A CASE FOR GOD IN OUR CULTURE
by
Glen Jackson
Judge Roy Moore is in real trouble. As the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore has had the temerity to challenge the right of a federal judge to order Moore to remove a 5000 pound chunk of granite inscribed with the Ten Commandments from his court house. Judge Moore was given until August 21, 2003 to remove the Ten Commandments or face contempt of court charges, which have a $5000 daily fine attached to them. On August 22, Judge Moore announced his refusal to abide by the federal edict, stating that the Alabama state constitution required judges to acknowledge the creator. His appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay was rejected, but that court may accept this case on appeal. Depending on who you listen too, Judge Moore is either a criminal religious wacko who belongs in jail for refusing to obey the law. Or, he is the next Paul Revere, warning the nation that the enemy is near. The Supreme Court, which refused Judge Moore’s request for a stay has the Ten Commandments on its premises.
This case follows closely the decision of the 9th District Court of Appeals to rule in favor of a case filed by Michael Newdow, an atheist living in Sacramento, Ca. Mr. Newdow filed suit against the Elk Grove school district claiming the rights of his daughter were violated by forcing her to acknowledge the existence of God when she had to say the Pledge of Allegiance. The 9th Circuit Court ruled 2-1 in Mr. Newdow’s favor and ordered school districts to stop requiring students to repeat “the Pledge”. That decision was denounced by a 99-0 vote in the United States Senate. It was later revealed that Mr. Newdow’s daughter is a practicing Christian and loves leading the Pledge of Allegiance in her school.
Over the past decade, courts have ruled that such subversive acts as praying before a football game or a graduation ceremony, having a Bible in a school library, placing a manger scene at city hall, or allowing student speeches to mention Jesus Christ violated the Constitution. While the U.S. Supreme Court opens with the proclamation, "God bless this honorable court" and has the Ten Commandments carved on the wall of its great hall, those same judges have ruled that it is unconstitutional for school children to have that same proclamation uttered at their school.
Beginning in 1947, the Supreme Court began ruling that religious influence in public arenas was not such a good idea; in fact, it violated the U.S. Constitution. Using a term coined by Thomas Jefferson, the courts claimed there was a "separation of church and state". This mandated, said the courts, that any religious involvement at a public gathering must be prohibited. Is this really what the Constitution stated? Were the early settlers to our land, the founding fathers and even previous Supreme Courts to hear what is being mandated in their name, they would protest. Is there a place for God in the public arena? I believe not only is there is a place for God, but that His inclusion into the public square was both promoted and practiced by our Founding Fathers, and approved of by previous Supreme Courts.
In answering the question of where God fits into our culture, it is important to reflect on what took place leading up to our nation's struggle for independence. Outside of ancient Israel, there has never been a nation like America. People from all over the world want to come here. As Neil Diamond sang, "They're coming to America". What draws them is the freedom we enjoy. One of the great freedoms we cherish is the freedom of religion. That freedom was not written into the First amendment by accident; neither was it an accident that it was placed first. In ruling that religious expression violates the Constitution, the courts are wrong on four counts.
First, the original settlers believed God was a necessary part of their culture. Christopher Columbus kept a very extensive diary on all of his travels to the new world. It was in his diary that he
revealed that one of his motivations was to bring glory to Jesus Christ. When the Pilgrims left England, they hoped to land at Jamestown in Virginia. Winds blew them north, and they landed at Plymouth Rock in Massacheutts. Because they would be the first colonizers in that area, they wrote out the Mayflower Compact, which was to be the basis of their laws. It stated, "In the name of God, Amen. Having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith…do…solemnly and mutually in the presence of God covenant and combine ourselves together.…" Those weary settlers were not seeking to flee religious influence; they came to this new world so that they could promote their religious beliefs.
The logo of the state of Connecticut is "the Constitution State". That motto has nothing to do with the United States Constitution approved in 1789. The very first constitution written on this soil was written in Connecticut in 1639. Its purpose was to limit governmental powers. It begins, "Foreas much as it hath pleased the Almighty God by the wise disposition of His divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the inhabitants and residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wetherfield are now cohabitating and dwelling in and upon the river of Connectecotte and the lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one public state or commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into combination and confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which we now profess, as also, the discipline of the churches, which according to the truth of the Gospel is now practiced among us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such laws, rules, orders, and decrees as shall be made, ordered, decreed as followeth…" The very first constitution written on American soil included the right to preach the gospel. It also stated that the role of government was to allow the promotion of God, not its prevention. More than a century later that same belief still existed. The Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men…." The signers of the Declaration of Independence saw the role of government as protecting God given rights, not keeping God out of the public square. How can God, then, not be allowed to interact in the public arena?
Second the Founding Fathers saw God as a necessary part of the culture. For nearly 200 years our nation saw no problem in welcoming God into the various social spheres of our nation. From before the approval of the Constitution, our government encouraged religious participation in every area of our culture. Congress approved the Bill of Rights on April 24, 1789. The next day, Samuel Provost was hired by Congress to be the first chaplain. Both George Washington and John Adams proclaimed national days of prayer and fasting. In their speeches, they called on God for His blessings and on the people to humble themselves before God. In Washington's final farewell address he stated, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports". If the First Amendment was written to keep God from influencing the government, certainly George Washington and John Adams would have known and sought to keep God out of politics.
The genius of America was two-fold. First, the founders set up our government to emphasize the separation of powers. Because one branch could check another, tyranny was prevented from taking control. Second, the founders encouraged religious fervor without giving a specific denomination power over the government. The founding fathers wanted religion to influence the political world, not run it. The church's greatest strength is not in ruling the government but in praying for and in influencing those who do. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:1, "First all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quite life…." The phrase "that we may lead a tranquil…life" is what political freedom is all about. We pray for the king so that God's blessings might come and that we might have political freedom, resulting in a tranquil life. Some religious organizations have gone too far and become consumed by political causes. God did not call the church to be consumed in politics. He called the church to be "the salt of the Earth" and the "light of the world." That means the church is called by God to influence and to instruct. It also means there are times when the church must point a finger at the king and the culture and call for repentance.
Our nation is filled with examples of God being acknowledged by those in places of power and influence. Patrick Henry's famous statement "give me liberty or give me death" was the conclusion of a sermon he delivered in church. He stated at a later date, "It cannot be emphasized too often or too strongly that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ". Benjamin Franklin is often referred to as one of the major deists among the Founding Fathers. He was hardly a "Fundamentalist", but he did understand the role of Christianity in the colonies. We also know that he made a speech at the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. Because things were not going well, he stood and stated, "We needed God to be our friend, not our enemy, and our ally, not our adversary….We needed to keep God's concurring aid…If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We've been assured in sacred writing that 'except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build'". He then called for a daily time of prayer and Bible reading. The Declaration of Independence was written and signed within the week. After the war was over and independence was won, a Constitution was needed. Again conflicts developed and again Franklin rose to exhort those in attendance. He stated, "In the days of our contest with Britain, we were aware of danger. We had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers were heard and were graciously answered. Have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I therefore beg leave that you move hence forth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing upon our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed with business". Were Franklin alive today, he would not be a part of the "Religious Right", but he did understand the role and importance of prayer and religion in the society.
Like Franklin, Thomas Jefferson was not a part of the evangelical wing of the Founding Fathers. Yet, he did understand the importance of religion in the culture. While he did not participate in the writing of the Constitution, Jefferson was the individual assigned to pen the words of the Declaration of Independence. After writing the initial document, it was turned over to a committee for revision. One change made by the committee became the document’s most well known phrase. Jefferson’s original phrase stated “WE HOLD THESE TRUTHES TO BE SACRED AND UNDENIABLE…” The phrase “sacred and undeniable” became “SELF EVIDENT”. Far from seeking to ignore God, Jefferson’s original phrase had a religious overtone at its heart. On four different occasions, Jefferson referred to God. This was not an isolated incident. In his second Inaugural Address, Jefferson spoke about many of his accomplishments. One of those accomplishments was in the area of religion. He stated, "In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed in the Constitution independent of the powers of the general government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it, but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of state or church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies." In other words, Jefferson saw his Constitutional role as a member of the federal government, which included the federal courts, to leave religion alone. He saw the implementation of religious expression as the responsibility of both the states and the individual denominations.
While Jefferson was not a proponent of the federal government promoting a particular religion, or even promoting a religious activity, he had no hesitancy acknowledging God's role in our nation. He closed his second Inaugural address by stating, "I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancies with His providence, and our riper years with His wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide your councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your good and shall secure to you the peace, friendship and approbation of all nations." He almost sounds like a "right wing religious zealot", doesn't he?
This was not the first time Jefferson called upon God's blessings. He concluded the Declaration of Independence by writing, "And for the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor". Divine Providence was Puritan talk for God's will. Jefferson was not a Presbyterian, but he would have been familiar with the Westminster Confession which stated, "God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence". Carved on the Jefferson Memorial are the words Jefferson wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. They state, "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility over every form of tyranny over the mind of man." While Jefferson did not want an official religion established, he did want to acknowledge God and to have the freedom to call on Him at any time. Jefferson was not a Christian fundamentalist. Neither was he what some have sought to make him, an opponent of God in the marketplace of ideas and influence.
While Jefferson was the chief architect of the Declaration of Independence, James Madison was the primary author of the Constitution. He stated, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political Constitutions upon the capacity of each of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments". Our nation's first Supreme Court Chief Justice was John Jay. He stated, "Providence has given us the choice of our rulers. It is the duty as well as the priviledge and in the interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians as their rulers". John Adams followed George Washington to the presidency. He wrote, "Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It's wholly inadequate for the government of any other". His son, John Ouincy Adams, was our nation's sixth president. He stated, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this, it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government and the principles of Christianity".
In 1973 researchers at the University of Houston sought to discover the key to the stability of the American Governmental system. Over a ten year period, those researchers collected 15,000 American Revolutionary period documents and isolated 3154 direct quotes from the Founding Fathers. They next sought to catalogue each of those quotes and isolate their source. When their research was done, the most quotes were attributed to Baron Charles de Montesquieu, William Blackstone, and John Locke. Nearly 60% of all quotes came from Christian teachings and were influenced by scriptural ideals. Half of those quotes were direct quotes from the Bible. The researchers also learned that major concepts found in the Constitution were taken directly out of the scriptures. The concept for the three branches of government came from Isaiah 33:22. The concept of religious organizations being tax exempt came from Ezra 7:24. The laws on treason came from the book of Exodus. Their understanding for a system of checks and balances came out of Jeremiah's teaching on man's sin nature.
Third, our courts acknowledged God as necessary to the culture. If the founders sought to keep God as a focal point of the culture, did the courts accept that belief, or did they overturn it? One hundred years after the first amendment was approved, the United States Supreme Court ruled on the role of God in our society. In an 1892 decision entitled "Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States," the court ruled, "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian….This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to this present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation.…we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth…These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation." A century after the founders acknowledged God's place in our nation, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed their beliefs. The court did not rule everyone must be a Christian. It ruled that the foundation upon which our nation began was overtly Christian. Our nation clearly has a Judeo-Christian history. If the Supreme Court ruled in 1892 that the United States was a Christian nation, then what has happened?
Over the past fifty years, that freedom has been chipped away by the concept mentioned previously, the Separation of Church and State. The reader must understand that this term does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, or the Constitution. Rather, it appeared in a letter by Thomas Jefferson.
In 1804, a group of Baptist pastors wrote a letter to President Jefferson asking for a clarification on the first amendment. They were concerned that the federal government might name the Anglican Church, Virginia's official state church, or another denomination as the official church of the United States. President Jefferson wrote back and told those pastors they had no need to worry. The first amendment prevented the federal government from establishing any denomination as the official religion of America. He said there was a separation between church and state. He meant that the federal government could not interfere in religious matters. The federal government could not establish an officially recognized denomination, nor could it prevent religions or religious people from seeking to influence society in any way they saw fit.
In the 1950's and 60's, courts began to rule that this "separation" meant that no religious influence at all could be allowed. The courts moved from a "separation of church and state" to an "isolation between church and state." President Jefferson did not believe nor did he practice this "separation" as it is interpreted in today's courts. Two days after writing his letter to the Danbury ministers, Jefferson attended a church service held in the chambers of the House of Representatives. This was hardly an act of a man committed to keeping government and religion isolated from each other. He did not believe the First Amendment forbade the federal government from allowing religious acts on government property. Neither did he believe the federal government should promote religious events. For this reason, he refused to continue the policy of proclaiming a national day of prayer. He chose not to use the federal government to order a religious activity, but rather left that decision up to the individual states to initiate. Many states did in fact have official days of prayer.
It would be profitable to remind ourselves of a little American history. It is important that we understand that the framers of our Constitution were knowledgeable about religion, history and law. They were not country bumpkins. Not all of them were what we would term "evangelicals," but they were all knowledgeable about the Bible. Of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence, more than 50 were members of a mainline denominational church. The founders did not want to establish a national religion, but neither did they intend to stifle religious activity. Their solution to not establishing a national religion was to allow religious activity to be regulated and promoted on the state and local level. The same founders who wrote the first amendment, returned to their homes where they helped ratify their various state Constitutions. At least nine of the original thirteen state constitutions listed a specific religious denomination of preference. If the framers did not want religious expression allowed in the public arena, they would have reflected that belief in the thirteen state Constitutions which were soon passed. Instead, they identified their state with religious organizations.
They did not see a state sanctioned religious preference as a contradiction to the First Amendment, which was written to limit the reach of the federal government. The framers wrote, "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances". The restriction was on Congress. The federal government could not establish an official religion to which everyone had to belong, but neither could they prohibit the free expressions of religious ideas. They balanced that by approving the tenth Amendment, which clearly gives individual states the right to have a state church. Many of them did. Let me also add, the restriction was not on, "the respecting of religion…", but on "respecting an establishment of religion…" There is a vast difference between respecting religion and establishing an official religion.
In the 1892 "Holy Trinity" case, the Supreme Court simply went back into our nation's past to see what was historically true. Nearly ninety separate historical documents were cited in that case. This is why the court stated, "from the discovery of this continent until this present hour…." The U. S. Supreme Court in 1892 ruled that the "Separation of Church and State" was NOT taught in the Constitution.
While the First Amendment prohibited the Federal government from requiring allegiance to a specific religion, the Tenth Amendment stated that the individual states had no such restrictions. Many of the original colonies, therefore, had state preferred denominations. For instance, the original state constitution of Pennsylvania required every member of the legislative body to swear allegiance. Section 10 stated, "And each member before he takes his seat shall make and subscribe to the following declaration, 'I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder to the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration." This was not a creed to join the church; it was a creed to run for political office. The State Constitution of Maryland stated, "It is the duty of every man to worship God in such a manner as he thinks most acceptable to him". The writers continued, "the legislature may, in their discretion lay a general and equal tax, for the support of the Christian religion". The tax money was given to churches for the support of the needy and the poor. The South Carolina Constitution established, "the Christian Protestant religion…shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges". They defined the acceptably protected religions as those that agreed that, "there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments…that the Christian religion is the true religion. That the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament are of divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice". The Massachusetts Constitution stated, "It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons to worship the Supreme Being, the Great Creator and preserver of the Universe". They went on to offer protections to those who chose not to worship. Then they concluded by stating, "The happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality…these cannot be generally diffused through a Community, but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality".
In 1776 the Virginia Declaration of Rights was penned. This was the prefix to the official constitution for the colony of Virginia. Article 16 states, "That religion, or the duty which we owe to our creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other."
Many of the writers of those state's Constitutions had a significant role in writing the federal Constitution. They wrote into law what they believed to be the correct interpretation of the First Amendment that Congress would not establish a national religion, but states could have local denominational preferences. There are many today that argue this practice was wrong and should be changed. That is a legitimate point to for honest people to debate. What cannot be honestly argued is that the Founders of our nation, the signers of the Constitution, and the writers of the First Amendment sought to keep religion out of the public arena. They did not.
As our nation expanded westward, new states were admitted into the Union. It was at times like this that citizens had the opportunity to voice their opinion on God's role in the society. Had they chosen, each of those new states could have rejected the notion that God's role was to be officially acknowledged in writing. California became a state in 1850. That is nearly seventy-five years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Did they wish to separate God from the state? The Constitution of the state of California opens by stating, "We, the people of the state of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution".
In South Carolina, atheists were forbidden by law from running for office until after the Civil War. Again, the courts did not see this as a violation of the Bill of Rights, which limited the federal government but allowed the individual states to establish religious preferences. One might disagree with that policy, but the solution was to change the policy, not deny the policy never existed.
Fourth, our nation's history demonstrates that God is a necessary part of our culture. Where should we begin? We have already seen that the original settlers saw God as necessary to the well being of the culture. This did not end with the British surrender to George Washington at Yorktown. To demonstrate that the founders of our nation did not want God excluded from the culture, you need only examine the first laws passed by those great men.
After our nation won its independence, several years transpired before the Constitution was written. In that time, we were ruled by the Continental Congress, under the Articles of Confederation. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance was passed. This was probably the most important law passed until the Constitution itself was ratified because it established the boundaries and laws of the western territories. Article 3 states, "Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." They recognized religion as necessary to good government.
When the Civil War broke out, Lincoln did all he could to heal our nation. After the battle at Gettysburg, Lincoln rode the train to that small community and gave a ten minute speech. He concluded with these magnificent words, "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth". Lincoln understood what our founding fathers professed, "all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…." "Four score and seven years" after the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln, as had the founders before him and the original settlers before them recognized God's continued rule over our nation.
The Supreme Court in 1892 continued that same policy. They saw God as a necessary part of the governmental process; just as had Lincoln; just as had Jefferson; just as had Washington; just as the original settlers had before him. They did not mandate a specific religion, but they acknowledged God's role in our nation. A specific religion was not sought, but religious ideas were allowed, in fact encouraged.
The history of our nation is the history of Christianity. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. Harvard was founded in 1638 as the first college in America. In 1646, Harvard established their "Rules and Precepts." One rule stated, "Everyone shall consider the main purpose of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, everyone shall seriously by prayer in secret seek wisdom of Him. Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the scriptures twice a day that they be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of languages and logic, and in practical and spiritual truths.…." Nearly every college founded in the United States prior to 1850 had a similar code. Of our nation's first 108 colleges, all but two were founded to train ministers. Less than ten colleges existed at the time of the Civil War that was founded solely for the purpose of giving students a purely secular education. Colleges were founded to train ministers and Christian lay leaders. Even those who attended college to go into other vocations received a heavy dose of theology and ethics.
Lest you think I am making that up, one need only hear of the Christian conversion of Charles Finney. Finney was a lawyer, and the furthest thing from his mind was to preach the gospel. However, as he studied the law, he also had to study Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law. These were the most well known books on legal theories in the United States. No lawyer could graduate from law school without thoroughly knowing Blackstone's views. After stating the law, Blackstone gave his interpretation of the law and then gave all of the scriptural passages that supported the law. Judicial law was seen as an extension of the scriptures. As Finney studied the law, he also studied the Bible. There were so many references to the Bible in Blackstone's writings that Finney was convicted of his sin and later turned his life over to Christ. Finney left the law and eventually became the most famous evangelist of the 19th century. The scholars of the 19th century understood history and law, but they also understood the Bible.
After the Civil War, the Catholic Church established its parochial school system because the public schools were too Protestant. In 1892, when the Supreme Court ruled this a Christian nation, more than 2/3 of all college presidents in our nation were ordained ministers.
This changed at the beginning of this century as the enlightenment came from Europe to America and as the Bible began to be denied as the Word of God. This resulted in the church going inside its walls and allowing the secularization of our government and governmental institutions. For the first 160 years of our nation's history, nearly every justice appointed to the Supreme Court regularly attended a church or synagogue. From 1930-1980, no justice was nominated to the Supreme Court who regularly attended worship services. Is it any wonder then those courts began to decide against prayer, the Bible, and God's place in the public arena? The court of 1892 was made up of judges who knew the Bible as well as the law. Those justices understood that the laws of our land had its roots in the Bible.
It is quite evident that our nation has forgotten its history. If you were to quiz most Americans today, they would tell you that our nation was founded so that people could be free from religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Until the 1950's, school children learned about the Pilgrims giving thanks to God for the generosity shown by the Indians. They learned that George Washington prayed at Valley Forge. They learned that the Civil Rights Movement began in churches and was an extension of the Biblical truth that God is not a respecter of persons. They learned patriotic songs that talked about God and country. That has all changed. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni recently surveyed 556 graduating students from fifty-five of our nation's elite colleges. These students were the best and brightest our universities have to offer. They were given a high school history exam asking such questions as the decade in which the Civil War was waged, who was the commander in chief during the War for Independence, whom our nation fought during World War II, and which president freed the slaves. Although 99% could identify Bevis and Butthead, nearly 80 % of those surveyed received a D or an F. Further study revealed that none of the fifty-five elite universities require even one semester of U.S. history as a requirement for graduation. If our children are not taught our nation's history, we should not be surprised if they do not accept the principles upon which our nation was founded.
I recently called my father to wish him a happy Father's Day. Unfortunately he wasn't home. It seems sailing season had begun the day before, and he had taken the week off to go to the lake where he gives sailing instructions. My wife and I had the opportunity many years ago to go out onto San Francisco Bay with him and to sail around the bay. As we got into the boat, he took a large piece of wood and rammed it into this big hole in the center of the boat. He told me that this was a keel and it was placed in that slot to stabilize the boat and keep it from flipping over. The Bible, the Ten Commandments, Christianity, the Judeo-Christian philosophy, and prayer in schools have combined to be the keel that has kept our nation from capsizing.
Ideas have consequences. The idea that rights came from God and not the government was a radical idea that birthed the greatest nation on the earth. The idea that God and His Word should be isolated from our culture also has consequences. The breakdown of the home, chaos in our schools, crime in our cities, and a moral breakdown in our culture are all direct results of abandoning our God centered culture. Our "keel" is broken, and we need to correct it. The solution is not to pass a law mandating everyone be forced to pray or to read the Bible. It is, however, necessary for God to be allowed back into the arena of public ideas. Not all the founders of our nation were evangelicals; however, they did understand God's role in our society. Thomas Jefferson was one of the least religious of all the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It is ironic, then, that it is Jefferson himself who wrote those incredible words that closed that document. He stated, "and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor". Jefferson did not seek the protection of the French, but of God.
O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain
For purple mountains majesty above the fruited plains
America, America, God shed His grace of thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
The song writer, as well as those who walked before us, understood the words of the psalmist, "How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." War has been declared. Not a war of bullets and bombs, but a war of ideas. If the battle is not joined, the battle will be won by those who seek to remove all vestiges of God from our culture. This is a battle that must be engaged. It is a war we must win.
Glen Jackson is minister of the FaithChristian Church in Simi Valley, Ca. and is also a free lance writer. He can be reached at Faith Christian Church, PO Box 58, Simi Valley, CA. 93062.
