In the last two columns, I have risked irritating any I may have missed, by tangling with American perceptions and practices of Christianity. One internet reader said I had missed the point:

"This nation was and is founded on fundmental chrisian (sic) beliefs and ideals. The facts (Mr. Hooper) lays out that what is seen in behavior is different than the ideal......well that is the nature of the world. We all, including the writer, voice and truely (sic) believe in ideals, but our nature is to fall vicitim (sic) to our base drives and narcissistic deceptions."

Yes, the species "homo religious" commonly have ideals they fail to honor. Then again, some part of that same species routinely claim ideals they neither have nor intend to acquire -- since merely claiming them improves their political prospects, fattens their wallets, or both. But the other assertion, that this is a Christian nation, is especially popular today with Christian dominionists. And it is wrong.

Our founding document is the Constitution. It is designedly and intentionally secular. It is godless -- not in the sense that it is anti-Christian, or anti-religion, but that it is wisely neutral. We Americans are free to be as religious or agnostic or atheist as our individual consciences dictate. None of our varied positions on the supernatural is to be favored by government. At least, that's how it stands today. The Christian right wants it changed. That debate is both contemporary and historical. It is perpetual and it is important. Thus far, thank God, theocrats have lost.

The Articles of Confederation refer to "The Great Governor of the World." The congress of that time actively promoted a kind of non-denominational Christianity. It proclaimed a national day of prayer, and sponsored the publication of a Bible. That congress also honored a theology which said that God granted this country favored status in a kind of contractual arrangement. New England Puritans especially liked it.

As our Constitution was being written, 11 of the 13 colonies incorporated religious language in their founding documents. Only New York and Virginia did not. Of course, most allowed only Protestants to hold office. Many feared that Roman Catholics would be more loyal to the Pope (a prejudice that re-surfaced in the election of John Kennedy). Jews were banned from office in Pennsylvania, along with Quakers, Mennonites, and Moravians. Moravians, incidentally, were the first to establish missions to the slaves. New York's colonial government expelled them in 1744. In Delaware, sworn belief in the Trinity was required.

The men who wrote our Constitution knew all too well the history of religious bias empowered by government -- in this country and abroad, recently and historically -- not merely division but sickening horror. Few humans or institutions are potentially more dangerous than those cocksure they know all about a supernatural God ... or are able to convince others they do. And, my opinion is that the ugly potential not only remains today, but is gathering venom.

Yes, three-quarters of Americans now claim to be Christians. Depending on the definition and standards, some undoubtedly are. But whatever the evidence (or lack of it) to convict that same 75 percent as Christians, another 25 percent make no such claim -- and are equally Americans, Constitutionally free to practice (or claim to practice) any religion or none -- so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others.

The claim is often made that the Constitution is a Christian document and derives from the Judeo-Christian Bible, but seldom is any specific evidence delivered (or even requested). Where is the Biblical basis or argument for a democratic republic, separation of powers, checks and balances, a two-chamber legislature, the bill of rights with all the guarantees of liberties and protections -- like a trial by a jury of peers; freedom of press, speech and assembly? And, yes, freedom of and from religion? Indeed, what moral or civic values in our Constitution are exclusively representative of Christianity? Chapter and verse, please.

Of the 55 representatives who took part in writing our Constitution and the 39 who signed, all have been assigned some religious affiliation or other. Had they wished, they might very easily have inserted Christian language and prescriptions into the document. They deliberately did not. Even though there were precedents in colonial constitutions and in the Articles of Confederation, those precedents were deliberately rejected.

Charles Pinckney of South Carolina proposed inserting in Article 6, Section 3, the words "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." His proposal was adopted with little discussion. James Madison, who would follow Thomas Jefferson as president, afterward wrote in the first line of the very first amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

There were, of course, passionate objections, widely debated during the ratification process. All those efforts to Christianize or even modestly religify our Constitution failed. A last ditch effort was made with the Virginia Initiative in the Spring of 1788, which proposed Article 6 be revised to read "no other religious test shall ever be required than a belief in the one only true God, who is the rewarder of the good, and the punisher of the evil." Even that failed.

Thank God.

Bob Hooper is a fourth-generation western Kansan who writes from his home in Bogue.

celtic@ruraltel.net