"The framers of the Constitution quite deliberately excluded religion from the U.S. Constitution. - - - "
"In order to make sure men had the right of conscience, the framers added the First Amendment to the Constitution. It read: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….' "
"In the early years of the nation, Americans zealously guarded the wall between the two. They strictly limited the power of the federal government to reflect religion, refusing even to permit the government to stop delivery of the U.S. mails on Sunday out of concern that Jews and Christians did not share the same Sabbath, and the government could not choose one over the other. The Constitution, a congressional report noted, gave Congress no authority 'to inquire and determine what part of time, or whether any has been set apart by the Almighty for religious exercises.'"
"But the Civil War marked a change. As early as the 1830s, southern white enslavers relied on religious justification for their hierarchical system that rested on white supremacy. God, they argued, had made Black Americans for enslavement and women for marriage, and society must recognize those facts."
"The Confederacy rejected the idea of popular government, maintaining instead that a few Americans should make the rules for the majority. - - - "
"Confederates not only invoked 'the favor and guidance of Almighty God' in their Constitution, they established as their motto 'Deo vindice,' or 'God will vindicate.'"
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