艺文走廊 ✐2006-01-01


美国的铭箴

辑录

 

  近年来,有的美国公民,向法院控告政府,违反宪法“第一修正条款”。他们作这种事,有的是无知,有的是无聊,更有的单纯是要引人注意。宣称学校中效忠的誓词有:“在神庇佑之下”一语,其中的“神”字冒犯了他们,有国家支持宗教的嫌疑,应予取消。他们想把美国,弄成一个无宗教的国家,特別是不想让后代有宗教信仰。
  其实,第一修正条款所说的,是人民的基本自由:前一段说:“国会不得制订法律建立宗教,或阻止信仰宗教”;后半则说:“不得限制言论出版之自由,或人民和平聚集及向政府诉愿之权利”。这些都是基本的自由,包括国家不得侵犯人民宗教的自由;据此而另作別的解释,是断章取义。谁都可以知道,如果武断的说,这是“宗教和政治隔离的牆”,言论和出版,集会及诉愿,岂不也都该在“隔离”之列?
  显然的,世界上有人民的国家,都有宗教信仰;如果沒有宗教的,他们会把某种学说制订成为类似“宗教”。
  事实上,以美国而论,宗教成为文化的一部分,简直无法隔离。人不能洗除其历史背景。

  在钱币的背面,都有“IN GOD WE TRUST”(我们信靠神)的字样。在“独立宣言”的起首及结尾,都提到“神”;联邦宪法在各代表签署之前,也说明“在我们的主”年历(in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven…”。联邦及各州都有“铭箴”,分別以拉丁文,希腊文,法文,西班牙文,英文,夏威夷文,印地安Chinook部族语文写成,有的且刻在州玺上;其中许多有“神”字,或间接表示神,有的引圣经语句,说明这国家与圣经和基督教信仰的关系之深。看以下的铭箴,可为明证。

Mottos & Maxims


美金一元钞票背面的 The Great Seal

USA: Annuit coeptis(L)= He(God)has favored our undertaking
   祂赐福我们的事工
   Novus ordo seclorum(L)= A new order for the ages
   万世的新秩序
   E pluribus unum(L)= Out of many one
   合众为一

 


Alabama - Audemus jura nostra defendere(L)= We dare defend our rights
我们敢於保卫我们的权利


Alaska - North to the future
前途在北方


Arizona - Ditat Deus(L)= God enriches
神赐丰富


Arkansas - Regnat populus(L)= The people rule
人民统治


California - Eureka(Gk)= I have found it
找到了


Colorado - Nil sine numine(L)= Nothing without Providence
全赖神佑


Connecticut - Qui transtulit sustinet(L)= He who transplanted sustains
移植者必护理


Delaware - Liberty and independence
自由独立


Florida - In God we trust
我们信靠神


Georgia - Wisdom, justice, and moderation
智慧,公义,中庸


Hawaii - Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono(Hi)= The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness
土地因公义延续


Idaho - Esto perpetua(L)= May she be everlasting
愿她长存


Illinois - State sovereignty, national union
州有主权国须合一


Iowa - Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain
珍视自由保持权利


Indiana - The crossroads of America
美洲的十字路


Kansas - Ad astra per aspera; or, Per aspera ad astra(L)= To the stars through adversities
经过橫逆到达星空


Kentucky - United we stand, divided we fall
合则俱兴分则各败


Louisiana - Union, justice, and confidence
合一,公义,自信


Maine - Dirigo (L)= I direct; or, I lead
我引导


Maryland - crescit et multiplicamini(L)= Increase and multiply
增长繁多
Fatti maschii, parole femine(Italian)= manly deeds, womanly words
言语文雅行动勇壮


Massachusetts - Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem(L)= By the sword she seeks peace under liberty
用武力寻求自由和平


Michigan - Si quarries peninsulam amoenam, circumspice(L)= If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you.
你若找优美的半岛,你身在其中


Minnesota - L'etoile du Nord(F)= The North star
北极星


Mississippi - Virtute et armis(L)= By valor and arms
靠勇力和武装


Missouri - Salus populi suprema lex esto(L)= Let the good of the people be the supreme law
人民利益为最高法则


Montana - Ore y plata(Spanish)= Gold and silver
金和银


Nebraska - Equality before the law
法律之前人人平等


Nevada - All for our country
一切为国家


New Hampshire - Live free or die
不自由毋宁死


New Jersey - Liberty and prosperity
自由发达


New Mexico - Crescit eundo = It grows as it goes
与时並进


New York - Excelsior = Ever higher
精益求精


North Carolina - Esse quam videri(L)= To be rather than to seem
求真求实


North Dakota - Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable
自由合一永不分离


Ohio - With God all things are possible
在神凡事都能
Imperium in imperio(L)= An impire within an impire
国中之国


Oklahoma - Labor vincit omnia(L)= Work conquers all
劳力征服一切


Oregon - Alis volat propilis(L)= She flies with her own wings
她仗自己的羽翼飞翔


Pennsylvania - Virtue, liberty, and independence
道德,自由,独立


Rhode Island - Hope
盼望


South Carolina - Dum spiro, spero(L)= While I breathe, I hope
我存活,我盼望
Animis opibusque parati(L)= Prepared in minds and resources
预备心思和资源


South Dakota - Under God the people rule
神佑民治


Tennessee - Agriculture and commerce
兴农利商


Texas - Friendship
友谊


Utah - Industry
勤业


Vermont - Freedom and unity
自由联合


Virginia - Sic simper tyrannis(L)= Thus always to tyrants
暴君常以为戒


Washington - Al-ki (Chinook Jargon) = By and by
过不多久


West Virginia - Montani simper liberi(L)= Mountaineers are always free
山人永远自由


Wisconsin - Forward
前进


Wyoming - Cedant arma togae(L)= Let arms yield to the toga, i.e., Let the military yield power to civil
以文率武
Equal rights
平等人权


Puerto Rico - Ionnes est nomen eius(L)= John is his name
他的名字是约翰


D.C. - Justitia ominibus(L)= Justice for all
人人公平

 

美国国歌-

The Star Spangled Banner

By Francis Scott Key(1779-1843)
September 20, 1814

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

 

美国国旗-


原联邦旗

南北战爭的旗

现在的旗

翼展视窗阔 报取智域深

谈天说地

信仰宗教与文学 ✍于中旻

谈天说地

儒家社会主义的理想 ✍亚谷

谈天说地

人权与政权 ✍于中旻

谈天说地

金玉食粮议 ✍于中旻

艺文走廊

成功之道 ✍凌风

点点心灵

怀念上海楼餐馆 ✍天涯过客

寰宇古今

美国的古城威廉斯堡 ✍曲拯民

谈天说地

文宣士张亦镜 ✍于中旻

乐趣飘送

史卡拉第 G. Domenico Scarlatti ✍郁韻灵