Our nation was founded on religious principles

This weekend we celebrate our 235th birthday as a nation. We are blessed with many freedoms that so many people of the world do not have. One of these freedoms is the right to believe and practice our religious beliefs as long as we do not violate other people’s freedoms.

Many of our founding mothers and fathers came to this country to obtain religious freedom. In Europe, the rule of law was, “The religion of the king was the religion of the people.” This is still true in many Muslim countries where Islam is the state religion and people cannot practice Christianity, Judaism, and other world religions in public.

The writers of the Bill of Rights guaranteed that everyone is free to practice the religion of their choice and that the government cannot establish a national religion. The first Amendment of the Bill of Rights clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

So we are not a Christian nation. We are a nation, where the majority practices Christianity. In other words, our government was not founded as an extension of Christianity. However, our nation’s social/political network was founded with Judeo-Christian principles in mind. All 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were either Christian or Theists. They all believed in God and expressed that belief in the 1776 document.

In the four references to God in the Declaration, the authors used the concept of a Deity that any Christian, Jew, Muslim or Hindu could acknowledge. The statements are: “to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,” . . . “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . . ” “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.” In the formal dating of the document, it read “In the year of our Lord” referring to the Gregorian Calendar that we use in the West.

We all remember Patrick Henry’s words, “Give me liberty or give me death.” That is only part of what he actually said: An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not to the strong alone; is life so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. Some editors have erased the religious context from our textbooks.

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President, reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically in our country.”

In 1782 the United States Congress voted this resolution: The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools. (They did not see a conflict between the use of the Bible as a historical book of spirituality.)

On the aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., are two words: “Laus Deo.” They are 555 feet high and overlook the 69 square miles that comprise the District of Columbia. These very meaningfully words were placed at the highest point of the most powerful city in the world. Laus Deo in Latin means “Praise be to God!”

Have a great 4th of July weekend!