On the God of the Declaration of Independence

In the July 2008 issue of “Baptists Today” Dr. Walter Shurden, a highly respected Baptist historian, urges us to read the Declaration of Independence for ourselves. He points out that the D of I contains four references to God. The first reference is in the first sentence. God is called “Nature’s God.” Why? Because “Nature’s God” grants people the freedom and right to assume a separate and equal place among the people of the earth.

The second reference to God is in the second sentence: “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.” Dr. Shurden points out that while “Nature’s God” grants equal standing for all people, the “Creator” endows “all men” with “certain unalienable rights.” The D of I envisions human liberties as gifts of nature’s God to all people, not exclusively to Americans or to American Christians.

The third reference to the Divine is found in the first sentence of the last paragraph: “We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions . . . “ Again,” Dr. Shurden points out, “we have a generic synonym for God.”

Finally, Thomas Jefferson concluded the revolutionary document with these words. “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

The extremely generic names for God used in the D of I indicate clearly that the Founding Fathers did not want the document to be secular, but they intentionally avoided Christian imagery. The 56 men who signed the D of I wisely made room for all religions and for those with no religion in America. Dr. Shurden concludes, “To that, Baptists, who felt the nasty sting of religious oppression in the Colonial Period, can say today, ‘Thanks be to God for religious freedom for all, for those with religion of any kind and for those with no religion at all.’”

Have a Happy 4th of July Weekend,