If you don’t remember your civics education from elementary school, you may not remember that the United States Constitution does not have any of these words in it: God, Christ, Christianity, prayer, worship. Not once do any of these words appear in our Constitution, and that was intentional by the signers, our “founders,” who discussed such things and knew well that wars are fought over the establishment of a state religion.
Instead, the First Amendment to the Constitution spells out that our government should neither impose a religion nor forbid the practice of religion; that is the choice of each one of us alone, according to our conscience.
If you’d like a pocket Constitution, the University of Alaska Anchorage library can give you one for free, thanks to its membership in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Or you can ask your public librarian to help you find the original text online from a reliable source.
In this time of heated local and national elections, it’s good to know what the supreme law of the land actually says — and doesn’t say — because there is plenty of misinformation out there. As you fly your flag, please also read our Constitution, which the president, Congress and all military members take an oath to support and defend.
— Karen Jensen
Fairbanks
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.