AMERICA'S FOUNDERS HAD THE ANSWER FOR SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

The massacre at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, TX left ten dead and shocked the nation once again. The response has been predictable by the media “experts” and political talking heads. The answer is more laws, more guards and better security.  Sadly, few voices are addressing the root of the problem, which is spiritual and moral.

Rejecting Christian Morality is Having Consequences

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, wisely stated, “Those who will not be governed by God must be ruled by tyrants.” Fifty-five years ago, the nation’s highest court decided that America’s public schools would not be governed by God and we are suffering the consequences with 22 school shootings so far this year, teachers having sex with students and students attacking teaches as well as one another.

It was in 1963 that the Supreme Court banned prayer and Bible reading in public schools. Since that time there has been an all-out attempt by clueless secularists to purge every vestige of Christian influence, not realizing that freedom and Christianity are indissolubly linked.

This anti-Christian crusade has led to crosses and ten commandment displays being removed, coaches being told they can’t bow in prayer with their players, school bands being barred from playing Christian songs and valedictorians being told they cannot talk about their faith at graduation. 

Actions have consequences and this rejection of Christian morality has led to the breakdown of the traditional family and a culture with no moral compass, adrift on a sea of moral relativism.

The consequences of refusing to be governed by God are obvious. I attended high school in the 1960s in a rural area of northeast Texas. Every home had guns and most of my friends owned hunting rifles. Even through there were few regulations, there were no school shootings and inappropriate use of firearms were rare.

We were governed from within by the moral constraints of a Christian culture. There were strong families, vibrant churches and schools where prayer was offered before every special event and teachers were free to talk about their faith. Even those who did not attend church had a respect for God. When someone would pray at the beginning of a sporting or social event, you would see hats being removed throughout the stadium, showing honor to God and that sacred moment of prayer.

The biggest problems in school at that time were chewing gum in glass, being out of your seat or talking without permission and being late with an assignment. My how things have changed since our brilliant jurists and politicians have decided we would not be governed by God!

As Penn pointed out, the only alternative to not being governed by God is tyranny, i.e., taking away individual liberty by passing more and more stringent laws in hope of regulating the bad behavior of a society that is no longer governed by God.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin Speak Out

America’s Founders understood this and stated that they had formulated the U.S. Constitution for a Christian and moral people who would be self-governed from within. John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious [Christian] people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

In his Farewell address after serving two terms as America’s first president, George Washington declared, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion [Christianity] and morality are indispensable supports.” He goes on to say that the person who would “labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness” can never claim to be an American patriot.

Thomas Jefferson was in complete agreement and he made Washington’s Farewell Address required reading at the University of Virginia, which he had founded. Notice that Washington did not call religion optional. The word he used was “indispensable” and Jefferson obviously agreed. It should be remembered that when the Founders used the word “religion” they were referring to Christianity.

Jefferson may have had questions at times about certain aspects of Christian doctrine, but there is no question that he saw Christianity as providing the moral and intellectual system necessary for a stable society. Having read the Koran and the literature of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Enlightenment, he stated, “Of all the systems of morality that have come under my observations, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

Jefferson’s commitment to Christian values is why he closed all presidential documents with the appellation, “In the year of our Lord Christ.” It is also why he took money from the federal treasury to pay for missionaries to work among the Kaskasia Indian tribe and to build them a building in which to worship.

Benjamin Franklin also expressed questions at times about certain aspects of Christian doctrine, but through his Puritan roots and close friendship with George Whitefield, the most famous preacher of the Great Awakening, he became convinced that Christian values are necessary for a stable society. He once said, "The moral and religious system which Jesus Christ transmitted to us is the best the world has ever seen, or can see."

The Church Must Arise

If America will not be governed by God, then her only alternative is to pass more and more stringent laws that take away individual liberty. If America will not be governed by God, then she may find it necessary to get rid of the Second Amendment and live in an increasingly tyrannical state where individual freedom is a thing of the past.

The Founders did not believe that there could be liberty apart from virtue, or freedom apart from morality. Only Christianity offered the moral and intellectual underpinnings that would preserve the nation they had brought into existence. William Novak is, therefore, correct in saying, “The founders did not believe the constitutional government they were erecting could survive without Hebrew-Christian faith.”

The church must stand up in boldness and reject the secularist lie that the First Amendment banned faith from the government and public square. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our schools and our nation need God and it is time for the church to be salt and light in this nation.

This article was derived from Eddie Hyatt's latest book, 5 Pillars of the American Republic, available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.