One purpose of the present language [on Article VI, Clause 3 on no religious tests] is to avoid a national church like the Church of England. All the states are opposed to a national church but not to a public recognition that this is a Christian nation. No denomination of the Christian Faith must rule over others, but our common Trinitarian Christianity must be publicly proclaimed throughout all the world. In the name of the true God, we must seek his blessings by professing in our official documents his claim over us.

Honorable fathers and brethren of this august body, I thank you for the privilege of speaking to you here today on this hot July afternoon in Philadelphia. Let me state my point immediately at the very beginning. This union of states you are seeking to create as a nation must be recognized in this Constitution as a Christian nation.  I submit this speech in order to prevent you from choosing any other option, and in order to save this nation from self-destruction in years to come, long after each of you are gone.

I plead with this body to delete the portion of the words in Article VI, Clause 3, which says that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The majority of the states do already require a religious test for officeholders to the Trinitarian God of the Bible. The new Constitution should replicate the standards reflected in the state constitutions.  Thus, please realize that this new article is contrary to the practice of the states.

And yes, one purpose of the present language is to avoid a national church like the Church of England. All the states are opposed to a national church but not to a public recognition that this is a Christian nation. No denomination of the Christian Faith must rule over others, but our common Trinitarian Christianity must be publicly proclaimed throughout all the world. In the name of the true God, we must seek his blessings by professing in our official documents his claim over us.

Article VI.3 will be interpreted as a clause to ensure neutrality, which we all should know is impossible. Protestant pluralism has worked well for us among the states thus far, but it must be codified in our national document.  This is a Christian nation as is evident in the individual states and as documented in their constitutions. This is further proved to be true by the multitude of churches that cover the landscape of our nation. Being Christian men, or those who have the highest regard for the Bible, the Word of God, I urge you to adopt a religious test that declares every officer in the United States government must take an oath of allegiance to the Trinitarian God of the Bible before he takes office.

1. If you follow any other pathway, you will guarantee the self-destruction of this nation in years to come. This nation will become a collaboration of religions of which all of them are considered equal.  Every religion has its own law system and every religion wishes to see its laws instituted in society as a whole. This can only lead to civil strife and chaos. Even those who claim no religion profess a religion.  They are not neutral.  Jesus said that we are either for him or against him. Such people may be the greatest threat of all to the Christian Faith in this country.
2. This concept is based upon the paradigm of the national government in Old Testament Israel. In the Old Testament, Israel worshiped the one true God and him alone.  This pleased God.  Foreigners and aliens (legally admitted) were welcome to live in Israel and to participate in its wealth, but they could not build public houses of worship to their false gods.  Likewise, only Christian churches should cover the landscape of this county.
3. Both foreigners and aliens in Israel had the privilege of being protected in both their persons and property by the Law of God, just as any citizen of Israel. They were to be treated with kindness and love, since Israel itself was once an alien in a foreign land.  Even atheists would be allowed to enjoy the blessings of this new nation.  However, temples to false idols were not allowed under the Old Covenant.
4. Likewise, America should welcome others to enjoy the blessings that God may give to this land, but, like Israel of old, these men of other religions must not participate in the legislation or administration of the law of this Christian nation. With many gods publicly worshiped in the land, it will become a polytheistic nation which will not long endure. It will eventually become nothing but religious and political tribes fighting against each other for power to rule according to its respective religious beliefs.
5. This restriction would apply to Islam, Judaism, and all eastern religions. Consider how the United States, if blessed by the Triune God, will become a magnet to draw others from all other religions to see us as “shining city upon a hill” and how these unbelievers will be attracted to the God who has blessed us so much.  It will be a great means of evangelism.  Even jealousy can be a motive for conversion of unbelievers to Christ.  The Apostle Paul was passionate about this in regard to the Israelites in Romans 14:11 where he says “that I may move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.”
6. I fear the day when God’s law does not reign in the land. It is either God’s law or chaos.  If the Ten Commandments are not a standard for society as well as the church, then this land will turn into something equal to Sodom and Gomorrah, where sexual perversion will be sanctioned—everything from sodomite marriage, men trying to become women, and even adults seeking to change the sex of their own children.  Abortion will be legalized as the right of a mother to kill her own child.
7. I know this is difficult to believe, and I am no prophet, but any Christian man with the knowledge of the nature of man can only conclude that the sins I have listed will become normalized and often legalized in this nation.
8. I realize that ink on paper does not guarantee the blessing of the Lord. I might say that neither does the ink on the Bible itself guarantee the blessing of God.  All Christians know that without the power of the Holy Spirit there will be no blessing on any nation.  However, neither does this fact deny the necessity of recognizing publicly that we will serve the only true and living God.  Yes, unless the church remains the salt of the earth, then God will not give us his gracious promises.  Let us pray that the men of God called to preach in our churches will fulfill their duty by calling the people of this new nation to holiness, and that the civil magistrate will respect and honor the law of God revealed in the Holy Scriptures as a guide for justice in the land.

Rev. Larry E. Ball
Lancaster County, Virginia
July 4, 1787

Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn.