When in the Course of Human Events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the cause which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...
It would appear that the intent of our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence was to tie our unalienable rights to an eternal and incorruptible source, unlike earthly rulers who could dispense with the rights of the people if it pleased them. These statements in the Declaration of Independence are an attempt to refute the concept of "the divine right of kings."
Many of the men who wrote the Declaration, or later signed it, were religious men. If memory serves, there was almost no wrangling over the wording of its Preamble. There is almost no mention of religion in the Constitution itself, save in the first amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
If we take the first amendment at face value, then people can exercise their religion in any fashion that they see fit, as long as it does not disrupt our domestic tranquility or the general welfare. If a student wishes to pray in school, even a public school, there can be no law or court ruling that says otherwise. While I would not want to see In God We trust removed from our currency my world will not come to an end because of it.
Ten years ago I spent a semester studying at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. The members of my group had many occasions to observe Egyptian Muslims praying in public. Many buildings, both public and private, were covered with verses from the Koran. The insertion of religion into the government and public life was far more pervasive there than I have ever seen in the United States. With a couple of exceptions, almost every member of my group was Christian. Were they offended by what they saw? No, of course not! We accepted their right to worship in their own fashion without feeling the need to lecture them on the error of their ways.
Americans tend to be the world's biggest busy-bodies and nannies. Both sides of this argument could exercise a little more tolerance for the opposite point of view.
Regards, Shuckins
