The Real Meaning of July 4th and the Heresy of Lincolnian Interpretation

A headline in a news story caught my attention the other day. It reads: “Louisiana now requires the 10 Commandments to be displayed in classrooms. It’s not the only terrifying state law.”  The column appears in The Independent, July 1, 2024, and is by one Gustaf Kilander.

Notice that the author uses the word “terrifying” to characterize the public display of one of, arguably, the bedrock documents that shaped the formation of the American nation and the thinking of its Framers. Indeed, to read t...