"No Religious Test"

Q. In those early days of America, why did we not have standards of religion for federal representatives? Or for the president?

A. The restriction in the Constitution on "religious tests" was not to create a secular society, but to protect the already-placed religious (i.e. denominational) tests of the states.

For instance, Anglicanism was sponsored in the Carolinas, Congregationalism in Massachusetts, and nothing at all (complete religious freedom) in Virginia. Thus, the Federal constitution could not include religious qualifications, or any national established church, as it would contradict or exclude those of individual states.

The US being a federation, the purpose was primarily for foreign affairs and interstate commerce. It was not set up as a sovereignty, but as a compact between sovereignties. If the Federal government was to be a sovereignty, it no doubt would have included religious clauses.

Besides, for something as large-scale as the United States, the Founders did not want to open the door for what could have become religious tyrrany. Any qualification of this sort would have been completely misinterpreted and misapplied. Instead, the religious determinations were left where they had always been: with the states, much closer to the homes and hearts of the people.


-R. Josiah Magnuson