianity. In his 1785 “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments,” framer of the Constitution James Madison explained that what was at stake in the separation of church and state was not just religion, but also representative government itself. The establishment of one religion over others attacked a fundamental, unalienable human right—that of conscience. If lawmakers could destroy the right of freedom of conscience, they could destroy all other unalienable rights. Those in charge of government could throw representative government out the window and make themselves tyrants.
The United States of America is based not on religion but on the law. The country’s founding documents are the Declaration of Independence, which established the principle that all people are created equal, and the U.S. Constitution, which has gradually expanded since it was first written, increasingly recognizing the equal rights of all Americans.
The Constitution didn’t expand on its own. Since the time colonists first began to contemplate creating their own country, individuals have worked, step by step, to create an inclusive democracy. The Declaration of Independence gave them the language to claim those rights, and using it, along with logic, art, organization, and humor, they challenged the nation to turn the principles of the Declaration of Independence into reality.
At a time when political leaders like Hegseth are using their crabbed understanding of religion to take away rights, it seems worth remembering those who expanded rights by standing firm on the Declaration of Independence. The linked videos are a window into how ten people led the way.
So tonight is a night off from the firehose of the news and a reminder of what it has meant throughout our history to stand for American values.
I’ll be back at it tomorrow.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2dS6uX1RkUzIhvfzi1zPwdgTDv9NNnJK
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Notes:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/09/pete-hegseth-video-pastors-women-voting
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163#JSMN-01-08-02-0163-fn-0014-ptr
This post has been syndicated from Letters from an American, where it was published under this address.