Power from the people

An interesting discussion from Ms Magazine, of all places, about the a-religious nature of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers' intentions to keep it that way, no matter what the religious right may say.

To quote Adams on the Constitution:

… It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service [forming the U.S. government] had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses. …Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery… are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind

John Ashcroft might learn something by dipping into these writings, or even the Constitution itself, from time to time.(via LaDiDa)