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Alabama 1901, Preamble. We the people of the State of Alabama, … invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution ... #58 Alaska
1956, Preamble. We, the people of Alaska, grateful
to God and to those Arizona
1911, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Arizona,
grateful to Almighty
Arkansas 1874, Preamble. We, the people of the State
of Arkansas, grateful to
California 1879, Preamble. We, the People of the State
of California, grateful to Every one of the 50 states’ Preambles has similar religious language. In addition, there were even more overt Christian directives written in the states’ Constitutions: “Every person appointed to public office shall say ‘I ________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, on God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration." -Constitution of Delaware #63 “And each member (of the legislature), before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration: ‘I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked.” -Constitutions of Pennsylvania and Vermont #64 Again, all of the states constitutions had similar language.
58) http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/History/constitutions/1868/1868preamble.html [return to document] 59) http://www.alaska.edu/creatingalaska/constitution/ [return to document] 60) http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/const.htm [return to document] 61) http://www.usconstitution.net/states_god.html [return to document] 62) http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.preamble [return to document] 63) Constitutions (1785), pp. 99-100, Delaware, 1776, Article 22. [return to document] 64) Constitutions (1785), pp. 99-100, Delaware, 1776, Article 22.The Constitutions of the Sixteen States (Boston: Manning and Loring, 1797), p. 257, Vermont, 1792, Chapter II, Section XII. [return to document]
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Every
one of the states ultimately followed suit with the Federal precedent,
in not establishing official State Christian
denominations, although the temptation and the opportunity was
there to do so, as many of them were populated largely by one
sect. The state’s Constitutions, however,
were filled with rhetoric that conveyed reverence toward the Christian
God, and with obvious deference to the importance of
establishing and honoring Biblical based statutes in the
State laws and education. By no means were they indifferent
or unresponsive when it came to religion playing a large part
in public policy and practices. The fact is …they strongly
encouraged it. The following language of some
of the states’ Preambles to their Constitutions
is just one example of how strongly they felt about Christianity
remaining a vital part of their public policy:
