We are one nation under the Constitution of the U.S. created in 1787 by representatives of “We, the people.” The Founders also incorporated a Bill of Rights in 1791 to protect individual rights and liberties, and citizen independence protected by freedom of speech, peaceable assembly, religious liberty and freedom of the press.
The U.S. was not created, as letter-writer the Rev. Tony Joseph (“Is anyone listening to God?”) claims, based on “One nation under God,” “In God we trust” or “God bless America,” bumper-sticker slogans developed long after the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Joseph conjures up an angry, vengeful God who creates and warns us with covid-19, tornadoes and other disasters. Joseph sides with his angry, vengeful God and says liberal, socialist and communist movements have undermined and ruined the U.S. when the real dangers to America are would-be tyrants, authoritarians and national socialists.
We must restore the U.S. to its earlier Godly status, Joseph argues, for people to regain what the U.S. once was. What would that be? A Godly slave masters’ and slave traders’ republic? A Godly Jim Crow racist society? A nation of subjects without voting rights?
Fortunately, we have a Constitution, a Bill of Rights and national and state laws that protect us from religious and political overlords who would subjugate our spiritual lives and citizen independence.
Rodger C. Henderson
Johnstown