WE THE PEOPLE
Q: Who says what is right and wrong? If the Bible, a religious book, cannot be used in deciding right and wrong, then what decides?
A: Ronald, thanks for the questions. As has been noted before, the founding Constitution says nothing about God, Christianity, a Judeo-Christian heritage, the Torah, the Bible, or the Koran. America is not a theocracy. However, the United States of America is a nation based upon the principle of law--civil law: "the law established by a nation or state for its own jurisdiction" (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary).
In America, as adopted by "we the people," the "Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made . . . under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitutions or laws of any states to the contrary notwithstanding" (Art. VI). By the way, the word notwithstanding is common legaleze terminology meaning "in spite of"; the sentence would be easier read by most contemporary Americans if it were concluded as follows: in spite of anything in the constitutions or laws of any states to the contrary. Nevertheless, the Constitution provides for a representative republic which is composed of law makers democratically elected by a majority vote of the registered citizens who get out to vote.
The answer, then, to your questions is simple: "we the people" determine the laws, through our elected officials, and, thereby, the ethical standard of conduct of "right and wrong" which governs our society. Morality is the level at which Americans live up to the standard established by their laws. One of my professors (T. B. Maston) at the seminary used to make the distinction between ethics and morality this way: "ethics is what ought to be, morality is what is."
Of course, every citizen has a right to attempt to influence legislators who make the laws; if, for example, you do not like the Constitution as written or the laws made by Congress, you have the opportunity to try to get them amended or eliminated. In the meantime, as Americans, regardless of religious persuasion, we honor the rule of law under the Constitution as agreed to by the majority beginning in 1788.
As for religion, America has so far avoided religious wars and the fragmentation of Europe because the Constitution, including the First Amendment, has provided peace mainly due to (as Tocqueville said in 1835) "the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point" (Democracy in America, 1945, 1:308).
As Adventists, atheists, Buddhists, Christian Scientists, deists, Hindus, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, Roman Catholics, witches, and Zoroastrians, "we the people" make the laws. Thank God for the USA.
