Let’s Set the Record Straight
After presenting the message, “The Truth About America,” I have had a number of requests for where people might study more for themselves on this topic. There are many, many books and websites available. The books that I specifically recommended in the message were: Original Intent, by David Barton; and America’s God and Country, complied by William Federer—an extensive encyclopedia of quotations from Founding Fathers, Presidents, Statesmen, etc. highlighting America’s noble heritage. I also recommend the website: www.wallbuilders.com. Wall builders is founded by David Barton and dedicated to preserving America’s forgotten heroes and history with an emphasis on moral, religious and constitutional heritage. You can find several of the quotes I shared on that website.
Any story sounds true until someone tells the other side and sets the record straight. ( Proverbs 18:17, TLB)
The truth is:
- The founding fathers were not deists or atheists. Actually, 52 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The other three, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, believed in the Bible as Divine truth, the God of Scripture, and in His personal intervention.
Patrick Henry (“give me liberty or give me death”) represented the view of the founding fathers well when he said:
“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 that reason alone people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.”
- The Constitution was not based solely on human wisdom and philosophy, but on the principles of Scripture. Upon reviewing 15,000 documents by the Founding Fathers, professors at the University of Houston determined that they most quoted Baron Charles Montesquieu who wrote such things as this:
“The Christian religion, which orders men to love one another, no doubt creates the best political laws and the best civil laws for each people… The morality of the Gospel is the noblest gift ever bestowed by God on Man.”
The second most quoted was Sir William Blackstone, a devote British law professor who believed all laws must be proven from Scripture. And the third was John Locke, whose “Treatise on Civil Government” quoted the Bible 102 times. Yet, most importantly, they found that the Bible itself was directly quoted four times more than Montesquieu, six times more than Blackstone and twelve times more than John Locke!
In fact 34% of all the quotes in the writings of the founding fathers were direct, word for word quotes from the Bible. Further, another 60 % of their quotes were quoting men who were quoting the Bible, so that an incredible 94% of all the quotes in these 15,000 documents were direct quotes from, or references to, the Bible.
So, how did the Founding Fathers produce a document that has withstood the test of an evolving government and growing nation for more than 200 years? The answer is that these were men steeped in the Word of God. They understood their need of its constant direction and they established a nation based on its undying principles.
- The Founding Fathers did not intend to create a wall of separation between church and state. 67% percent of Americans believe that the phrase “separation of church and state is in the Constitution or First Amendment, but it is not.
As humanism and Darwinism began to rise in the 19th century, some began challenging whether or not America was a “Christian nation.” Both houses of Congress spent one year, from 1853-54, studying the connection of America and the Christian faith. Listen to part of this resolution that resulted as a final report:
“The First Amendment clause speaks against ‘an establishment of religion.’ What is meant by that expression? [The founding fathers] intended, by this amendment, to prohibit ‘an establishment of religion’ such as the Church of England presented—or anything like it. But they had no fear or jealousy of religion itself, nor did they wish to see us an irreligious people… They did not intend to spread over all the public authorities and the whole public action of the nation the dead and revolting spectacle of atheistic apathy!
“Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity—that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle! At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the Amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, just not any one sect [or denomination]… the object was not to substitute Judaism or Islam or infidelity—but to prevent rivalry among the Christian denominations to the exclusion of others. (emphasis added)
Based on this report, in May of 1854, in joint session of Congress, passed this resolution:
“The great vital and conserving element in our system of government is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Let’s set the record straight!
July 5th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Let’s set the record straight:
1. The quotation of Patrick Henry you offer is fake. See http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/07/fake_patrick_henry_quote_found.php#more
2. The so-called review of 15,000 documents by founders and the conclusions you would draw from it have long since been debunked. See http://uncommonliberty.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-much-did-founders-quote-bible.html
3. Even if the founders had quoted the Bible as much as you suppose, your conclusion is a non sequitur. However much the founders quoted the Bible, it simply does not follow that the Constitution was based on the “principles of Scripture.” It is entirely possible for thoroughly religious folk to found a secular government. Indeed, regardless of the religiosity vel non of individual founders, the fact is that they did just that, as is clear from the Constitution which expressly founds the government on the power of the people (not a deity) and says nothing substantive of god(s) or religion except in the First Amendment where the point is to confirm that each person enjoys religious liberty and that the government is not to establish religion and another provision precluding any religious test for public office.
4. In direct conflict with your unsubstantiated assertion of the founders’ intent, Jefferson and Madison, founders, expressly stated that the Constitution was intended to keep government and religion separate.
5. You correctly note, but make far too much of the fact that the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the Constitution. It is but a metaphor commonly used to describe the underlying principle of the no-establishment-of-religion and free-exercise-of-religion clauses of the First Amendment and the no-religious-test-for-public-office clause of the Constitution. The absence of the phrase in the text of the Constitution assumes much importance, it seems, only to those who may have once labored under the misimpression the words appeared there and later learned of their mistake. To those familiar with the Constitution, the absence of the metaphor commonly used to describe one of its principles is inconsequential–no more consequential than the absence of other phrases (e.g., Bill of Rights, separation of powers, checks and balances, fair trial, religious liberty) used to describe other undoubted Constitutional principles.
6. The 1854 resolution of Congress is but political rhetoric–rhetoric, indeed, contrary to the principles of the Constitution. It poses a false dichotomy and then shamelessly panders to Christian constituents. Contrary to the resolution’s supposition, the principle of separation of church and state does not call for spreading atheism. The First Amendment embodies the simple, just idea that each of us should be free to exercise his or her religious views without expecting that the government will endorse or promote those views and without fearing that the government will endorse or promote the religious views of others. By keeping government and religion separate, the establishment clause serves to protect the freedom of all to exercise their religion.
Reasonable people may differ, of course, on how these principles should be applied in particular situations, but the principles are hardly to be doubted. Moreover, they are good, sound principles that should be nurtured and defended, not attacked. Efforts to transform our secular government into some form of religion-government partnership should be resisted by every patriot.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:50 am
I found your post very interesting…Just wondering where you found that Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin: “believed in the Bible as Divine truth, the God of Scripture, and in His personal intervention.” Wondering if you are aware of these quotes?
Thomas Jefferson- “Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man.”
Benjamin Franklin- “Lighthouses are more useful then churches.”
July 13th, 2009 at 11:55 am
If you watch the extended message at http://www.graceplace.org, you’ll note that I mentioned that neither Jefferson or Franklin were orthodox Christians and were not participating in organized religion… but there are more quotes in the resources I mentioned that show their believe in God and respect for Jesus.