De Facto vs. De Jure

Reader comment on: The Religious Test

Submitted by Scott H (United States), Aug 16, 2011 00:06

The Constitution prohibits a legally required religious test. However, it does not restrict the people from imposing a de facto religious test for any office. To do so would restrict the freedom of the American people to make a choice for President or any other office for whatever reason they so choose. The people are NOT restricted from imposing a religious test - only the government is restricted from doing so.

One of the logical fallacies in modern thinking is that if the Constitution restricts or limits the government, then those restrictions and/or limitations also apply to the people at large. But that is just not so. In fact, the purpose of limiting the government was to jealously guard the right of the people to make choices for ANY REASON WE SO CHOOSE. So if any citizen wants to make their choice for or against a particular candidate because of their religion, they are completely free to do so without violating the spirit of what it means to be an American. The true American Spirit is the freedom to make choices on which candidates you support for whatever reason you want, and no one can stop you from making that choice.

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