Posted on 10/28/2003 11:45:20 PM PST by marron
I've been waiting for this on pins and needles.
Impressive work. Thanks.
It's an eye-opening exercise when one sits down and attempts to articulate ones worldview in writing. Many shy away from doing it, for fear of exposing what may be incongruous ideas and beliefs for all to see .... and ... gasp(!) ... possibly even critique. :)
A worldview is a set of beliefs about the most important issues in life. It is a pattern or arrangement of concepts /ideas (a conceptual scheme) by which we consciously or unconsciously place or fit everything we believe and by which we interpret and judge reality.
Ones worldview can change, though, since it is subject to many factors such as quality and level of education, emotional maturity, life experience, the influence of rational or nonrational motivations / ultimate commitments of the heart, etc.
There are ultimately only two religions (even though there are many manifestations of the man-centered one, including the variation called "atheism"):
[1] In ALL the manifestations of the man-centered worldview, man is sovereign. And in the various "Christian" manifestations of this worldview, man is thought to be "basically good".
[2] In the God-centered (biblical) worldview, God is sovereign in everything, and fallen man is NOT "basically good".
America's Framers held to the biblical worldview and drew up the Constitution / founding documents of our "separation of powers" government undergirded by an impartial rule of law to [a] protect what they recognized as our individual God-given (inalienable) rights, and [b] to effectively stand in the way of the worst inclinations of man (including themselves), whom they knew *not* to be basically good.
"..a 'deep and abiding distrust of human motives ... permeates the Constitution.'"~ Marci Hamilton
Marci Hamilton ... a nationally recognized expert on constitutional and copyright law from Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law ... in her forthcoming book, Copyright and the Constitution, examines the historical and philosophical underpinnings of copyright law and asserts that the American "copyright regime" is grounded in Calvinism, resulting in a philosophy that favors the product over the producer.
Calvinism? Hamilton's interest in the intersection of Calvinist theology and political philosophy emerged early in her career when she began reading the work of leading constitutional law scholars.
She was puzzled by their "theme of a system of self-rule." "They talked about it as if it were in existence," she said. "My gut reaction was that direct democracy and self-rule are a myth that doesn't really exist."
What Hamilton found was that a "deep and abiding distrust of human motives that permeates Calvinist theology also permeates the Constitution."
Her investigation of that issue has led to another forthcoming book, tentatively titled The Reformed Constitution: What the Framers Meant by Representation.
That our country's form of government is a republic instead of a pure democracy is no accident, according to Hamilton. The constitutional framers "expressly rejected direct democracy. Instead, the Constitution constructs a representative system of government that places all ruling power in the hands of elected officials."
And the people? Their power is limited to the voting booth and communication with their elected representatives, she said. "The Constitution is not built on faith in the people, but rather on distrust of all social entities, including the people."
Hamilton found that some form of Calvinism played a role in the lives of at least 23 of the 55 constitutional framers, and that six were Presbyterian (the reform movement founded by John Calvin). Two of the most important framers, James Wilson and James Madison, were steeped in Presbyterian precepts.
It is Calvinism, Hamilton argued, that "more than any other Protestant theology, brings together the seeming paradox that man's will is corrupt by nature but also capable of doing good." In other words, Calvinism holds that "we can hope for the best but expect the worst from each other and from the social institutions humans devise."
"Neither Calvin nor the framers stop at distrust, however," Hamilton said. "They also embrace an extraordinary theology of hope. The framers, like Calvin, were reformers."
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