"Americas Rich Christian Heritage"

This Sunday we celebrate the 228th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  The brave men who penned and signed this document put their reputations, life’s fortunes, and in some cases, their very lives on the line.  The early colonists did not want to sever the ties to their mother country, but the yoke of the king’s tyranny became intolerable.  A novel idea grew from a seed to the mighty tree of liberty that we enjoy today:  America would receive her power from the people rather than the aristocracy.  Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Christians, ministers, or sons of ministers.  Currently, atheistic groups that are rooted in communism, like the ACLU and People for the American Way, are trying to strip our nation of any vestige of Christianity.  The so-called “separation of church and state” that was taken out of context in a letter by Thomas Jefferson (not an official document) is misapplied to every public expression of Christianity.  Our American history books have been revised to downplay our deep Christian roots.  It is the values of Christianity that have made our nation free, strong and pluralistic.  God has truly blessed America.

These are a few of the many quotes by our founding fathers whose religious convictions were inseparable from their vision of a strong and self-governed nation:

"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.   The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure, than they have it now, they may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty."  (John Adams, June 21, 1776)

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."   (John Adams, Address to the military, Oct.11, 1788)

"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. 

"From the day of the Declaration...they (the American people) were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of The Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct."  (John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821)

As the Declaration of Independence was being signed, 1776, Samuel Adams declared: 

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come."  "He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man....The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people." 

"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections."  (Samuel Adams--in a letter to James Warren, Nov. 4, 1775 )

"Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook? Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble....In no Book is there so good English, so pure and so elegant, and by teaching all the same they will speak alike, and the Bible will justly remain the standard of language as well as of faith."  (Fisher Ames, author of the First Amendment)

"By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing, and are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty."  (Samuel Chase)

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? 

"We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.  (Benjamin Franklin to the Congressional Congress, 1787)

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed. Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom." 

"It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains." (Patrick Henry, March 23,1775)

"The only foundation for useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion." 

"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 of the Gift of 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, that His justice cannot sleep forever."   (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Valentine de Feronda, 1809)

As President, Thomas Jefferson not only signed bills which appropriated financial support for chaplains in Congress and in the armed services, but he also signed the Articles of War, April 10, 1806, in which he: "Earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers, diligently to attend divine services." 

Jefferson declared that religion is: "Deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support." 

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."  James Madison (Architect of the U.S. Constitution & Co-Author of the Federalist Papers) 

"If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him....Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants." William Penn (Founder of Pennsylvania) 

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." "It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being." 

"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."  (George Washington)

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.  God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.  The hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder forever." (Daniel Webster)

"Education is useless without the Bible.  The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields.  God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.  In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed....No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."  Noah Webster  (The father of public education in America)