The American Soul
Are you tired of hearing the myth about separation of church and state? Are you tired of being told that America is not and never was a Christian nation? Do you want to have the information to stand up for the truth and fight back against this fundamental lie that’s invading our culture and education? Each week, host Jesse Cope will dive into quotes and excerpts from our great leaders and documents throughout our history showing how in President Woodrow Wilson’s words “America was born a Christian nation.” We have the truth on our side and together we can absolutely turn our nation around. Follow Jesse @jtcope4 on Twitter and @jtcopeiv on Instagram for daily doses of the truth to help fight back. Subscribe to The American Soul and share the show with someone who needs to hear it. We're on a mission to spread the truth and get our nation back on the right track — and you can help us make this possible.
The American Soul
Faith and Governance: Insights from Early American State Constitutions
What can early American state constitutions teach us about the intricate relationship between faith and governance? Join me, Jesse Cope, on the American Soul Podcast as we uncover the profound Christian references within the Constitution of New York from 1777, and how the founding generation's beliefs in natural laws and divine principles influenced the nation's framework. We begin our journey with heartfelt gratitude to our listeners, an update on the homestead, and a timeless lesson from my mother about seizing opportunities when they arise. With a prayer for educators and families, we emphasize the importance of daily Bible reading, prayer, and expressing love to our spouses, setting the stage for our deep dive into early American state constitutions.
Explore the historical context of religious requirements for public office in North Carolina's 1776 constitution, where we discuss the critical role of faith-based qualifications in governance and the intent behind prohibiting dual office-holding to avoid conflicts of interest. Discover the common misconception about the separation of church and state, and how North Carolina mandated that officeholders acknowledge God and the Protestant religion to ensure the state's freedom and safety. We also examine the Constitution of New Hampshire from 1776, noting its unique lack of religious emphasis and reflecting on the significant autonomy originally granted to the states. As we conclude, I extend my blessings to you and your families, eagerly looking forward to our future discussions on the foundational principles that shaped our nation.
The American Soul Podcast
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Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day you're in. I sure do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and energy, a little piece of your day energy, a little peace of your day. I know y'all have other things pulling demanding your attention. So thank you for spending a little bit of time here with me. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully it gives us a little something to add to our toolboxes. Hopefully it helps our country, even if just a little bit, turn back to God and Jesus Christ. For those of y'all that continue to share the podcast, tell others about it, thank you. For those of y'all that continue to give me encouragement via words, online or in person, thank you so much. And for those of y'all that pray for me in the podcast, thank you Very, very grateful.
Speaker 1:Homestead did not get a lot done. I thought I was going to get some work done. I did not. It's never good because time right your seasons, planting all that. It never stops. So we'll see. Actually, you know what? That's not true. We got a little work done on the tractor. Actually, you know what? That's not true. We got a little work done on the tractor. Got a little work done on the tractor. We had to change out some filters, a couple other things.
Speaker 1:As my mother used to say, you do what you can when you can. I think I've told that story on here. I was getting all upset going to the Marine Corps on the days that I didn't go out and run five miles plus whatever, and she could tell that I was getting all wrapped around the axle about it, all stressed out about it, and she said, look, just do what you can when you can. She said if all you can do is run a mile that day, or two miles, then just do that. And that has helped over the years, not as much as it should have, but more than it would have been without it.
Speaker 1:Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love, mercy, grace, forgiveness. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the people that listen to the podcast and share it. Be with them and their families, guide them, bless them, surround them with your angels. Protect us from evil, father, of any kind. Help us to do your will, to follow your son's commands, the example that your son set. Be with our educators across the nation. Help us to turn back to you. Help us to put the Bible back in the center of our, of the education of our children. Fill our classrooms with your Holy Spirit. Teachers, coaches, administrators, counselors. Help us to help those that have less than we do. Father, I've got my words here. Please, in your son's name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to get back into the state constitutions. First, have you made time for your Bible today? At least five minutes, folks. You could find five minutes somewhere in your day. Have you made time to read God's word? Have you made time to pray a little bit? Spend some time with him, make some time to listen to him I'm so bad at that. And if you're married, have you made time for your spouse? Do they know, without a doubt, that they are your second priority each day, after only God? Via actions, folks and a positive attitude. Do we tell them we love them or do we show them? And when we show them, is it a joy and a privilege or is it a burden and a weight that we carry? And let them know that it's a weight we carry.
Speaker 1:All right, I think we talked about Delaware. We're going to talk about North Carolina. I think let's see. Let me see if that's really where I want to go or not. Tell you what. We'll start in New York. How about that? So this is the Constitution of New York, april 20th 1777. April 20th 1777, not real sure what section. They don't really have this broken down into sections that I can tell in the New York one, but somewhere I don't know. First, dozen paragraphs or so.
Speaker 1:And whereas the delegates of the United States United American states in general, congress convened did on the fourth day of July, now last passed solemnly publish and declare in the words following A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes 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, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And they continue this first part, folks, laws of nature and of nature's God. We haven't done a podcast on Blackstone in a while. Might have even been a year or more now.
Speaker 1:But when you look at those two phrases laws of nature and of nature's God the people in that time period would have understood them to be a reference to Christianity, a reference to God, the Father of Jesus Christ. It would not have been random to that founding generation. It would certainly not have been just a general appeal or an appeal to a general deity appeal or an appeal to a general deity. They would have understood it and seen it as a specific reference to God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then the following sentences the Creator and the unalienable rights. Again, they would have understood those to be a direct reference to God, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And it's really.
Speaker 1:You see, again, there's so many different paths to take in this conversation. There's so many different paths to take in this conversation, but the easiest way is, if we don't have a people that adhere to those principles of Christ, then those inalienable rights are going to be abused, and you can see that with abortion and life. It's the very first right listed in the Declaration of Independence by God, the Father of Jesus Christ, and we have trampled over it. The New Testament clearly tells us that there's a relationship between the Spirit of God and liberty. And so the more we reject God, the Father of Jesus Christ, whether we're embracing well, any false god folks, because atheism is still embracing a god. They just call it science or communism, a state ideology, right. But no matter what false god we embrace and reject the one true God, we're going to start to lose those liberties as outlined in the Declaration and we have, and you see, them referenced again here in the Constitution of New York.
Speaker 1:So I don't know whether they call these articles or sections. I hope I can remember my Roman numerals well enough. I think this is article or section, whatever they're calling it, 39. We talked about this briefly a couple days ago on the podcast. But and whereas the ministers of the gospel are, by their profession, dedicated to the service of God and the care of souls and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their function, therefore, no minister of the gospel or priest of any denomination whatsoever shall at any time hereafter, under any presence or description whatever, be eligible to or capable of holding any civil or military office or place within the state Right.
Speaker 1:The reason I think this is interesting is because the left would use this to say, aha, they didn't want Christianity, they didn't want any kind of religion in the state. And that's not what they're saying at all. You really have to be, you have to have a pretty driven agenda to twist that meaning out of those words. First of all, they're talking about that the job of a minister, of a priest again, general Christianity, any denomination. This is a great little point that I hadn't even thought about, folks, until just now. But they don't even list other religions. They just simply say denominations. They don't even list Christianity, because that's the only thing that they would have been talking about and everybody knew it. That's the only thing that they would have been talking about and everybody knew it. And so they want these pastors and priests focused on their job of saving souls. It's so important that they don't ever want their attention diverted from that, if they're functioning in that capacity, to be diverted to civil matters and trying to hold dual offices, dual responsibilities. Right, this is not them saying that they don't want the principles of Christ in government, but they very much don't want the state controlling the church or the state and the church binding together to punish anyone who doesn't join that particular denomination, as you saw so often in Europe.
Speaker 1:I just thought that was an interesting little blip in the Constitution of New York. Constitution of New York, so we'll go ahead and move on to North Carolina now. Now we'll go to North Carolina. This is out of section or article 19, and this is the Constitution of North Carolina from December 18, 1776. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. It's interesting here, folks, they didn't say anything about not worshiping God, although that was certainly included, but they're saying that you have a right to worship God in whatever manner you see fit. God, the Father, jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Go down to section 27. 27.
Speaker 1:And this is under the Constitution or form of government, and there's a list of certain people that can't have multiple jobs. And this ties into our comment on the priests or pastors section from New York, the Constitution of New York, that no treasurer shall have a seat either in the Senate, house of Commons or Council of State during his continuance in that office or before he shall finally have settled his accounts with the public for all the monies which may be in his hands at the expiration of his office belonging to the State and have paid the same into the hands of the succeeding Treasurer. Nor any contractor or agent for supplying such army or navy with clothing or provisions shall have a seat either in the Senate, house of Commons or Council of State or be eligible thereto. And any member of the Senate, house of Commons or Council of State being appointed to and accepting of such office shall thereby vacate his seat. That no member of the Council of State shall have a seat either in the Senate or House of Commons. That no judge of the Supreme Court of Law or Equity or Judge or Admiralty shall have a seat in the Senate, house of Commons or Council of State. That no secretary of state, attorney general or clerk of any court of record shall have a seat in the Senate, house of Commons or Council of State. That no clergyman or preacher of the Gospels of any denomination shall be capable of being a member of either the Senate, house of Commons or Council of State while he continues to exercise of the pastoral function. That no person who shall deny. Well, we'll read that in a second, but so you see this point.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people that they didn't want holding dual offices, they didn't want a conflict of interest. And so it would be absurd to say, for example, that if you had been a treasurer and they don't want you being in the Senate or the House of Commons that that means that they don't want anything to do with money or financial decisions in the Senate or the House of Commons. But that's the same absurdity that the left has pushed, really well propagandized over the last century, and it goes back to that twisting, that 1947 decision separation of church and state. They didn't want the founders didn't want the state controlling the church or there to be a bind, a bond between the state and the church so that anyone that didn't belong to the state approved denomination could be imprisoned or tortured or had their property confiscated or whatever else. Right. But that didn't mean at all that they didn't want those principles of Christ involved in government. They didn't want a treasurer filling a seat in the Senate or the House, but surely they wanted the principles, sound fiscal principles, in the Senate and the House. They didn't want a pastor filling a role when they were actively in the role of pastor in the Senate or the House, but they surely wanted those principles of Christ enacted in the House and the Senate and our laws and constitutions in the House and the Senate and our laws and constitutions.
Speaker 1:This is Article or Section 32. That no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion or the divine authority, either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the state shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this state. So they would tell you today that we never had a requirement for faith in holding office and that's just not true. That's a lie. Our state constitutions you'll see as we go through them that a number of them did. This is New York and they're saying not only specifically did you have to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you had to be a Protestant. Just read that again, just to make sure for the people in the back.
Speaker 1:That no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion or the divine authority, either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the state shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within the state. So if you're going to say that, for example, as we have some now that claim that if you belong to a Protestant denomination you're going to go to hell, that it's a false religion, you couldn't serve in the state of New York under the Constitution. And if you were going to deny God and Jesus Christ, you couldn't serve in the state under the Constitution of New York. And if you were going to deny the Old or the New Testament, the truth of Scripture, you couldn't serve in the state of New York under their state constitution. And so when somebody tells you that, oh well, the federal government changed all that later. No, the federal government left the authority with the states. State of New York said you couldn't hold office. That's the way they left it.
Speaker 1:All right, let's see what else we got. I think that may be it out of New York. I'll check for one more thing here. So this is your original Constitution, I'm sorry, not of New York. Oh, go back and change all that in your mind. I got used to reading New York because that's what we started with.
Speaker 1:This was North Carolina, so Constitution of North Carolina, december 18th 1776. So all of those things I just said apply to North Carolina. I apologize. All right, let's see where we're going to go next. I think. Georgia actually. Oh no, no, I was wrong.
Speaker 1:I do have a little bit of reasoning in the way I'm going through this folks A little bit, and I'm. I should have had them in order already and I apologize that I didn't. Yeah, new Hampshire New Hampshire was one of the constitutions, and this is the Constitution of New Hampshire in 1776. It really doesn't say much of anything about religion or faith period, and so you have a couple of those out of these original 13 colonies, and the Constitution of New Hampshire is one of them. And so again, we forgot today how much power they left with the states, and I went way over folks I didn't even realize. So I apologize. This is a good place to end, and New Hampshire was one of those that just really didn't talk much about it one way or the other, at least not in their original state constitution, this one from 1776. God bless y'all. God bless your families, your marriages. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks Looking forward to it.