During my teaching career, I was privileged to take several classes back to Washington D.C. on field trips. What a special blessing it was for this history teacher to be able to visit the many monuments of our capital city with my students! The history in that city is enough to make an old history teacher cry.
On my trips I began to notice something quite extraordinary about the various monuments we visited. There was an incredibly consistent message running through all of them—we are a country under God. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House, has brilliantly captured this message in his, Rediscovering God in America. It is a superb book and develops in specific detail what my visits to our capital city revealed to me.
I was always filled with awe when I entered The National Archives where original copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are displayed. As you walk into the building you see a bronze engraving of the Ten Commandments on the floor. It is clear that our country recognizes that our legal system has its origin in the Judeo-Christian beliefs expressed in these ten laws. Secular liberals protest in favor of a wall of separation between church and state but even they must stand on the Ten Commandments if they desire to view our founding documents.
There, enshrined for all to see, are those incredible words by Thomas Jefferson, “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, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” As we declared our separation from Britain, we the people, were inspired to establish a country founded on self-evident truths: equality of all people, and the endowment by God of certain rights that cannot be taken away. This statement is clear evidence that the framers of our country believed that our rights come to us from God and not from the government. Only as a government remains submitted to the will of the people and to the recognition of God, are those rights assured. If the day comes when we universally believe that government grants us our rights and equality, we will soon see those rights taken away by the same government. What God grants is forever. What government grants, is only as good as those who are governing.
Secular-liberals often argue that the Constitution is our only founding document and that The Declaration of Independence has no binding status. History shouts to the contrary. In Article VII, the Framers, in signing off on the Constitution, connected it to the Declaration. In addition, the Founders dated their government acts from the year of the Declaration rather than the Constitution.[1] Also, when territories were admitted as states they were often asked to give assurance that the state’s constitution would neither violate the Constitution or the principles of the Declaration.[2]
John Quincy Adams made this very clear in a speech he gave about the Constitution in which he repeated several times that the Constitution was an expression of “principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.”[3] The Supreme Court clearly acknowledged this interdependent relationship between the two founding documents in 1897:
The latter is but the body and the letter of which the former is the thought and the spirit, and it is always safe to read the letter of the Constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.[4]
These words are a mere scratching on the surface of the evidence for a connection between the two documents. Those who try to separate them have an agenda. They disagree with the statement, “…endowed by our Creator.” Sorry they disagree but they can’t change history (though they try all the time).
The Declaration of Independence contains the principles upon which our country was founded and the Constitution is the document that carries out those principles through specific legal provisions. We are indeed, “One nation under God,” and we must conduct ourselves as a nation that knows that we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.” To do otherwise is to separate ourselves from the intent of our founding documents. Those who do not like the wording are free to change the legal document through amendments, but the principles, as stated in the Declaration, must never be forsaken.
As I stated in my introduction to this book, this is not to say that we are a Christian nation in the sense of Christian republic directly ruled by precepts in the Bible. No one I know is making that claim. We are claiming, however, that we are a nation founded on principles unique to the Christian religion. Those principles are expressed in the Ten Commandments. They include recognition of God, honoring parents, speaking the truth, being faithful to one’s spouse, not being materialistic, and respecting life. These basic human principles of conduct flow from the Judeo-Christian worldview. Secular-liberals reject many of them and constantly attempt to influence this nation away from them. It is, therefore, no wonder that dishonor of God, dishonor of parents, disrespect for life, disdain for truth, lack of faithfulness and other misfortunes now characterize our society.
The Washington Monument has always been one of my favorites. Throughout the monument, there are tributes referring to the Bible, God, the holiness of the Lord, trusting God and training up a child in the ways of God. It is a 555 feet tall endorsement of the notions that our country is founded on spiritual principles and its first president was a deeply devout man of God.
Secular-liberals have been trying to rewrite history as I related in an earlier chapter, but the facts of Washington’s life speak for themselves. When he took office he asked that the Bible be opened to Deuteronomy 28. Following the oath, he added, “So help me God” and then leaned down to kiss the Bible. Then he delivered his inaugural, which refers to the “providential agency” that had blessed this great nation.[5]
There are many other references to our Judeo-Christian heritage in the city. Three panels inside the Jefferson Memorial have references to God. The Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial includes those special words that some object to today, “this nation under God.” The capitol rotunda is filled with religious imagery from the country’s history. Nothing speaks of our Judeo-Christian heritage more than the renditions of Moses with the Ten Commandments in the Supreme Court, especially the engraving over the chair of the Chief Justice and on the doors of the Court itself. Considering some recent rulings of this esteemed court those engravings are a great irony.
Imagine how you would feel if you attended a family reunion only to discover that some misguided historian with an agenda had rewritten your family history leaving out the influence of God on your family. You would, of course, be furious and would have a right to question the ethics of someone who would do such a vile thing.
One’s heritage cannot simply be set aside and replaced with another one. Our heritage consists of the cultural riches that have been passed down to us from people in our past possessing something worth passing on. It is written in the documents, books, letters, speeches, monuments, pamphlets, newspapers, records and wills written by people desiring to pass on to their posterity what they deemed important. Our country was founded upon the Biblical principles and biblically inspired ideas coming out of the Enlightenment. Those ideas, properly enshrined in our historical documents, are our heritage as a nation.
There are some who want to replace that heritage with today’s secular-liberal slant on life. They have no right to do so and their efforts must be met with opposition from the present citizens of our country who embrace the real heritage of the greatest country on earth. Our greatness is a product of our heritage. The principles expressed in the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament are the reason for our present greatness. It follows as well that any descent from this greatness will result from our rejection of those principles.
The most tragic part of this story is that those who wish to replace our heritage are attempting to use the educational system to do so. By gaining control of the schools and using them as indoctrination centers, they can rewrite our heritage in their own image. They believe that the principles of the Judeo-Christian heritage are not politically correct. In other words, they are not cool. Like misguided teenagers, they want us to be cool by embracing a new heritage. This new heritage would, of course, reflect the secular-liberal worldview and would institutionalize the immoral transgressions of the past half-century.
Imagine if you can a scenario in which the secular-liberal philosophy and its corresponding rejection of Biblical Christianity was the prevailing worldview of the colonists. Imagine a historical setting in which the Ten Commandments were not the foundational principles that formed the ideas of the founding fathers. A New Age philosophy in which morals are relative would have been the norm. What kind of constitution would have been formed without the impetus of Judeo-Christian ideas? There would have been no emphasis on unalienable rights endowed by our Creator, no enunciation of individual rights like religion, speech, press, and assembly, and no understanding that God oversees our actions. No free country would have been formed in the midst of this relativistic gibberish and no country can long exist which abandons a moral foundation.
Thank God, secular-liberals did not found this country. But they want to reverse the course of history by indoctrinating us in this failed philosophy. They are trying to do this even as I write these words and in many cases are succeeding. But they are in for a fight from those who have the courage to take a stand for what they know to be true. Are you willing to take a stand and fight for what you know is right? We are in need of soldiers for this revolution. If you are brave, come join the many others who are taking a stand for the endangered heritage of the greatest country on earth.
[1]David Barton, Original Intent (Aledo, TX: Wallbuilder Press, 2000), pp. 248, 249.
[2] Ibid. p. 249.
[3] John Quincy Adams, The Jubilee of the Constitution (New York: Samuel Colman, 1839), p. 54.
[4] Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company v. Ellis, 165 U.S. 150, 160 (1897).
[5] Newt Gingrich, Rediscovering God in America (Nashville: Integrity House, 2006), p. 35.
On my trips I began to notice something quite extraordinary about the various monuments we visited. There was an incredibly consistent message running through all of them—we are a country under God. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House, has brilliantly captured this message in his, Rediscovering God in America. It is a superb book and develops in specific detail what my visits to our capital city revealed to me.
I was always filled with awe when I entered The National Archives where original copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are displayed. As you walk into the building you see a bronze engraving of the Ten Commandments on the floor. It is clear that our country recognizes that our legal system has its origin in the Judeo-Christian beliefs expressed in these ten laws. Secular liberals protest in favor of a wall of separation between church and state but even they must stand on the Ten Commandments if they desire to view our founding documents.
There, enshrined for all to see, are those incredible words by Thomas Jefferson, “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, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” As we declared our separation from Britain, we the people, were inspired to establish a country founded on self-evident truths: equality of all people, and the endowment by God of certain rights that cannot be taken away. This statement is clear evidence that the framers of our country believed that our rights come to us from God and not from the government. Only as a government remains submitted to the will of the people and to the recognition of God, are those rights assured. If the day comes when we universally believe that government grants us our rights and equality, we will soon see those rights taken away by the same government. What God grants is forever. What government grants, is only as good as those who are governing.
Secular-liberals often argue that the Constitution is our only founding document and that The Declaration of Independence has no binding status. History shouts to the contrary. In Article VII, the Framers, in signing off on the Constitution, connected it to the Declaration. In addition, the Founders dated their government acts from the year of the Declaration rather than the Constitution.[1] Also, when territories were admitted as states they were often asked to give assurance that the state’s constitution would neither violate the Constitution or the principles of the Declaration.[2]
John Quincy Adams made this very clear in a speech he gave about the Constitution in which he repeated several times that the Constitution was an expression of “principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.”[3] The Supreme Court clearly acknowledged this interdependent relationship between the two founding documents in 1897:
The latter is but the body and the letter of which the former is the thought and the spirit, and it is always safe to read the letter of the Constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.[4]
These words are a mere scratching on the surface of the evidence for a connection between the two documents. Those who try to separate them have an agenda. They disagree with the statement, “…endowed by our Creator.” Sorry they disagree but they can’t change history (though they try all the time).
The Declaration of Independence contains the principles upon which our country was founded and the Constitution is the document that carries out those principles through specific legal provisions. We are indeed, “One nation under God,” and we must conduct ourselves as a nation that knows that we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.” To do otherwise is to separate ourselves from the intent of our founding documents. Those who do not like the wording are free to change the legal document through amendments, but the principles, as stated in the Declaration, must never be forsaken.
As I stated in my introduction to this book, this is not to say that we are a Christian nation in the sense of Christian republic directly ruled by precepts in the Bible. No one I know is making that claim. We are claiming, however, that we are a nation founded on principles unique to the Christian religion. Those principles are expressed in the Ten Commandments. They include recognition of God, honoring parents, speaking the truth, being faithful to one’s spouse, not being materialistic, and respecting life. These basic human principles of conduct flow from the Judeo-Christian worldview. Secular-liberals reject many of them and constantly attempt to influence this nation away from them. It is, therefore, no wonder that dishonor of God, dishonor of parents, disrespect for life, disdain for truth, lack of faithfulness and other misfortunes now characterize our society.
The Washington Monument has always been one of my favorites. Throughout the monument, there are tributes referring to the Bible, God, the holiness of the Lord, trusting God and training up a child in the ways of God. It is a 555 feet tall endorsement of the notions that our country is founded on spiritual principles and its first president was a deeply devout man of God.
Secular-liberals have been trying to rewrite history as I related in an earlier chapter, but the facts of Washington’s life speak for themselves. When he took office he asked that the Bible be opened to Deuteronomy 28. Following the oath, he added, “So help me God” and then leaned down to kiss the Bible. Then he delivered his inaugural, which refers to the “providential agency” that had blessed this great nation.[5]
There are many other references to our Judeo-Christian heritage in the city. Three panels inside the Jefferson Memorial have references to God. The Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial includes those special words that some object to today, “this nation under God.” The capitol rotunda is filled with religious imagery from the country’s history. Nothing speaks of our Judeo-Christian heritage more than the renditions of Moses with the Ten Commandments in the Supreme Court, especially the engraving over the chair of the Chief Justice and on the doors of the Court itself. Considering some recent rulings of this esteemed court those engravings are a great irony.
Imagine how you would feel if you attended a family reunion only to discover that some misguided historian with an agenda had rewritten your family history leaving out the influence of God on your family. You would, of course, be furious and would have a right to question the ethics of someone who would do such a vile thing.
One’s heritage cannot simply be set aside and replaced with another one. Our heritage consists of the cultural riches that have been passed down to us from people in our past possessing something worth passing on. It is written in the documents, books, letters, speeches, monuments, pamphlets, newspapers, records and wills written by people desiring to pass on to their posterity what they deemed important. Our country was founded upon the Biblical principles and biblically inspired ideas coming out of the Enlightenment. Those ideas, properly enshrined in our historical documents, are our heritage as a nation.
There are some who want to replace that heritage with today’s secular-liberal slant on life. They have no right to do so and their efforts must be met with opposition from the present citizens of our country who embrace the real heritage of the greatest country on earth. Our greatness is a product of our heritage. The principles expressed in the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament are the reason for our present greatness. It follows as well that any descent from this greatness will result from our rejection of those principles.
The most tragic part of this story is that those who wish to replace our heritage are attempting to use the educational system to do so. By gaining control of the schools and using them as indoctrination centers, they can rewrite our heritage in their own image. They believe that the principles of the Judeo-Christian heritage are not politically correct. In other words, they are not cool. Like misguided teenagers, they want us to be cool by embracing a new heritage. This new heritage would, of course, reflect the secular-liberal worldview and would institutionalize the immoral transgressions of the past half-century.
Imagine if you can a scenario in which the secular-liberal philosophy and its corresponding rejection of Biblical Christianity was the prevailing worldview of the colonists. Imagine a historical setting in which the Ten Commandments were not the foundational principles that formed the ideas of the founding fathers. A New Age philosophy in which morals are relative would have been the norm. What kind of constitution would have been formed without the impetus of Judeo-Christian ideas? There would have been no emphasis on unalienable rights endowed by our Creator, no enunciation of individual rights like religion, speech, press, and assembly, and no understanding that God oversees our actions. No free country would have been formed in the midst of this relativistic gibberish and no country can long exist which abandons a moral foundation.
Thank God, secular-liberals did not found this country. But they want to reverse the course of history by indoctrinating us in this failed philosophy. They are trying to do this even as I write these words and in many cases are succeeding. But they are in for a fight from those who have the courage to take a stand for what they know to be true. Are you willing to take a stand and fight for what you know is right? We are in need of soldiers for this revolution. If you are brave, come join the many others who are taking a stand for the endangered heritage of the greatest country on earth.
[1]David Barton, Original Intent (Aledo, TX: Wallbuilder Press, 2000), pp. 248, 249.
[2] Ibid. p. 249.
[3] John Quincy Adams, The Jubilee of the Constitution (New York: Samuel Colman, 1839), p. 54.
[4] Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company v. Ellis, 165 U.S. 150, 160 (1897).
[5] Newt Gingrich, Rediscovering God in America (Nashville: Integrity House, 2006), p. 35.
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