Gary points out the ongoing hypocrisy of the media and social media allowing liberal celebrities to say and post the most outlandish comments about Donald Trump.
With so much debate, how does anyone know what the First Amendment means? An interpreter of any document as important as the Constitution must consider the historical circumstances that led to its formation, the vocabulary of the period, documents of similar construction, the political views of the authors, the prevailing religious worldview, and the intended audience. With these points in mind, it would be wise, therefore, to follow the method suggested by Thomas Jefferson in understanding the original meaning of the First Amendment:
On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
James Wilson (1742–1798) offered similar sound advice. “The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it.” As Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, “A page of history is worth a volume of logic.”
The First Amendment “provides a legal separation between Church and State: not a moral nor a spiritual separation… There is no reason, under the Constitution of the United States, why the principles of Christianity cannot pervade the laws and institutions of the United States of America.”[1] Today’s Christian political activists are not calling on the State to establish churches, to force people to attend church, or to pay for the work of the church. They are simply maintaining that we cannot have good government without a moral foundation and that moral foundation resides in the Christian religion.
Restoring the Foundation of Civilization
There are many Christians who will not participate in civilization-building efforts that include economics, journalism, politics, education, and science because they believe (or have been taught to believe) these areas of thought are outside the realm of what constitutes a Christian worldview. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Buy NowGary points out the ongoing hypocrisy of the media and social media allowing liberal celebrities to say and post the most outlandish comments about Donald Trump. How much did these violent statements influence the shooter who tried to take him out? The double-standard is nearly impossible to ignore, so much so that even some on the Left are beginning to notice.
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[1] J. Marcellus Kik, Church and State (Nashville: Thomas Nelson,1963), 116.