Michigan Judge Appeals to Americans for Morality Reform

Judge authors 3-volume work on the Founders’ views of religion

Judge Mark Boonstra has been on the cutting edge in witnessing the social and moral decline of America. After practicing private law for nearly three decades, he has sat on Michigan’s 3rd District Court of Appeals for the past decade.

His adherence to the letter of the law and his disdain for judicial activism has drawn the ire of the left. His appreciation for textualism, commonly referred to as constitutional originalism, has led him to place his needle within the social fabric of American society in hopes of sewing back some of its tears.

Boonstra diligently spent eight years working on his “In Their Own Words” multi-volume project, which presents the beliefs and ideas from all 118 signers of America’s three foundational documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. His third and final volume was released late last year. It was indeed a massive undertaking, but according to Boonstra, the work was more than worth it if it can help right the ship of state back on course toward what the Founding Fathers had intended for the republic.

"Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States," 1940, by Howard Chandler Christy. (Public Domain)

“I think the country is in trouble and it’s been increasingly in trouble for a long time. It’s what compelled me to write the book,” Boonstra said during an interview on “The Sons of History” podcast. “Our Founding Fathers must be rolling over in their graves looking at what we’ve done to the country they gave to us.”

A Return to the Founding Principles

His goal is simply to refresh the American mind concerning the founding principles. The founders believed corporately in the need for a virtuous nation, and, as Boonstra tries to demonstrate in his books, that virtue stems from religion.

“Religion was fundamental. The belief in a supreme being and the need for His guidance and direction was fundamental to the founding of this country,” he said. “It was the essence of why they came here and why they founded this country. We’re becoming secularized in every aspect of our society. I think they would be aghast.”

He believes that religion has been completely undermined in the United States, even to the point that it’s held in contempt by much of the general public, along with local, state, and federal governments. A notion that has driven this narrative is what he believes to be a misinterpretation of the establishment clause in the First Amendment, commonly referred to as the “separation of church and state” clause.

Boonstra noted that the establishment clause was absolutely necessary when the founders began forming the republic. Colonists had come to the New World to escape religious tyranny via an established church. Most of the colonies, however, still had established churches.

“A lot of them brought over what they came from, such as Massachusetts was established as a Congregationalist colony, Virginia was Anglican. They were taxed to support a particular church,” he said. “The founders agreed that they wanted freedom of religion. They believed they should promote religion. Most of them were Protestant Christians of various denominations. Some wanted to restrict it to that, but ultimately, it was agreed there would be no established church. They would allow all religions and everyone would be able to exercise their religion as they see fit.”

A Misconstrued Phrase

Since the phrase “separation of church and state” isn’t in the Constitution but is rather a reference to the spirit of the law in a letter from Thomas Jefferson responding to ministers of the Danbury Baptist Association, it apparently has allowed for some people, from politicians to political commentators to professors to the average citizen, to misconstrue the spirit of that law.

“Today we say ‘separation of church and state’ and we make it appear antagonistic, but it wasn’t at all,” Boonstra said. “When Jefferson wrote that, it was because Baptists had been persecuted in certain colonies, including his colony of Virginia, and they wanted assurance that they would be able to practice as they wished. He said, ‘Absolutely.’ There would be a ‘wall of separation.’ What he was not trying to say—if you look at the context and his words―was that we need to protect the government and society from religion, but that we need to protect the churches from government interference so that everyone is free to worship as they see fit. That’s what the wall of separation was intended to be.”

The “wall of separation” is important, but Boonstra emphasized how important religion within a society was to the founders. He said the reason the founders believed freedom of religion was essential to the founding of the republic was because they believed that personal liberty came from God. Freedom of religion was the freedom to decide for themselves about what they believed and about how to worship. Without that freedom and without religion in general, the societal structure would fall apart.

The founders believed freedom of religion was essential to the founding of the republic because they believed that personal liberty came from God. (Founders Own Words)

Religion to Move Forward

“So many of them talked about how the government and our society was founded on virtue and morality; and what was the underpinning of morality? It was religion,” he said. “They were very much Christian―almost to a person in varying degrees―and believed fundamentally in a supreme being and that our government and society needed to rely on that to move forward.”

Boonstra’s books are testaments to the founders’ belief in religion as an absolute necessity. They are full of short biographies and excerpts from letters and documents referring to virtue, morality, and religion. One of the more notable references that Boonstra quotes comes from the “Father of Our Country,” George Washington, during his farewell address, in which he stated, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports ... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”

Samuel Adams believed that religion and public liberty are connected. "Samuel Adams," 1772, by John Singleton Copley. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Public Domain)

As a legal scholar who’s practiced the law in some form or other, from law clerk to attorney to judge, Boonstra has witnessed personally the moral degradation within society and within governments. He referenced Samuel Adams on the idea that religion and public liberty are connected and how they “rise and fall together.”

Adams wrote, “For this Reason, it is always observable, that those who are combin'd to destroy the People’s Liberties, practice every art to poison their Morals.”

“I think that’s a lot of what you see going on in our country today,” Boonstra said in the podcast interview. “We’re poisoning the morals and we’re undermining the fundamental underpinnings of our society. I think we’re at a crossroads. I think we are in danger of losing our country, if it’s not late already to save it. It’s time for people to stand up and say, ‘We’re not going to let you do this to our country.’”