30 years ago — Sept 7-14, 1987
Marking the bicentennial of the Constitution of the United States, Presbyterians were called to remember the Synod of 1787’s confessional changes reflecting the new political situation and its significance to define relations between religious and political institutions. “The Founders of the nation agreed that … ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’” Chapter XXIII of the Westminster Confession on the Civil Magistrate had been amended to deny them “the right to assume to themselves the administration of Word and sacraments, the power of the Keys of the Kingdom, or to interfere in matters of faith.” Presbyterians affirmed “it was the duty of the magistrate to protect the Church, without giving preference to any denomination of Christians; to protect ministers in the discharge of duties; to protect the person and good name of all their people ‘in such an effectual manner as that no person be suffered, either upon pretense of religion or of infidelity, to offer any indignity, violence, abuse or injury to any person whatsoever;’ and to protect religious and ecclesiastical meetings.”
From the article “We, the Presbyterian people: On celebrating the Constitution of the U.S.A.” by James H. Smylie
