God in Law in the United States

According to the Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary:

“God (Supreme Being or Creator): The divine creator of all human-kind. God is the subject of an unlimited number of descriptions or beliefs. When “God” is written or said in the law of the United States, however, it usually represents one or more of the monotheistic concepts of God, either brought to the United States by immigrants from Christian Europe or developed along similar lines.

Major Divisions

The two major divisions among these concepts are whether God acts in history after the creation (the primary difference between deism —God set up the universe and now it goes on its own — and theism — God set up the universe but continues to intervene), and whether God
created only good or is also the creator of evil.
These divisions are often argued among theologians, and though they may have little practical
effect in the law, legal usage does appear sometimes to favor one or another concept. For example, some usages of God in the law appear theistic, such as the assumption underpinning
the idea of an “act of God” or invocations for God’s intercession at the start of
a session of Court or of a legislature.

On the other hand, many aspects of the founding of the country appear deistic, such as the recognition of a “creator” who is “nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence. This sense
of God is perpetuated in the symbols associated with “ceremonial deism,” or at least in
that analysis of them.

Additional concepts of the Divine

In some contexts, the term “God” might embrace a broader notion of a “Supreme Being,” which would include many additional concepts of the divine, including forms of polytheism that suggest a unity among gods or a superiority of a god, or a still broader definition that might include a concept that accepts immortal beings of supernatural powers, or a concept of a divine aspect of the Earth, or of natural forces, or of humanity itself.

The Constitution and beliefs regarding God

The federal Constitution, particularly in the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment and in the state constitutions, protects individuals and groups from persecution based on their beliefs regarding God. The restriction of citizenship, office, or any other public good on the basis of a belief or rejection of a belief in God is likely to violate several strictures of the U.S. Constitution, including the Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause, the Due Process Clauses, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Religious Test clause, as well as provisions in most state
constitutions.”(1)

Image of God (Imago Dei) in the Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary

“Each person is created equal. That mankind is made in the image of God is an article of faith for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic belief. The concept both justified and labeled an important argument among Christians in Europe and America in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, which rejected the claims to a divine right of kings or of nobility to rule, as well as to a theological defense of slavery, because all people are made in the image of God.

Declaration of Independence in 1776

This argument is central to the statement of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, that all people “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. . . .””(2)

Notes

1. “God (Supreme Being or Creator)”. Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary
2. “Image of God (Imago Dei)”. Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary