by Wingchun
Christ Makes America Great
Our Founding Fathers Emphasized Christian Faith and Morality
“Virtue…Learning…Piety” These words are founded throughout our official documents and statements of our Founders. Sometimes, they are called “Morality,” “Knowledge,” and “Religion,” such as are found in the Northwest Ordinance. “Religion” meant Christianity. “Morality” meant Christian character. “Knowledge” meant a biblical world view. These were consistently emphasized by our Founders as the indispensable foundations or supports of our system of government. If they are lost, then our nation will eventually collapse.
John Adams said it best in 1798: “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”
Thomas Jefferson said that religion is “deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.” He believed that “The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights.” He also maintained that “the bible is the cornerstone of liberty; …students perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens.”
The father of the constitution, James Madison, said in his Memorial and Remonstrance of 1785 that “Religion… is the basis and foundation of government… Before any man can be considered a member of civil society, he must be considered a subject of the Governor of the Universe.
George Washington, President of the Constitutional Convention, said in 1783 that “without humble imitation” of the “characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion…we can never hope to be a happy nation.” Later, in his Farewell Address in 1796, he said: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to a political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” He said they “are the essential pillars of society” in 1797.
The Father of the American Revolution was Samuel Adams, who said that to change any age in which we live must simply “study and practice the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” “While the people are virtuous,” he said, they can not be subdued; but when once they loose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader… If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.”
Abraham Lincoln said: “The only assurance of our nation’s safety is to lay down our foundation in morality and religion”.
One Nation Under God
Many sincere people have mistaken belief that our Constitution requires neutrality toward religion. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our Constitution establishes us as a nation “under God” in a variety of ways, but specifically in article 6.
Article 6 deals with supremacy. In paragraph one it declares that the national government had supreme responsibility for debts. In paragraph two it declares the Constitution to “be the supreme law of the land,” but then in paragraph three it declares God to be supreme over both our laws and our leaders: “all… officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath…” taken, of course, with their hand on the bible.
The Framers of the Constitution wrote that the “definition of an oath is a solemn appeal to the Supreme Being, for the truth of what is said. In administering an oath, it is only necessary to inquire if the person who is to take it “believes in a Supreme Being and in the future state of rewards and punishment”…otherwise there would be nothing to bind his conscience on.”
The Chairman of the Sesquicentennial Commission of the Constitution appointed by Congress fifty years ago was Sol Bloom. In his authorized book, The Story of the Constitution, Bloom asks the question: “Can an atheist become President of the United States?” Then he answers: I maintain that the spirit of the Constitution forbids it. The Constitution prescribes an oath of affirmation which the President must take in order to qualify for Office. The oath or affirmation in its essence is a covenant with the people which the President pledges himself to keep with the help of the Almighty God.” Since 1862 the words “so help me God” have been legally required at the end of an oath.
The Constitution even goes further in its recognition of Christianity and Biblical law in Article 1, Section 7, Paragraph 2, where the President has “Sundays excepted” for deciding on legislation. A Senate Committee on the Judiciary commented on this provision in 1853:
“In the law, Sunday is a “dies non”; it cannot be used for the services of legal process, the return of writs, or other judicial purposes. The executive department, the public establishments, are all closed on Sundays; on that day neither House or Congress sits; … Here is a recognition by law, and by universal usage, not only of a Sabbath, but the Christian Sabbath or Mahammedan Sabbath;…The recognition of the Christian Sabbath (by the Constitution) is complete and perfect.”
The final recognition of Christianity in the Constitution itself is founded in the two-fold date employed by our Founders in Article 7: “in the year of our Lord 1787 and of the independence of the United States of America the 12th”. Our Founders dated this document in this way to deliberately recognize the two most significant sources of authority in our Constitution: The birth of Christ and the birth of Independence. Indeed, Scripture has said that “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17).