{"id":2020932,"date":"2023-09-03T16:33:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-03T20:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-the-time-scotus-officially-declared-the-us-a-christian-nation\/"},"modified":"2023-09-03T16:37:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T20:37:07","slug":"flashback-the-time-scotus-officially-declared-the-us-a-christian-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-the-time-scotus-officially-declared-the-us-a-christian-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback: When SCOTUS Officially Declared US a Christian Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fflashback-the-time-scotus-officially-declared-the-us-a-christian-nation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2020932&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Flashback: The Time \u200cSCOTUS Officially Declared the US a \u2062Christian Nation<\/h2>\n<p>When an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-the-time-scotus-officially-declared-the-us-a-christian-nation\/\" title=\"Flashback: When SCOTUS Officially Declared US a Christian Nation\">ordinary public official refers<\/a> to the\u200b United States as \u200d\u201ca Christian nation,\u201d\u200c the reference\u200d conveys \u200dan opinion.<\/p>\n<p>When the United States Supreme Court uses this same phrase, \u2062however \u2014 and when the phrase serves as the primary justification\u2064 for a\u200d unanimous decision that overturns a lower-court ruling \u2014\u200b the phrase suddenly \u2062carries the \u200cweight of judicial precedent.<\/p>\n<p>This is precisely what occurred in the \u200b1892\u200b case <em>Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Justice David J. Brewer \u200dwrote the <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/143\/457\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opinion<\/a> in\u200d a case noteworthy both for the Court\u2019s \u200bunanimity and for its reasoning.<\/p>\n<p>Oddly enough,\u2062 <em>Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States<\/em> originated in a dispute\u2062 over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labor-board-dismisses-union-misconduct-complaints-following-biden-purge\/\" title=\"Labor Board Dismisses Union Misconduct Complaints Following Biden Purge\">labor law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In 1887, the New York-based Church of the Holy Trinity contracted with E. Walpole Warren, a resident\u2064 of England. By \u2062the terms of the\u200b contract, \u2062Warren would\u200d relocate to New York and\u200d serve as the\u200d church\u2019s rector and pastor.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, \u200bin 1880 \u2064the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/house-conservatives-arent-afraid-sending-government-shutdown-spending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Congress<\/a> had passed legislation \u201cto \u2063prohibit the importation and migration\u200c of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its Territories, and the\u2064 District of Columbia.\u201d\u200d A lower court \u2062ruled\u200d that Warren\u2019s\u2064 contract with the church violated the 1880 law.<\/p>\n<p>Significantly, Brewer did not dispute the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/third-degree-murder-charge-against-ex-cop-derek-chauvin-reinstated-by-appeals-court\/\" title=\"Third-Degree Murder Charge Against Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin Reinstated By Appeals Court\">lower court\u2019<\/a>s literal reading of that \u206412-year-old statute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt must be conceded that the act of the corporation is within the letter of this section, for \u2064the\u2064 relation of rector to\u2064 his church\u2062 is\u2063 one of service, and implies \u2063labor on the one side with \u2063compensation\u2062 on the other,\u201d Brewer wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the fifth section of the 1880 \u200claw made \u201cspecific exceptions,\u201d \u200band \u201crector\u201d or \u201cpastor\u201d did not appear among them.<\/p>\n<p>Having acknowledged the lower court\u2019s firm literal ground, Brewer \u2063nonetheless explained \u2064that \u2064the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/democrats-think-can-run-clarence-thomas-off-supreme-court-watch-video-1991-confirmation-hearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Supreme Court<\/a> had reached a\u200c different conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile\u2062 there is great force to this reasoning, we \u2064cannot think Congress intended to denounce with \u200dpenalties a\u2063 transaction \u200blike that in the present \u200ccase,\u201d Brewer wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Warren\u2019s contract with the Church of the Holy Trinity involved \u200dspecial considerations.<\/p>\n<p>One such consideration \u200dinvolved context. For \u200binstance, \u200cevery piece of\u2062 contemporary evidence \u200dshowed that in 1880, Congress sought to prevent the influx of\u200c cheap and unskilled foreign laborers \u2014 those who, by contracting with U.S. employers, suppressed \u200dthe demand for native \u2064workers. Citing \u2062\u201cintent of the legislature,\u201d Brewer noted that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/james-comer-reveals-dark-truth-behind-hunters-special-prosecutor-cover-underway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Congress<\/a> did not \u2063mean to exclude preachers.<\/p>\n<p>Brewer, however, did\u200c not rest his opinion on \u201cintent of\u200d the legislature.\u201d \u200dHe went\u200d further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, beyond all these matters, no purpose of action against \u200dreligion can be imputed to any legislation, state or\u2064 national, because this is a religious people,\u201d he \u2062wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In short, no\u200b government at any level may take\u200b \u201caction against\u200b religion,\u201d because \u200cAmericans\u200b are \u201ca \u200dreligious \u200dpeople.\u201d One can \u200bscarcely\u2064 imagine a stronger assertion of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/victory-freedom-unexpected-state-declares-churches-will-never-close\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">religious liberty<\/a> rooted in tradition.<\/p>\n<p>Brewer \u200cthen\u2062 reviewed the history of explorers\u2019\u2064 commissions, colonial charters, grants \u200cof privileges, state \u200dconstitutions and other solemn public \u200cdeclarations since Christopher Columbus\u2019 time. All \u201caffirm and \u2064reaffirm that this is a\u200c religious \u200bnation,\u201d he\u200b wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, \u201cAmerican life, as expressed \u2062by its laws, its business, its customs, and its society,\u201d reveals \u2063\u201cthe same\u200b truth.\u201d In fact,\u2064 \u201cThese, and many other\u2062 matters which might\u200d be noticed,\u200d add a \u2063volume of unofficial declarations\u2062 to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thus, because America is \u201ca <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/preach-joe-rogan-encourages-rich-men-north-richmond-singer-share-faith-read-bible-podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christian<\/a> nation,\u201d could anyone\u2064 reasonably assume that \u2064Congress \u201cintended to make it a misdemeanor for a church\u200c of this country \u2062to \u2064contract for the services\u200b of a Christian minister residing in another nation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one could mistake the basis \u200bof Brewer\u2019s \u2062reasoning. Indeed, he devoted\u200b more than\u2063 half of the \u200bopinion \u200bto centuries of\u2063 evidence revealing America as \u200c\u201ca Christian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Legal scholars\u2062 refer to extraneous \u200cjudicial editorializing as <em>obiter dictum \u2014 <\/em>personal views devoid of legal\u200d force. Brewer\u2019s opinion, however, does\u200c not qualify as <em>obiter dictum<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/112-former-law-clerks-justice-thomas-write-open-letter-critics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Supreme Court<\/a> ruled that the 1880 statute \u200cdid not prohibit the church\u2019s contract with \u200cWarren. It based that ruling on the \u201cintent of\u200d the legislature\u201d derived from America\u2019s identity as \u201ca Christian nation.\u201d That Christian\u2062 identity,\u2062 therefore, represents the most important point in the entire case.<\/p>\n<p>Congress might ban foreign contract labor, but \u2063it \u200bwould not dare\u2063 exclude rectors\u2064 and pastors. Elected representatives in \u2063\u201ca\u2062 Christian nation\u201d would never dream of \u2064such \u2064a thing.<\/p>\n<p>So \u200bthe Supreme Court once \u2063ruled.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2064 post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/flashback-time-scotus-officially-declared-us-christian-nation\/\">Flashback: The Time SCOTUS Officially Declared the US a\u200c Christian Nation<\/a> \u200d appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The\u2063 Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a regular official calls the US a &#8220;Christian nation,&#8221; it&#8217;s an opinion. But when the Supreme Court uses the same phrase to justify a unanimous decision that overturns a lower-court ruling, it holds significant weight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2056,"featured_media":2020933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2056"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}