The Christian Religious Right Has Radicalized The Republican Party

Thomas Jefferson studied and embraced Enlightenment philosophy, the ideas of the Age of Reason. And they inspired him when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator [nature’s God] with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In two sentences Jefferson established the philosophical foundation of our nation, equality, “unalienable Rights,” and government derived from the “consent of the governed.” More than a rebellion against the crown, the war of independence was a revolution in how governments relate to citizens. Kings ruled by “Divine right;” in America it would be by the consent of the governed. The opening phrase of our constitution, “We the People” enforces that philosophy. It is the people who will establish government and law… not the people “trusting in god” or the people “under god” or the people “by the grace of god.” It is the people alone. Why? Why was it the people alone when so many of the founders were...