Hello, Friends of Freedom,
Our wonderful country has been beset with an atmosphere of incivility for quiet sometime now. In my awareness of politics over the last 40 years it keeps going from one depth of darkness to even lower levels of attack not only on candidates but their families as well.
It seems the ability to speak in a disparaging way about each other as candidates is more important than addressing the issues we see all around every day, i.e., Poverty, homelessness, looting in our stores, suppression of freedom with civil implemented mandates that have no legal bases at all, and the ongoing spending our tax dollars for foreign wars, wasteful government bureaucratic offices, and of course lavish lifestyle of our leaders while the average American struggles to pay bills.
What is civility, and did we ever have it as a country? In our beginnings, we certainly did have attacks in the press at the time of each political party, but there was a limit, and when the important work had to be done, they actually did work together for the common good.
Our fathers and founding statesmen affirmed over and over in their writings that the most important source of our civil virtues was our grounding in religious faith and its freedom of expression in the culture.
A few quotes:
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall: “One great object of the colonial charters was avowedly the propagation of the Christian faith.”
John Adams: “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were….the general principles of Christianity.”
The list of government officials who validate the role of the Christian faith in our founding as a nation is or could be a good-sized book containing those quotes.
President Harry Truman openly affirmed that, “ In this great country of ours has been demonstrated the fundamental unity of Christianity and democracy.”
Also, our great French ally and statesman Alexis de Tocqueville recorded in his great work, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: “There is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America-and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.”
We were blessed with the most unique form of government, perhaps since governments have been formed for the overall good of society. Our incredible Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights have enabled mankind to achieve dignity, self-respect, nobleness, and prosperity that is unprecedented yet in modern or ancient history.
The Constitution, of course, being the CORNERSTONE of the building of the country, has laid a clear blueprint of the ideas of the founding fathers in relationship to freedoms that should be afforded to all of humanity.
Since we have had a decline of civility, perhaps we should examine the reason why. Could it be that we have simply accepted the cultural buzz and lies from the media about the role of faith and particularly Christianity that is nowhere regulated by law in any of their founding documents yet is presented as fact to a historically uneducated populace?
Let’s look at the celebration of Christmas. Since it is fast approaching, many people will not acknowledge its important role in the formation of Western Society. In fact, we have been pressured and had a veil of fear placed over us as Christians (if you are one). The simple greeting is no longer delivered with a robust smile and confidence but many Christians shy away from this incredible time of joy and often mutter the pablum phrase, “Happy holiday.” WORDS MATTER! (on an aside note, three of the Presidents of Ivy League colleges would not acknowledge evil with their words, and it cost one of them their job, and hundreds of petitions are moving for the firing of all three of them) Yes, WORDS MATTER! To deny the celebration of your faith by not acknowledging history is a dangerous thing, not just a polite way of saying I don’t want to offend anyone. The offense is in the suppression of your freedom of expression.) But I digress…lol.
For example, the widespread use of the word “HOLIDAYS” to describe what has traditionally been called Christmas for over 180 years in our culture. The removal of the Christian emblem of the Holy Family from public venues. No observance or acknowledgment in our public schools of the largest celebrated holiday in the Western World, if not the entire world? Yet we are reduced to and subjected to silence about it. This never happened when I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s. Christmas still had a space and a place in every public venue, from banks to grocery stores, to libraries, and even public schools. But now people are even afraid to wish someone a MERRY CHRISTMAS? How did we get here?
I will tell you how we got here.
A simple phrase called Separation of Church and State. First of all, this phrase is found nowhere in any of our founding documents. Many have been taught that it is a part of the FIRST AMENDMENT, which simply states,
“CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXPRESSION THEREOF.”
The words “separation,” “church,” or “state” are not found in the First Amendment. Yet many people, having never read the Constitution, think it is there. Also, if you prove to them it is not there, then they will say, but it is implied.
I hope in the next weeks to show you the origin of this phrase and how it has been used as a political tool to drive a wedge between common sense and civil celebration. Targeting the historically uneducated as they unwarily defend this phrase and use it to detract from the original intention of the founding fathers ideas, and especially targeting the idea of faith in the public arena.
Until Next Week,
Allen
