Statism is tolerant of any ideas and actions that will guarantee and enhance its own authority, and undermines or dilutes institutions like the family and the church that compete with its authority.
Humanistic secular statism was officially institutionalized here in America when the 1787 cadre of Enlightenment and Masonic theistic rationalists (aka the constitutional framers) replaced Yahweh with We the People as America's Sovereign and His immutable moral law with their own capricious man-made traditions (aka the biblically seditious Constitution) as the law of the land:
"...In one of his many arguments on behalf of the Constitution, Madison revealed where ultimate power resides in a Constitutional Republic:
'As the people are the only legitimate fountain of power … it is from them that the constitutional charter under which the [power of the] several branches of government … is derived.'51
:Alexander Hamilton stated it similarly:
'The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.;52
"This emphasis on the people by both the federalists and anti-federalists alike is evidence that they had lost sight of Yahweh and His ultimate authority. Such an emphasis on the people cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. George Washington (who presided over the Constitutional Convention) confirmed this self-originating authority in his “Farewell Address”:...
"John Adams confessed to the same humanism regarding the States’ Constitutions:
'It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service [the establishment of the States’ Constitutions] had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the inspiration of Heaven … it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.... Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone….'55
"Following are samplings from some of the State Constitutions:
'…all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority.' (Pennsylvania, 1790, Article IX, Section II)
' ...no authority shall, on any pretense whatever, be exercised over the people or members of this State, but such as shall be derived from and granted by them [the people].' (New York, 1777, Article I)
'…all political power is vested in and derived from the people only.' (North Carolina, 1776, “Declaration of Rights,” Article I)
'…power is inherent in them [the people], and therefore all just authority in the institutions of political society is derived from the people.' (Delaware, 1792, Preamble)
'All power residing originally in the people and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government vested with authority – whether Legislative, Executive, or Judicial – are their substitutes and agents and are at all times accountable to them.' (Massachusetts, 1789, part I, Article V)
"A return to the States’ Constitutions and the Articles of Confederation will not solve America’s propensity for humanism...."
Thus, there will no solving America's present statism without addressing its genesis.
". . . the best way to preserve peace was to deemphasize religion, or more specifically, to cool its intensity."
In their book "The Decline and Fall of Sacred Scripture" Hahn and Wiker say "not quite". The modern state is founded on the vision of Marsilius of Padua, Machiavelli and Hobbes, that the Bible ought to be demythologised and used as a political book. In this vision, religion belongs to the State as a means of social control, though the educated elite know that there is no life beyond this one, man's ultimate end is located in this life only, and religion and the Church are to be instrumentalised as a means of controlling the superstitious masses. So eternam salvation and the life of the world to come are no longer the point on which all political activity must converge.
Humanistic secular statism was officially institutionalized here in America when the 1787 cadre of Enlightenment and Masonic theistic rationalists (aka the constitutional framers) replaced Yahweh with We the People as America's Sovereign and His immutable moral law with their own capricious man-made traditions (aka the biblically seditious Constitution) as the law of the land:
"...In one of his many arguments on behalf of the Constitution, Madison revealed where ultimate power resides in a Constitutional Republic:
'As the people are the only legitimate fountain of power … it is from them that the constitutional charter under which the [power of the] several branches of government … is derived.'51
:Alexander Hamilton stated it similarly:
'The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.;52
"This emphasis on the people by both the federalists and anti-federalists alike is evidence that they had lost sight of Yahweh and His ultimate authority. Such an emphasis on the people cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. George Washington (who presided over the Constitutional Convention) confirmed this self-originating authority in his “Farewell Address”:...
"John Adams confessed to the same humanism regarding the States’ Constitutions:
'It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service [the establishment of the States’ Constitutions] had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the inspiration of Heaven … it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.... Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone….'55
"Following are samplings from some of the State Constitutions:
'…all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority.' (Pennsylvania, 1790, Article IX, Section II)
' ...no authority shall, on any pretense whatever, be exercised over the people or members of this State, but such as shall be derived from and granted by them [the people].' (New York, 1777, Article I)
'…all political power is vested in and derived from the people only.' (North Carolina, 1776, “Declaration of Rights,” Article I)
'…power is inherent in them [the people], and therefore all just authority in the institutions of political society is derived from the people.' (Delaware, 1792, Preamble)
'All power residing originally in the people and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government vested with authority – whether Legislative, Executive, or Judicial – are their substitutes and agents and are at all times accountable to them.' (Massachusetts, 1789, part I, Article V)
"A return to the States’ Constitutions and the Articles of Confederation will not solve America’s propensity for humanism...."
Thus, there will no solving America's present statism without addressing its genesis.
For more, see Chapter 3 "The Preamble: We the People vs. Yahweh" of free online book "Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective" at https://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/BlvcOnline/biblelaw-constitutionalism-pt3.html
". . . the best way to preserve peace was to deemphasize religion, or more specifically, to cool its intensity."
In their book "The Decline and Fall of Sacred Scripture" Hahn and Wiker say "not quite". The modern state is founded on the vision of Marsilius of Padua, Machiavelli and Hobbes, that the Bible ought to be demythologised and used as a political book. In this vision, religion belongs to the State as a means of social control, though the educated elite know that there is no life beyond this one, man's ultimate end is located in this life only, and religion and the Church are to be instrumentalised as a means of controlling the superstitious masses. So eternam salvation and the life of the world to come are no longer the point on which all political activity must converge.