The
Democrat National Committee unanimously passed a resolution affirming atheists
and the non-religious and insisting that neither Christianity nor any religion
is necessary for morality and patriotism. In a swipe at evangelical Christians, they condemned those who are, in their words, “loudly claiming that morals, values and
patriotism must be defined by their particular religious views.”
Obviously
rejecting the First Amendment guarantee of religious liberty, the DNC also accuses
Christians of using “misplaced claims of ‘religious liberty’ – to justify
public policy that has threatened the civil rights and liberties of many
Americans, including but not limited to the LGBT community, women and ethnic
and religious/nonreligious minorities.”
With
this resolution, the DNC rejected the Christian vision of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Adams and the entire founding generation.
George Washington Saw the World Very
Differently
Enter George Washington and America’s Founders who, without
exception, believed that only Christianity provided the moral values that would
lead to a stable, free and prosperous nation. Washington made this clear in
Farewell Address after serving two terms as America’s first president. He said,
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should
labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of
the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious
man, ought to respect and to cherish them. And let us with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained without religion [Christianity].
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots,
169-70).
Washington clearly contradicts the
DNC on three points.
1) He says that religion and morality are indispensable
supports for political prosperity.
2) He says that anyone who subverts these “great pillars of human
happiness” cannot claim the tribute of patriotism.
3) He says that national morality will never prevail apart from
religious principle.
In the same address, Washington again
warned the nation to not neglect its duty toward God, saying, “The propitious smiles of Heaven can
never be expected on a nation that disregards the external rules of order and
right, which Heaven itself has ordained” (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots,
174).
Thomas Jefferson Agreed with Washington
Thomas
Jefferson was in complete agreement with Washington and he made his 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.
John Adams Agreed
John
Adams, America’s second president, was also convinced that only Christian
morality would enable the American Republic to survive. Two weeks before he signed the Declaration of Independence, Adams wrote
to his cousin, Zabdiel, a minister of the Gospel and exhorted him about his
vital role in the success of the nation, saying,
Statesmen, my dear sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is
Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles, upon which
Freedom can securely stand (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 173).
In a 1798 address to the officers of the
Massachusetts Militia, Adams again made clear his belief in a national,
Christian morality as the only hope for the survival of the American Republic.
He declared,
We have no government armed with power capable of
contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only
for a moral and religious [Christian] people. It is
wholly inadequate to the government
of any other (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 173).
The Catholic scholar, William Novak,
commented on why Adams believed Christianity necessary for the survival of a
free society. He writes,
Without the existence of
an all-knowing Governor of the universe, the Divine Judge and Arbiter, Adams
argued, there can be no right or wrong, only subjective opinion, whim, and
desire. Turning from God is a recipe for moral chaos which no appeal to reason
is efficacious, a world in which brute power decides right and wrong.
James Madison Agreed
The Founders unanimously
believed that unless America’s citizens would have a
moral sense of obligation to their Creator, they would tend to live
self-centered lives, harmful to society. This is why James Madison, the chief architect of the Constitution, wrote,
The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is
so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it
cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to
the different characters and
capacities impressed with it (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 131).
Good Government and Religion Go Hand in Hand
The same Founders who gave us the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, also passed
the Northwest Ordinance establishing the Northwest Territory--at the same Constitutional
Convention in 1787. Not only did they ban slavery in the territory, they also
set aside federal lands and funds for the building of schools in order to
promote “religion, morality and knowledge.”
They did this because, in their own words, the promotion of
religion and morality are “necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind.” Further demonstrating that the First Amendment had nothing to do with
putting restrictions on religious expression, the Founders also proclaimed a day
of “Prayer and Thanksgiving” the day after ratifying the First Amendment.
Novak is thus correct in saying, “The founders did
not think that the constitutional government they were erecting could survive
without Hebrew-Christian faith.” He also says,
Far
from having a hostility toward religion, the founders counted on religion
[Christianity] for the underlying philosophy
of the republic, its supporting ethic, and its reliable source of
rejuvenation (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 174).
It’s
Time for Another Spiritual Awakening
The DNC has rejected, not
only the vision of the Founders, but the Declaration of Independence itself and
its insistence that our rights and liberties come from God. For the DNC, God
seems to be an unnecessary inconvenience. A comment from Jefferson is
stunningly applicable in this regard. He wrote,
God who gave us life, gave us liberty. And can the
liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm
basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift
from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that His justice
cannot sleep forever (Hyatt, Pilgrims and Patriots, 160-61).
We too should tremble at the open
rejection of God and His moral laws. American liberty has survived because of
periodic, national spiritual awakenings that have renewed the faith of American
citizens and strengthened their moral resolve. These include the Second Great
Awakening (1800-1840), the Great Prayer Awakening of 1857-58, and other
regional and national awakenings.
We must pray for another such awakening that will transform the churches of America and stem the tide of secularism and immorality that is flooding the land. Such an awakening is not a luxury but a necessity if the America of Washington, Jefferson and Madison is to survive. Such an awakening will come, not by instituting a new religious order or program, but by following those same
instructions God gave Israel for a national healing.
If My people who are called by name, will humble
themselves and pray,
And seek My face and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, And I will forgive their sin and heal
their land (II Chronicles 7:14).
This article is derived
from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s book, Pilgrims and Patriots, and his soon to be published
book, 1726, with the subtitle, The Spiritual Awakening that Defined
America. His books
are available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.
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