Reminder on Religious Tests

With all the controversy swirling around first Keith Ellison, then Mitt Romney, and now Barack Obama, it's important to remind ourselves, that there is no religious test required for public office. Our Constitution is a secular document that protects religious rights for every person, whether Protestant, Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, Agnostic, spiritual but not religious, and even Atheist. As Mark Toulouse reminds us in God in Public the framers had it in their power to "make the Constitution an explicitly Christian document, or, at least one that barred non-Christians from holding office." But they didn't. Yes, a number of states did just this, and some established churches, but in the end it's the Federal Constitution that sets the direction for the nation. (Mark Toulouse, God in Public, WJK, 2006, p. 7).

The key point in all of this discussion is clause 3 of Article 6 of the Constitution, which states:

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Now it may be that the framers envisioned a nation that would be fairly homogeneous with one religion dominating -- and that being a broadly construed Protestant form of Christianity, but the truth is our nation is no longer homogeneous. It's quite likely that we'll see more Muslims and Buddhists and even atheists elected to office, and you know that's a good thing.

No regarding this most recent flap, let's just make clear it doesn't matter if Obama studied the Koran as a little kid, anymore than it matters if Mitt Romney studied the Book of Mormon, or Hillary Clinton read the Bible! That is not a test of office. What matters is a heart and mind committed to the welfare of the whole people of this nation and for that matter the world!

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