This episode presents James Madison's argument against an established church. American opinion on the mixing of church and state was divided on the eve of the American Revolution. Congregationalists (Puritans) and Anglicans supported it, Baptists and Presbyterians were against. Christian nationalists like David Barton commonly cite from the former, but ignore or misrepresent the other side. Yet this historical cherry-picking" is neither here nor there, since the former ended up on the "losing" side, at least with regards to the Constitution. Madison, the author of the founding document, vehemently opposed the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the new republic, noting that it would open a Pandora's box of fighting among Christian sects, all seeking to impose their vision and interpretation of Christianity on society as a whole. Worse, the civil magistrate would attempt to coopt and "employ religion as an engine of civil policy." State churches have mixed agendas, as politicians manipulate the church for worldly gain, leading to an "unhallow perversion of the means of salvation." The coup de grace of Madison's argument is an appeal to the Scriptures--"every page disavows dependence [of Christianity] on the powers of this world." Reliance on the state is therefore "a contradiction to the Christian religion itself." Madison essentially concludes that Christian nationalists contradict "every page" of Scripture when they rely on the State. While Madison's embrace of Christianity is debatable, his grasp of Christ's autonomous Kingdom is likely more Biblical than the vision of many Christian nationalists.
James Madison on Christendom
This episode chronicles the history of Christian nationalism up to about 1300, interspersed with commentary from James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments. Madison concluded that the mixture of church and state produced "pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both superstition, bigotry, and persecution." Informed by the history of power working through depraved humanity, Madison saw a close mixture of church and state as invariably corrupting both. The episode describes the quid pro quo arrangement between church and state emerging out of the creation of the "Holy Roman Empire. Both Church and State sought to co-opt the other, leading to a very unholy Holy Roman Empire, not to mention a corrupt Church. Madison found the Church's unholy collusion unbiblical, "every page of it [the Scriptures] disavows dependence on the powers of this world."