Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

The Constitution As Frankenidol

Douglas Wilson January 16, 2010

The other day I was listening to one of those military commentators that Fox News brings on from time to time, and he was talking about the Ft. Hood massacre. Now, before going any further, I need to say that of course that shooting was terrorism, of course the military dropped the ball on preventing it because of all this crazy political correctness, and of course the media has been complicit in covering for crazed Muslims, the kind that should give everyone the creeps and willies. I don't believe you need full body scanners in every airport to find out that somebody's name is Abdul Muhammad, and that he is flying without a passport.

So, are my bona fides in order? Can I say something cautionary to those Christians who are going to be helping a whole lot with the right wing blowback that appears to be already under way?

The military commentator was talking about the warning signs that were actionable before the shooting, and the way he put it was pretty chilling. He said that Hasan could have been brought up on charges early on because he had said (out loud) that the Koran outranked the Constitution. To say that anything outranked the Constitution was, to this gentlemen, clear and obvious treason.

Now of course, Hasan was mistaken, but this was a question of fact, not of principle. The Word of God outranks Madison, et al. and if the Koran were the Word of God, then the Constitution should just sit down and listen for a minute. The reason it doesn't have to is not because the Constitution is the Last Word. It isn't. It doesn't have to listen because the Constitution was the work of wise men and the Koran was the work of an unwise one. They are in the same league, both being from man, but if there is a Word from God, the Constitution and that Word are not in the same league.

So according to the principle laid down by this commentator, I am guilty of treason because I believe (and will say) there is a law above the law, completely out of Congress's reach. I believe that Jesus is Lord, and not just in some invisible spiritual sense. Jesus is Lord, and the Constitution may be followed just so long, and only so long, as it does not require disobedience to Him. Treason? If it is treason, then the Constitution is now a Frankenidol, trying to destroy the men who wrote it. They all believed that there was a law above the law.

The problem is that this commentator guy was lambasting the leftists, who have become a parody of themselves, and are soon to go poof. After they do, Christians should not then discover that they have helped give this pernicious doctrine of arrogant secularism a second lease on life.

The Scriptures and the Constitution sometimes speak to the same issues. When the Constitution doesn't contradict Scripture, then we can go right on ahead. It is perfectly okay to have two senators from every state. More than four congressmen might be pushing it, but in the main, all such procedural questions are fine. But when the Constitution is being wielded by men who demand for it an ultimate loyalty, and they will brook no other gods before it, then Christians should laugh contentedly, and turn away. That doctrine, and all the books it is printed in, need to be pitched into Hell, where they should all burn quite nicely.