Universalists and the Constitution
I was reading about the debate over the adoption of the Constitution when I burst out laughing. Some of the antifederalists objected to the document because it did not establish a religious test for holding office. One opponent complained that this could lead to a situation in which “a Turk, a Jew, a Roman Catholic, and what is worse than all, a Universalist, may be President of the United States.”
What made it funny is that I am myself a Unitarian-Universalist (UU), and my leanings are more to the Universalist side of our very non-creedal creed. My first quarrel with the church of my childhood was how the people could simultaneously believe that God is Love and that He will cast you into a pit of fire if you don’t love Him back under a precise set of rules.
When I began writing In the Midst of Death . . ., my first instinct was to make the Rev. Elias Wilson a Universalist, only it wasn’t officially organized until after the events in the book. Ditto with Unitarianism. So I shoehorned the good man into one of the stern Calvinist faiths that were active in New York in the 18th Century, and just made sure that he didn’t really fit the job description:
“The earthly representative of an angry and vengeful God was supposed to thunder from the pulpit. Wilson couldn’t bring himself to thunder at a wayward puppy in need of housebreaking. The most he could dredge up was a scolding, and even that was invariably followed by a forgiving hug or pat on the back.”
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BTW, I was reading about the Constitutional debate because, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, I am studying the most important foundation of our country. This was inspired by the Gold Star father who challenged Donald Trump by asking if he’d even read the Constitution. And I thought, “Wow, I haven’t read it either.”
It’s early days yet, for both for the course and for the child throwing tantrums in the Oval Office, but I am taking heart at what I read. This is a very strong document. We are in for an ugly time of it, and there’s going to be a lot of pain and disgrace to our nation, but with our Constitution, a free and watchful press, and vigilant opposition, Trump and his alt-right cronies will not lead us down the path to fascism.
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