Hugo: 美國憲法的基礎

美國文明繁榮與進步的根本基礎，就是美國的憲法；美國憲法的基礎，就是《五月花號公約》(The Mayflower Compact，1620)、《維吉尼亞權利法案》(the Virginia Declaration of Rights，1776)、《獨立宣言》(United States Declaration of Independence,1776）等三份文件。

這三份文件的道德與精神基礎，就是遵守十誡、敬畏God、信仰耶穌的福音與道德理念；如果不了解這些具體的關係與成因，你如何能真正了解美國文明繁榮與進步的原因呢？

George Washington曾說過，“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. ”、 “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. ” (Washington's Farewell Address 1796)

James Wilson, 曾說過，“Christianity is part of the common-law. ” ；Joseph Story，Father of American Jurisprudence, 他也曾說過，“One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law . . .There never has been a period in which the Common law did not recognize Christianity as lying at its foundations . . . I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil authority. ”

James Madison, 是美國憲法的主要執筆人，他曾說過 “We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind to self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. ”

曾經說過“不自由，毋甯死”( Give me liberty or give me death!)的Patrick Henry，曾說過， “It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”、“Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” 、“ The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed. ” 、“Religion I have disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give to them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one cent, they would be rich. If they have not that, and I had given them the world, they would be poor.”

Thomas Jefferson曾說，“I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he[i.e. Jesus] wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other. ” ( Letter to Benjamin Rush on April 21, 1803.)

John Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence; One of Two Signers of the Bill of Rights; Second President of the US，他曾說，“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made for only a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. ”

將美國的憲法，移植到日本之後，那麼就會出現許多不可避免的問題，例如，嚴重的貪腐文化問題，嚴重的謊言與權謀文化問題，嚴重的包庇犯罪文化問題，嚴重的人情政治問題等；為甚麼呢？因為日本人並不信仰耶穌的福音與道德理念，並不遵守十誡與敬畏唯一的God，你如何能期望日本能如同美國一樣呢？

如果美國人不信仰耶穌的福音與道德理念，那麼現在的美國憲法，將會是一部漏洞百出的憲法，將會是一部並不完善的憲法，將會是一部經常可以被濫用與扭曲的憲法，那麼美國人就必須設計更多的法律來補足與完善現在的憲法，否則這部憲法如何能對抗險這群人心險惡與不敬畏God的人呢？

2007-9-12