Invocatio dei

Several national constitutions make reference to God, most often in the preamble. Such invocationes or nominationes dei are found notably in several European constitutional traditions (reflecting the strong position of established churches in these countries and the tradition of invoking God in legal documents) and in the constitutions of Islamic countries.

In constitutional revisions, the inclusion or exclusion of a reference to God is frequently a point of great contention between believers and supporters of a laicist or secular state.

A reference to God in a legal text is called invocatio dei ("call on God") if the text itself is proclaimed in the name of the deity. A reference to God in another context is called nominatio dei, or "naming of God".

Invocationes dei have a long tradition in European legal history outside national constitutions. In ancient times and the Middle Ages, gods or God were normally invoked in contracts to guarantee the agreements made, and formulas such as "In the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" were used at the beginning of legal documents to emphasize the fairness and justness of the created norms. Treaties between Christian nations customarily began with an invocation of God up until the late nineteenth century.

When written constitutions became the norm for modern states in the nineteenth century, several European states carried this tradition over to their founding documents and retained it since, while others – notably laicist France and states influenced by it – did not do so, so as to preserve the state's religious neutrality. European countries whose constitutions do not make reference to God include Norway (1814), Luxembourg (1868/1972), Iceland(1944/68), Italy (1947), Portugal (1976) and Spain (1978); some of those who do are listed below. In the United States, the federal constitution makes no reference to God, but the constitutions of the states of California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington, Nevada, Iowa, Texas, and Massachusetts, and the U.S. territory Puerto Rico, do. They generally use an invocatio of "God the Almighty" or the "Supreme Ruler of the Universe".

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