'Religious Freedom Comes from God'

Van Orden v. Perry

McCreary County, Kentucky. v. ACLU of Kentucky,

Well, I've been asked for many years to write a book about what was going on in Alabama for the last ten years or so about the Ten Commandments and what it means to have religious freedom and liberty. That's what the book is about; it's not only about my life, but also about what led me to do what I did.

The book covers separation of church and state. We cover the rule of law. We cover the judicial tyranny--how judges are not ruling by the Constitution they're sworn to uphold. Separation of church and state, as I said, and separation of powers are also covered.

Well, separation of church and state is a doctrine, historical or legal. Although those words are not in the Constitution or the Declaration or Articles of Confederation or Articles of Association, they're still a very viable concept originally coming from the Bible where God separated the jurisdiction of the priests from the jurisdiction of the kings. It comes down to history--in the 14th and 15th centuries, there was a lot of rivalry between the pope of Rome and the kings of Europe, both of which acknowledged God but wanted to control the other. That's exactly what our forefathers wanted to get away from, not God but the control by the state over the church, and we've misconstrued the concept to separation of church and state. It's a very valuable concept, but it doesn't mean to separate us from God or Christian principles. Indeed, separation of church and state mandates a recognition of the Judeo-Christian God.

It leaves them where this country left them--with freedom of religion. You see, that freedom comes from a particular God. It doesn't come from the Muslim God. If you go to Saudi Arabia, you'll find the state enforcing a particular way to worship God that is contradictory to what the concept in America was. Freedom of religion comes from God and the state is prohibited from interfering with it. Indeed, as late as 1946, the United States Supreme Court itself, in

, recognized that the victory for freedom of thought recorded in the Bill of Rights recognizes that in the domain of conscience, there is a moral power higher than the state. Throughout the ages, people have suffered death rather than subordinate their allegiance to God to the authority of the state. Freedom of religion guaranteed by the first amendment is a product of that struggle. That's true today--we have our freedom because of God.

For the same that when the president takes his oath on the Bible, he says 'So help me God.' The same reason the United States Supreme Court publicly acknowledges God in its opening prayer, 'God save the United States and this honorable court.' The same reason for our national motto, 'In God We Trust'. We publicly acknowledge God. It's simply something that our oath is based upon. If you have to uphold the Constitution, you cannot understand it if you cannot understand man is a fallen creature and that the Constitution separates those powers between various branches with checks and balances on them particularly because man is a fallen creature and seeks power. To restrain that power was the very purpose of the Constitution.

Because this country's founded upon God; without the acknowledgement of God, there would be no country. The Declaration of Independence says very clearly that we're entitled to exist as a power on Earth by the laws of nature and nature's God. The United States code annotated today recognizes the Declaration as organic law; it is the law I'm sworn to uphold. The Constitution of Alabama said that we invoked the favoring guidance of Almighty God in order to establish justice.

Courts do not have authority over what you think. When you come before the court you're free to be a Christian, a Jew, an atheist, a Buddhist, or whatever because courts judge you on what you've done, not what you think. And likewise when you leave the courts, you can worship a tree if you want and the court cannot interfere with that. That is a concept coming from God.

It's identified with a particular God, the Judeo-Christian God. It is the laws that form the moral basis of our society and it represents the restrictions of government in its two tables.

Well, it wouldn't be prohibited by the First Amendment.

No, I haven't considered that but you know, if I did, I would have.

Probably.

Well, it wouldn't be representative of the history of this country and what we're founded upon. Nevertheless, it wouldn't be a violation of the First Amendment either; in other words, it's not prohibited by the First Amendment.

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