Hello, Friends of Freedom!
Happy New Year to you all as we enter a season of unprecedented change in our great country! We have all heard the phrase, “This election of our Presidency will be the most important election of our lifetime.”
I never embraced that phrase completely, but with deep reflection on what has transpired in the last administration in this country, it is apparent that it may ring true for us and our nation’s future generations!
I want to continue my series on the Separation of Church and State, but I want to remind everyone reading this article that elections have consequences! And the consequences for our country have never been more dangerous than they are now. The rise of “wokeness” destroying our free speech rights in the name of tolerance, the open border, the imposing debt, and the involvement in corrupt regimes in other countries has us doing a balancing act that we cannot help but topple over soon unless we see real change. Not just change in an election but change in governance and laws that are destroying us now from within.
Let us pray and put legs to our prayers with action in the arena of voting and running for office. Let those who love our country serve her in public office—ok, enough said!
We left off with learning that the Founding Fathers were keenly aware of NOT creating a state-sanctioned church. However, they were not ever expecting the principles of faith not to be lived out in society and given preference for educational purposes.
We want to thank Pastor Allen Cook for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
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To quote George Washington in his Farewell Address, “Of all 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, the firmest props of the duties of men and citizens? The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.”
Note that in this portion of the speech he associates patriotism with the embracing of religion and morality in public life and policy. His speech also warns Americans to reject the idea that morality could be preserved apart from religious teaching. Again, he says, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education, reason, and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” He understood that religious beliefs were the basis of morality, and that a secure and free government was hinged upon religion, he asked the question. Let it be simply asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are instruments of investigation in courts and justice? The answer to this question of course, was if public institutions were separated from religious principles, people would no longer have a secure basis for their future as laid out in the Constitution.
Another great quote by a preeminent Founding Father was by John Adams in regard to the Constitution, where he states, “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 people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Noah Webster, a great educator and orator, bears the title of “Schoolmaster to America” and was a Founding Father as well. He was the first to call for a Constitutional Convention. He states in a textbook he authored for public schools, “All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.” It is clear in his mind there was no need to separate religious instruction from children in public schools.
Another well-known Founding Father was Fisher Ames. He was an advocate of sound education in America’s founding. He was observing the proliferation of children’s books for the purpose of teaching moral values, character, and knowledge. He did not oppose any of them but was quoted as saying, “Why then if these books for children must be retained as they will be, should not the Bible again be the place it once held as a school book?” He was concerned for the place of faith and values to be continued in the educational process of America’s youngest citizens.
So, of course, there are many other Fathers who shared their perspectives on religious places (specifically the Bible, in the culture at large. I share this week’s article to reiterate the importance of the role of religious knowledge and education in creating the kind of country our Founding Fathers had in mind. Next week, we will actually deal head-on with the phrase Separation of church and State. I will show you its direct origin and its original intention.
Have a great week!
Until Next Time…
Allen
