Saturday, June 26, 2010

Biblical constitutional covenant

In my lengthy debates amongst friends we banter back and forth on whether we are or are not a Christian nation or in some way were founded on Christian principles on which I am not sure where they stand. One stands that we were founded by Christians and accepts the fact that he lives in a country founded by Christians which I think we all agree but where we disagree, I think, is Are we intended as a christian nation, was God to be the head of our American government.

I believe that is where the disagreement is to which I can't see how. Sure there are quotes by the founders that may contradict one another if one doesnt know the history surrounding the quotes but it seems that the non christians hang on every quote, as few as there are, to negate all of the evidences in our culture. My feeling is this :

. If you live in a Christian country, among the majority of Christians and our founders documents show that that country was founded "for the advancemento of the Christian religion", with the exception of just a few... and there are etched scriptures and monuments around the capital of the country...
YOU LIVE IN A CHRISTIAN NATION!!!!

A great article explains it in perhaps a better way than I could have from yet another perspective, maybe this will help.

America’s Constitutional Foundation of Biblical Covenant
By Kelly O'Connell Sunday, June 13, 2010

Outlined in this essay is a brief description of how the biblical concept of covenant became the foundation for America’s Constitution . While this history is now an almost unknown, sub rosa embarrassment to modern eyes, yet the development of American political theory was once highly regarded by most of the world. Seminal colonial American historian Donald Lutz, in his Origin of American Constitutionalism, explains the importance of the Bible’s covenant concept to our Pilgrim and Puritan forbears.

As opposed to being the result of the crazed imposition of a small band of religious zealots, the covenant approach to creating new communities was simply an outgrowth of their Christian world view. These immigrants wanted to protect their right to worship, and create a foundation for proper civil society.

Overall, the US Constitution is simply the logical result of adding together all the early colonial covenants, compacts and charters, which summed up their novel government ideas. Of course, when Thomas Jefferson and James Madison drafted the Declaration and Constitution, they created a new and unique masterpiece of political philosophy. Yet our Founders would never have achieved these great heights without the earliest American immigrants creating the foundation of the first colonies via biblically inspired covenants.

I. What is a Covenant?
The word “covenant” is an ancient Jewish term (Hebrew brit). Covenant is generally defined as a special kind of agreement or contract, between men, or man and God (Hebrew Yahweh).
There are two aspects of the biblical covenant that should be born in mind. First, the covenant between Yahweh and Israel, recorded in Exodus and Deuteronomy, is not a bargain or a negotiated agreement. Instead, it is a “disposition or arrangement which originates unilaterally with the superior party.” The lesser party can accept or reject the offer, since it contains a reciprocal, bilateral design, but persons cannot barter or change the proposal in any way before acceptance.

A second aspect, is a covenant between God and man resembles a marriage contract (see Ezekiel 16:8, 60; Hosea 2:16; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14; 31:32). This relationship is wholly initiated by God. So the choosing (ie “election”) of Israel as Yahweh’s wife is an utterly divine act. Again, God’s covenant is a unilateral offer, yet bilateral in function. God and His people are bound together by this covenant which operates like a marriage contract. Accordingly, the covenant is a “bond, an alliance, an agreement, a compact, a treaty, a pact, a contract.”

The covenant makes a union between Yahweh and men, with God offering mankind a partnership with the Almighty. This also creates a binding legal contract. Ultimately, the purpose of a covenant is to create a foundation for fellowship between Yahweh and man, one derived from a legal basis.

Yet, political covenant notions developed in Europe and then transferred to America are somewhat different than the Hebrew model, despite still being based upon Old and New Testament ideas.

II. American History: From Covenant to Constitution

According to Daniel Elazar, in his “Covenant and Constitutionalism,” America’s political formula was self-consciously modeled upon the biblical covenant model, albeit a secular version. Early American immigrants relocated from Europe to find a new life and religious freedom. These hardy Calvinists were most familiar with their own biblical world view. Nearly every incipient American town or settlement was founded by a formal covenant agreement.

Writes Lutz, “Local government in colonial America was the seedbed of American constitutionalism—a simple fact insufficiently appreciated by those writing in American political theory.” Lutz goes on to explain how the American covenant tradition was used to explicitly create communities founded upon belief in God, the common good, and the popular will. And these covenants eventually morphed from religious to secular without losing their essential format.

A. Early American Community Foundation: Covenant of the Charles-Boston Church

The following is a typical founding colonial community charter:

The Covenant of the Charles-Boston Church (1630)

In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Obedience to his holy Will and Divine Ordinance, We whose Names are here under written, being by his most wise and good providence brought together into this part of America in the Bay of Massachusetts, and desirous to unite ourselves into one Congregation or Church under the Lord Jesus Christ our Head, in such sort as becometh all those whom he hath redeemed, and sanctified to himself, DO hereby solemnly and religiously (as in his most holy Presence) promise and bind ourselves, to walk in all our ways according to the Rule of the Gospel, and in all sincere Conformity to his holy Ordinances, and in mutual Love and Respect each to other, so near as God shall give us Grace.

John Winthrop Thomas Dudley Isaac Johnson John Wilson &c &c
According to Lutz, records show that typically the first thing these newly arrived Calvinist believers did was to establish a formal relationship with one another centered upon the church which also conferred community privileges. This is understandable given the amount of persecution they received back in England, via Bishop Laud’s Starr Chamber, etc.

Lutz identifies five foundational elements in the Charles-Boston Church covenant doctrine, which were typical of these kinds of documents, being:
1) It is sworn before God;
2) It describes the reason the document was necessary;
3) It creates “a people” – being the undersigned;
4) It creates a church;
5) It describes what kind of people the undersigned design to become (a people who follow God’s Gospel and ordinances, etc).

B. Early American Political Compact: The Mayflower Compact
Agreement Between the Settlers at New Plymouth (1620)

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

One can see here the almost identical formula between the Mayflower Compact and Charles-Boston Church covenant. But instead of creating a church, it establishes a Body Politick.

C. Pilgrim Code of Law (1636)

The Pilgrim Code of Law of the Plymouth Colony was officially based upon the Mayflower Compact as a legal precedent, and also the royal charter, claims Lutz. The document asserts all former covenants and compacts, turning it into a larger covenant. It then makes an extraordinarily important claim – the colonists assert all rights due Englishmen, which is now known as the “Plymouth Agreement.”

This then establishes a foundation for the legal resistance to England when the Founders claim their rights are being trampled. But the Pilgrim Code of Law adds a description of the institutions by which the people will assert their rights and also establish a government. In doing this, the Code becomes the first American constitution. Of course this document influenced the US Constitution we still use today.

III. General Aspects of Early Colonial American

Some other aspects of early America are notable. First, the covenant mindset of colonial Americans was a direct reflection of the overall seriousness with which they regarded their Christian religion. Further, these covenants were a reflection of the Puritan’s well-organized and disciplined minds regarding their beliefs as to the proper interaction between God, man and society.

Second, the nature of America’s famed “federal” government resulted from the need for these hardy colonists to establish self-rule when so far from mother England. But the ideas behind the federal form of government – being a healthy mix of both local and national rule – were also taken from a biblical world view. The original source being Puritan federal theology.

Third, the early expressions of bills of rights were an excretion of some very commonly held views about the rights of man versus government. These ideas were related to the strong 17th century interest in virtue which held being a good Christian was the best way to achieve a good life and be happy. The common good was seen as being permanently wedded to the desires of the majority. The idea that votes should be traded for special interest politicking, or that the desires of the political minority should be coddled, would have outraged virtually all colonial Americans.

Conclusion

The shrill demand for a wholly secular government in America has never been stronger. But it is those same people most ignorant of America’s roots who shout loudest for making religion completely off limits in the US. Yet, can this position be prudent given our past successes and considering our religious foundations?

Ironically, the first wholly secularized American covenant – the Providence Agreement of 1637 – resulted not from Rhode Island supporting atheism, but from their fear of offending God by swearing to him an oath.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if politicians, professors and journalists were once again interested in real American history? If these did their homework on the development of our remarkable experiment of our "republic", they might be much slower to demand total secularism. These typically liberal people might even be forced to ponder if America’s great luck might not actually be the result of special providence instead of blind chance!

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24202

the communism of America continues...

I have beat my head against the wall trying to awaken the sleepy American people who, will, at all costs, refuse to believe that this country is in any danger, siting that we, in America, are in better shape than we have ever been, ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Yep, I will admit, I do support and congratulate Glen Beck for exposing what we face in this country today, but according to liberals, he is a 'nutcase." He isnt as much of a nutcase as I found out, it is their way of remaining in denial to see the truth unless they support it.

America is not in god shape, as a matter of fact, were screwed if people do not become educated and compare what is revealed to history books to verify its accuracy.


Please watch and share with others. There is great evidence now that Obama was trained by the Soviets/Communist.

COMMUNISM, IS AMERICAS ENEMY AND MUST NOT BE TOLERATED! What is it? Watch and learn!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBbVETiiV6I&feature=player_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9iaEqjuttY&feature=player_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NGWVG9QS68&feature=player_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0skoeY7W_uE&feature=player_embedded


Heres another educational tidbit:

What is communism?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkOcFVBoA-o&feature=related

Immigration...why are we bankrupt?

There are a multitude of reasons why I do not support illegal immigration and no amount of convincing will change my mind when I look at the economic indicators and what it means to our sovereignty. Aside from the economic drain they produce there are cultural differences, the crime and rise of groups like MS13, and territorial others,gang bangers to La Raza and Revolucion, it is clear to me if these groups are not kept at bay or allowed to continue to flourish in this country we will be or are in deep trouble.

Why is it that our US multicultural citizens cant see it and would rather call me a racist? What about those who have crossed the border and have taken the time to go through the legal process to become American citizens? Are legal Mexicans ( Why do they call themselves latinos instead of Mexicans) rascist againt their own kind? Are we still a nation of laws?

Here are some alarming facts, I cant take the credit for the compilation of links as it came to me in an email but I had to post it!


1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.

Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77


2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html


3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html


4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.0.html


5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.

Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html


6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html


7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.html


8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.

Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html


9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSC%20RI%20PTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html


10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US

Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0606/12/ldt.01.html


11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.

Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht


12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'

Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf


13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.

Verify at: http://www..rense.com/general75/niht.htm
>



14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States .'

Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml


The total cost is a whopping $ 338..3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY;

IT IS $338,300,000,000.00 WHICH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.

So, when congress and Mr. Soetero tell us that immigration laws are unconstituional, I say " The hell they are!!" Do your job, Mr. Soetero and you worthless members of congress and secure our borders!

Friday, June 18, 2010

BP, more of what theyr'e not telling you

This is the second post in efforts to expose the theory surrounding the BP and our blessed government. Please check it out. If you live in the sountern states you may want to take special care to listen and prepare.


1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEr4FctWAM

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hfGY6i75w

Richard C. Hoagland just broke tonight that he spoke to geologists who confirmed that there is a bubble forming on the ocean form around the drill site that is 15-20 miles across and 10s of feet high.

He spoke to the person responsible for putting out the well fires in Kuwait, who also WARNED prior to this about the dangers of deep wells like this, and he is stating that the real danger here is that there is a cavitation process going on here with the high pressures which can eventually create a huge bubble of gas reaching the surface. This could take weeks or months, but when it happens it will have several consequences:

1. All rigs and boats in the area will sink because the gases will immediately change the buoyancy of the water. This includes all the clean up crews and those drilling the relief well.

2. 50 miles off the LA coast there will be a Mt. St. Helens type explosion of toxic gases which will be blown onto shore by the winds

3. A massive 400-600 mph tsunami which would likely devastate Florida given the entire state is essentially at sea level.

More here:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/24423


Please watch this series and others in reelated to stories.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJPBNAXhLiQ&feature=related

Again, do your homework and pray. If you don't believe, now may be a great time to start!

Are we a Christain nation, revealed!

Here they are, straight from the mind of Adolph Hitler:
"Politics do not belong in the Church.""The Church must be separate from the State."
(Source: "The Nazi Persecution of The Churches, 1933-45," by J.S. Conway, Basic Books, 1968)


I have some great friends that I debate with who are , should we say, "secularists". They are very intelligent, well spoken and Highly educated.I respect them very much and enjoy debates with them because even though we disagree, they teach me the art of research and articulation. I am still learning but what I do have is a passion, as they do for "tabu" conversation relating to "politics and religion" and continue to educate myself on the facts, whatever and wherever they may be. The below is an email compilation posted here primarily due to spam issues with my new ISP but figured it may be of some use to someone who happens to find it.

My quest? To prove through references and quotes that we were and are a Christian nation.



Guys,

Here it is, you guys asked for it!! This has taken me some time to put together so if you dont't mind, I would appreciate you keeping your "false logic" and your denial of accuracy of the existence of these quotes to yourself as I have provided most with references as previoulsy suggested. I know you will be quick to discredit these for one reason or another and I feel that it is really too bad that after all of the evidences there are you still may choose to call our nation "secular."

This is my attempt to prove to you the evidences through quotes, documents and links and feel if this doesnt at least help you consider that I may know a little about what I am talking about, I fear the debate is over. I dont have explanations yet as to why quotes support both our positions but there are more to support my position that to support yours so, logically, you would have to admit I may have a valid point ( but I wont hold my breath!)

Have a good evening guys...

T


If you find any credibility in this email, my next mission is to go line by line and " line item"since you wont, in our founding documents to prove and support this email. and will start with these ( below), which, BTW, I have here with me:



THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

THE FUNDAMENTAL ORDERS of 1639

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S PRAYER FOR SALVATION

SAMUEL ADAMS

(The Rights of the Colonists and a List of Violations of Rights)

PATRICK HENRY (Liberty or Death Speech - The complete text)

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO ABIGAIL ADAMS (On General Washington)

FROM ABIGAIL ADAMS TO JOHN ADAMS (On News of the War)

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO ABIGAIL ADAMS (On The Declaration of Independence)

DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES AND NECESSITY OF TAKING UP ARMS

THE VIRGINIA BILL OF RIGHTS

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

THOMAS PAINE (The Times That Try Men's Souls)

WASHINGTON BY THE DELAWARE (Poem)

THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

DECLARATION AND RESOLVES OF THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

THE PARIS PEACE TREATY

THOMAS JEFFERSON ON SLAVERY (from Notes on Virginia)

THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE of 1787

BEN FRANKLIN'S CALL TO PRAYER

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS

JOHN ADAMS' INAUGURAL ADDRESS

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER (The National Anthem)

THE MONROE DOCTRINE

AMERICA

FROM COLONEL WILLIAM BARRET TRAVIS (To the People of Texas - At the Alamo)

TEXAS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

THE DEFENSE OF THE ALAMO (Poem)

CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANTES OF SAN FRANCISCO

CONCORD HYMN

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

PAUL REVERE'S RIDE (Poem)

ABRAHAM LINCOLN - GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

LETTERS FROM GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE

. . . To His Wife Regarding Victory at Fredericksburg

. . . To Stonewall Jackson after He was Wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville

. . . To the Army of Northern Virginia Regarding a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer

. . . To the Army Concerning the Death of General Stuart

. . . Farewell Letter to the Army

MARK TWAIN (The American Press)

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW NATIONALISM

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (Going to Church)

THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG (From the Congressional Record)

RONALD REAGAN

First Inaugural Address

Second Inaugural Address

YOU AND I ARE AMERICA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


America was never to be an established religion, It just was!. If that is what I have led you believe I believe, I mistated (failed artuculation). It is my belief that the God ( Providence)they entrusted their lives with was the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob...Jesus Christ not that the religion should be established it didnt have to be, again...it just was! Establishment wasn't necessary. The Bill of rights was to limit government not the citizens and would have been better labeled " government limitations. The Bill of Rights start out identical to the 10 commandments ( coincidence? NO!) by "thou shalt not" ending in the 10th amentment saying, basically, if we failed to mention something you shalt not do that either.


Evidences I have compiled are below:


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.

PATRICK HENRY


Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.—

Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence
A Declaration of the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled.

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to assume among the powers of the earth the equal & independant station to which the laws of nature & of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the change.


Against Writs of Assistance

James Otis

February 24, 1761

I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other as this Writ of Assistance is.These manly sentiments, in private life, make good citizens; in public life, the patriot and the hero. I do not say that, when brought to the test, I shall be invincible. I pray God I may never be brought to the melancholy trial; but, if ever I should, it will then be known how far I can reduce to practice principles which I know to be founded in truth. In the meantime I will proceed to the subject of this writ.What is this but to have the curse of Canaan with a witness on us: to be the servants of servants, the most despicable of God's creation?He asserted that these rights were inherent and inalienable. That they never could be surrendered or alienated but by idiots or madmen and all the acts of idiots and lunatics were void and not obligatory, by all the laws of God and man.These principles and these rights were wrought into the English constitution as fundamental laws. And under this head he went back to the old Saxon laws and to Magna Carta



Virginia Bill of Rights
June 12, 1776
That religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.

http://www.constitution.org/bor/vir_bor.htm


On October 6, 1935, FDR stated:

"We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic...

Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."


In a Campaign Address, November 1, 1940, FDR stated:

"Those forces hate democracy and Christianity as two phases of the same civilization."



Jacob Duche' was born JANUARY 31, 1738.

An Anglican minister, the Continental Congress had requested Jacob Duche' open their first session with prayer on September 7, 1774.

Conscious of impending British attack, Rev. Jacob Duche' read Psalm 35:

"Plead my cause, Oh, Lord, with them that strive with me, fight against them that fight against me...Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me."



John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail:

"Rev. Duche' appeared with his clerk and in his pontificals, and read several prayers in the established form, and read...the 35th Psalm...



John Adams
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United States

[I]t 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.

(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.)



[W]e 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.

(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.)



The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shalt not covet," and "Thou shalt not steal," were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.

(Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. VI, p. 9.)



John Quincy Adams

Sixth President of the United States

The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code; it contained many statutes . . . of universal application-laws essential to the existence of men in society, and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws.

(Source: John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams, to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn: James M. Alden, 1850), p. 61.)



There are three points of doctrine the belief of which forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of God; the second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is a future state of rewards and punishments. Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these three articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark. The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.

(Source: John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn: James M. Alden, 1850), pp. 22-23.)



I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice ( bible scripture), 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.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

(Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787.)



Battle Hymn of the Republic, published FEBRUARY 1, 1862.

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on."

"I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel; 'As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal'; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on."

The next verse stated:

"He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat: Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on."

Julia Ward Howe's poem concluded:

"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea; With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on."



FEBRUARY 2, 1848, the U.S. Congress ratified the peace treaty which ended the Mexican War.

In exchange for 15 million dollars the territories of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, were brought into the Union.

The treaty stated:

"In the Name of Almighty God-the United States and the United Mexican States animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war....have, under the protection of Almighty God, the Author of Peace, arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following Treaty of Peace."



Jimmy Carter, in his book Sources of Strength, 1997, wrote:

The same Holy Spirit...that gave Bonhoeffer the strength to stand up against Nazi tyranny is available to us today."



At the Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series, 1982, Ronald Reagan stated:

"We can't have it both ways. We can't expect God to protect us in a crisis and just leave Him over there on the shelf in our day-to-day living.



At Reunion Arena in Dallas, 1984, Ronald Reagan stated:

"America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under."



In the pamphlet Scouting & Christianity, 1917, Baden-Powell wrote:

"Scouting is nothing less than applied Christianity."

The Scout Oath states:

"On my honor, I will do my best: To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law, To help other people at all times. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."



In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge addressed a gathering of Boy Scouts in New York:

"The three fundamentals of scouthood are reverence for nature...reverence for law...and reverence for God. It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist. Doubters do not achieve."



In his Inaugural Address, 1841, William Henry Harrison stated:

"I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion,

and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness."



FEBRUARY 10, 1519, Soldier Bernal Diaz del Castillo recorded that Cortez' remarked:

"'Senor Montezuma, I do not understand how such a great Prince and wise man as you are has not come to the conclusion...that these idols of yours are not gods, but...devils'...

Cortez explained to him very clearly about creation of the world, and how we are all brothers, sons of one father and one mother who were called Adam and Eve....

That a cross (when they asked why we worshipped it) was a sign of the other Cross on which our Lord God was crucified...for the salvation of the whole human race."



FEBRUARY 10, 1519,

"Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God...The prayers of both could not be answered...

Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now.."

On FEBRUARY 11, 1861, newly elected President Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois, for the U.S. Capital, never to return.

In his Farewell Speech he said:



"Man has forgotten God, that is why this has happened" was Solzhenitsyn's response when questioned about the decline of modern culture.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn warned:

"I...call upon America to be more careful...because they are trying to weaken you...to disarm your strong and magnificent country in the face of this fearful threat-one that has never been seen before in the history of the world."



FEBRUARY 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana Harbor.

President McKinley approved the Resolution of Congress:

"Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization,



"We consider that we are all embarked in (the same boat) and must sink or swim together. Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And may He, of His infinite mercy, grant us deliverance of all our troubles."



William Prescott continued

The Committee of Correspondence sent word to the other Colonies, who called a Day of Fasting and Prayer, June 1, 1774, "to seek divine direction and aid

"We consider that we are all embarked in (the same boat) and must sink or swim together. Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And may He, of His infinite mercy, grant us deliverance of all our troubles."



President Eisenhower began his Inaugural Address in 1953:

"My friends, before I begin...would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own. And I ask that you bow your heads. Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment..."



President Eisenhower began his Inaugural Address in 1953:

"My friends, before I begin...would you permit me the privilege of uttering a little private prayer of my own. And I ask that you bow your heads. Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment..."



In 1985, Ronald Reagan began his Inaugural Address:

"I wonder if we could all join in a moment of silent prayer..."



George H.W. Bush began his Inaugural Address, 1989, saying:

"My first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love...Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will..."





After the Declaration of Independence was read to his troops, July 9, 1776, General Washington ordered chaplains placed in each regiment, stating:

"The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavor so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country."





In his Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789. Washington said:

"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe...



The Texas Declaration of Independence stated

"General Antonio Lopez Santa Anna...having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers, as the cruel alternative, either abandon our homes...or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny...

He denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience."Our institutions reflect the belief of our founders that all men were endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights...


Speaking on Communism, John Foster Dulles remarked at the Jesuit Alumni Dinner, April 11, 1955:

"Man, we read in the Holy Scriptures, was made a little lower than the angels.

Should man now be made little higher than domesticated animals which serve the purpose of their human masters?

So men face the great dilemma of whether to use force to resist aggression which imposes conditions which violate the moral law and the concept that man has his origins and his destiny in God."



New Jersey placed his statue in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Richard Stockton wrote in his Will:

"As my children...may be peculiarly impressed with the last words of their father, I think proper here, not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great leading doctrine of the Christian religion...



Columbus wrote: "My hope in the One who created us all sustains me: He is an ever-present help in trouble."


The Articles of Confederation declared:

"Whereas the delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of Our Lord 1777, and in the second year of the independence of America agree on certain Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the States...

The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force...or attacks made upon them...on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense."

The Articles end with the line:

"It has pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation."


John Ericsson wrote to President Lincoln:

"Attachment to the Union alone impels me to offer my services at this frightful crisis -my life if need be- in the great cause which Providence has caused you to defend."


William Prescott continued:

"Our forefathers passed the vast Atlantic, spent their blood and treasure, that they might enjoy their liberties, both civil and religious, and transmit them to their posterity...Now if we should give them up, can our children rise up and call us blessed?"


Upon hearing of the Boston Port Act, the Virginia House of Burgesses stated May 24, 1774:

"This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension...from the hostile invasion of the city of Boston in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbor are, on the first day of June next, to be stopped by an armed force,

deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be set apart, by the members of this House, as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine interposition, for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights."


On MARCH 6, 1776, General Washington ordered:

"Thursday...being set apart by...this Province as a day of fasting, prayer and humiliation, 'to implore the Lord and Giver of all victory to pardon our manifold sins and wickedness, and that it would please Him to bless the Continental army with His divine favor and protection,'

All officers and soldiers are strictly enjoined to pay all due reverence on that day to the sacred duties of the Lord of hosts."


General Washington wrote to his brother, John Augustine Washington, March 31, 1776:

"Upon their discovery of the works next morning, great preparations were made for attacking them; but not being ready before the afternoon, and the weather getting very tempestuous, much blood was saved and a very important blow...prevented.

That this most remarkable Interposition of Providence is for some wise purpose, I have not a doubt."


Joseph Warren, the President of the Massachusetts Congress who sent Paul Revere on his midnight ride, stated on the 2nd anniversary of the Massacre, 1772:

"If you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that the same Almighty Being who protected your pious and venerable forefathers...will still be mindful of you...

May our land be a land of liberty...until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguishable ruin!"

John Hancock, first to sign the Declaration of Independence, stated on the 4th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, 1774:

"Let us play the man for our GOD, and for the cities of our GOD...By a faithful discharge of our duty to our country, let us joyfully leave her important concerns in the hands of HIM who raiseth up and putteth down empires and kingdoms of the world as HE pleases."


Until 1937, MARCH 4th was Inauguration Day. Each President acknowledged faith upon assuming office, for example, President John Adams in 1797 gave:

"Veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians...to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service."



In 1809, President James Madison referred to the:

"Guidance of that Almighty Being."



President John Quincy Adams stated in 1825:

"'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain.'"



In 1841, President William Harrison said:

"I deem the present occasion sufficiently important...in expressing to my fellow citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion."



President Franklin Pierce, in 1853, stated:

"There is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God."



President James Buchanan, 1857, said:

"Cultivate peace...with all nations...in a spirit of Christian benevolence."



In 1861, Abraham Lincoln wrote:

"Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty."



President Calvin Coolidge said in 1925:

"America...cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God."



March 3

"O thus be it ever when free men shall stand, Between their loved home and the war's desolation;

Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; And this be our motto IN GOD IS OUR TRUST!

And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave Over the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

( fourth verse of the star spangeled banner!)



This 4th verse of the National Anthem inspired Congress, MARCH 3, 1865, to place the motto on the nation's coins.

House Speaker Schuyler Colfax noted:

"The last act of Congress ever signed by President Lincoln was one requiring that the motto...'In God We Trust' should hereafter be inscribed upon all our national coin."



Truman stated October 30, 1949:

"When the U.S. was established...the motto was IN GOD WE TRUST. That is still our motto and we still place our firm trust in God."



JFK stated February 9, 1961:

"The guiding principle of this Nation has been, is now, and ever shall be IN GOD WE TRUST."



Reagan stated March 19, 1981:

"Our Nation's motto...reflects a basic recognition that there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes homage."



Evidences of God in America



10 commandment monuments in parks and buildings

Washington Monument - Laus Deo: Praise be to God!""Laus Deo", no one who reads this will be able to forget its meaning, or these words: "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." (Psalm 127: 1)



Pierre Charles l'Enfant .a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with

The White House to the north...

The Jefferson Memorial is to the south,

The Capitol to the east and

The Lincoln Memorial to the west.



On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore;

on the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians;

on the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6.



When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848, deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society.



Washingtons prayer for America

"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation . Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."





Front of Supreme court building

Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!



As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.



As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall,
right above where the Supreme Court judges sit,
a display of the Ten Commandments!



James Madison, the fourth president, known as 'The Father of Our Constitution' made the following statement:
'We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, 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.'



Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country 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'.



Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.



The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said:
'Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers.'



"Men must be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants." –

William Penn



"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." -Thomas Jefferson



The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of mankind.

(Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1904), Vol. XV, p. 383.)



I concur with the author in considering the moral precepts of Jesus as more pure, correct, and sublime than those of ancient philosophers.

(Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1904), Vol. X, pp. 376-377. In a letter to Edward Dowse on April 19, 1803.)



James McHenry

Signer of the Constitution

[P]ublic utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.

(Source: Bernard C. Steiner, One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland, 1810-1920 (Maryland Bible Society, 1921), p. 14.)



Jedediah Morse

Patriot and "Father of American Geography"

To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.

(Source: Jedidiah Morse, A Sermon, Exhibiting the Present Dangers and Consequent Duties of the Citizens of the United States of America (Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, 1799), p. 9.)



William Penn

Founder of Pennsylvania

[I]t is impossible that any people of government should ever prosper, where men render not unto God, that which is God's, as well as to Caesar, that which is Caesar's.

(Source: Fundamental Constitutions of Pennsylvania, 1682. Written by William Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania.)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country.

(Source: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1824. Updegraph v. Commonwealth; 11 Serg. & R. 393, 406 (Sup.Ct. Penn. 1824).)



Benjamin Rush

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

(Source: Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas and William Bradford, 1806), p. 8.)



We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible. For this Divine Book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism.

(Source: Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas and William Bradford, 1806), pp. 93-94.)


By renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral subjects. . . . It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published. . . . All systems of religion, morals, and government not founded upon it [the Bible] must perish, and how consoling the thought, it will not only survive the wreck of these systems but the world itself. "The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." [Matthew 1:18]

(Source: Benjamin Rush, Letters of Benjamin Rush, L. H. Butterfield, editor (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951), p. 936, to John Adams, January 23, 1807.)


Remember that national crimes require national punishments, and without declaring what punishment awaits this evil, you may venture to assure them that it cannot pass with impunity, unless God shall cease to be just or merciful.

(Source: Benjamin Rush, An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave-Keeping (Boston: John Boyles, 1773), p. 30.)


Joseph Story

Supreme Court Justice

Indeed, the right of a society or government to [participate] in matters of religion will hardly be contested by any persons who believe that piety, religion, and morality are intimately connected with the well being of the state and indispensable to the administrations of civil justice. The promulgation of the great doctrines of religion—the being, and attributes, and providence of one Almighty God; the responsibility to Him for all our actions, founded upon moral accountability; a future state of rewards and punishments; the cultivation of all the personal, social, and benevolent virtues—these never can be a matter of indifference in any well-ordered community. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive how any civilized society can well exist without them.

(Source: Joseph Story, A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1847), p. 260, §442.)


George Washington

"Father of Our Country"

While just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.

(Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932), Vol. XXX, p. 432 n., from his address to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, October 9, 1789.)



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 man and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?

And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

(Source: George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge), pp. 22-23. In his Farewell Address to the United States in 1796.)


Daniel Webster

Early American Jurist and Senator

[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.

(Source: Daniel Webster, The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1903), Vol. XIII, p. 492. From "The Dignity and Importance of History," February 23, 1852.)



Noah Webster

Founding Educator

The most perfect maxims and examples for regulating your social conduct and domestic economy, as well as the best rules of morality and religion, are to be found in the Bible. . . . The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. These principles and precepts have truth, immutable truth, for their foundation. . . . All the 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. . . . For instruction then in social, religious and civil duties resort to the scriptures for the best precepts.

(Source: Noah Webster, History of the United States, "Advice to the Young" (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 338-340, par. 51, 53, 56.)


James Wilson

Signer of the Constitution

Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both.

(Source: James Wilson, The Works of the Honourable James Wilson (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. I, p. 106.)



Robert Winthrop

Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.

(Source: Robert Winthrop, Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1852), p. 172 from his "Either by the Bible or the Bayonet.")



Joseph Storey, who sat on the Supreme court from 1811-1845 said:

“Probably at the time of the adoption of the first amendment , the general if not the universal sentiment in America was that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience and freedom of religious worship. An attempt to level all religions and make it a matter of state policy to hold all and utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation…”



John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813 wrote:

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were…the general principles of Christianity…I will avow that I them believed, and now believe, that these general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God”



In 1799, the U.S. Supreme court declared:

“By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing”



George Washington in 1799 said:

“If anyone attempted to separate religion and morality from politics, he couldn’t be called an American patriot”

In 1947, the U.S. Supreme Court manipulated Jefferson’s metaphor:

“In the words of Jefferson,” the justices declared, the First Amendment “erect[ed] ‘a wall of separation between church and State’ … [that] must be kept high and impregnable.



"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we are removed their only firm basis: a conviction in the minds of men that these liberties are a 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



President Thomas Jefferson commented on it in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805:

But Jesus Christ founded His upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."



At James Madison High School, July 12, 1995, President Bill Clinton stated:

"The First Amendment does not require students to leave their religion at the schoolhouse door...

Religion is too important to our history and our heritage for us to keep it out of our schools...

Nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the schoolhouse door."

President Clinton concluded:

"Government's schools also may not discriminate against private religious expression during the school day."



There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907



But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain...let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. Thomas Paine, common sense 1776



President Harry S Truman stated in his address to the Attorney General's Conference, February 1950:

"The fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the Mount.

The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul.



I don't think we emphasize that enough these days."

Truman concluded:

"If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except for the State."




It's kind of ironic; when we believed in and followed the Biblical Moral Standard, the rest of the world looked up to us. Now that we have rejected the Biblical Moral Standard, we seem to want to grovel in the filth of the rest of the world, and they hate us.

-Unknown-



Margaret Thacher

"The Decalogue-Ten Commandments-are addressed to each and every person.

This is the origin of our common humanity and of the sanctity of the individual.

Each one has a duty to try to carry out those commandments. You don't get that in any other political creed...

It is personal liberty with personal responsibility."

Margaret Thatcher continued:

"Responsibility to your parents, to your children, to your God. This really binds us together in a way that nothing else does.

If you accept freedom, you've got to have principles about the responsibility. You can't do this without a biblical foundation."



Margaret Thatcher concluded regarding America:

"Your Founding Fathers came over with that. They came over with the doctrines of the New Testament as well as the Old.

They looked after one another, not only as a matter of necessity, but as a matter of duty to their God.

There is no other country in the world which started that way."



Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society

Aristotle



The only reason some of us are not exiled or thrown into prison is simply because we do not preach as fervently and as sternly as did Paul, John, Peter and others. This modern “santa claus” religion that is sweeping country today is not the religion Jesus taught and John practiced.”

~Oliver B. Greene



"We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum."

A.W. Tozer, from Man: The Dwelling Place of God



Cecil B. DeMille stated:

"Man has made 32 million laws since the Commandments were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai...but he has never improved on God's law...



Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.

[Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907), Vol. IV, p. 256, in the Boston Gazette on April 16, 1781.]





Matthias Burnett

Consider well the important trust . . . which God . . . [has] put into your hands. . . . To God and posterity you are accountable for [your rights and your rulers]. . . . Let not your children have reason to curse you for giving up those rights and prostrating those institutions which your fathers delivered to you. . . . [L]ook well to the characters and qualifications of those you elect and raise to office and places of trust. . . . Think not that your interests will be safe in the hands of the weak and ignorant; or faithfully managed by the impious, the dissolute and the immoral. Think not that men who acknowledge not the providence of God nor regard His laws will be uncorrupt in office, firm in defense of the righteous cause against the oppressor, or resolutly oppose the torrent of iniquity. . . . Watch over your liberties and privileges - civil and religious - with a careful eye.

[Matthias Burnett, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Norwalk, An Election Sermon, Preached at Hartford, on the Day of the Anniversary Election, May 12, 1803 (Hartford: Printed by Hudson & Goodwin, 1803), pp. 27-28.]



Frederick Douglass

I have one great political idea. . . . That idea is an old one. It is widely and generally assented to; nevertheless, it is very generally trampled upon and disregarded. The best expression of it, I have found in the Bible. It is in substance, "Righteousness exalteth a nation; sin is a reproach to any people" [Proverbs 14:34]. This constitutes my politics - the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics. . . . I feel it my duty to do all in my power to infuse this idea into the public mind, that it may speedily be recognized and practiced upon by our people.

[Frederick Douglass, The Frederick Douglass Papers, John Blassingame, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), Vol. 2, p. 397, from a speech delivered at Ithaca, New York, October 14th, 1852.]



Charles Finney

[T]he time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them. . . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently. . . . Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it - and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course they [Christians] take [in politics].

[Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1868), Lecture XV, pp. 281-282.]



Francis Grimke

If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will . . . be . . . from inward corruption - from the disregard of right principles . . . from losing sight of the fact that "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people" [Proverbs 14:34]. . . .[T]he secession of the Southern States in 1860 was a small matter with the secession of the Union itself from the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule, in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount. Unless we hold, and hold firmly to these great fundamental principles of righteousness, . . . our Union . . . will be "only a covenant with death and an agreement with hell."

[Rev. Francis J. Grimke, from "Equality of Right for All Citizens, Black and White, Alike," March 7, 1909, published in Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence, Alice Moore Dunbar, editor (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2000), pp. 246-247.]





Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

[John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. IV, p. 365.]



The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of government under which they should live.

[John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. I, p. 161.]



Thomas Jefferson

The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution, dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people.





William Paterson

When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.

[Supreme Court Justice William Paterson reminding his fellow justices of Proverbs 29:2. United States Oracle (Portsmouth, NH), May 24, 1800.]



Dr. Martin Luther King, "I would agree with St. Augustine that an 'unjust law is no law at all.' Now what is the difference between the two? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."


Noah Webster

In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character. . . . When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country.

[Noah Webster, Letters to a Young Gentleman Commencing His Education to which is subjoined a Brief History of the United States (New Haven: S. Converse, 1823), pp. 18, 19.]


When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, "just men who will rule in the fear of God." The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be sqandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.

[Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, �49.]


"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we are removed their only firm basis: a conviction in the minds of men that these liberties are a 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

Noah Webster defined education in this manner, "EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline, which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties."Without the fear of the Lord impressed upon children's souls, there is no sound basis for true education. Remove God and His Word from the education of our young and not only will there be no basis for true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, but the time-honored principles that fashion godly character will be missing as well. In fact, remove the knowledge of God as the foundation of education and it is not education at all but humanistic indoctrination and pagan socialization Every academic subject needs to be filtered through the grid of God's revelation Children must discover the leading idea of every topic and trace it back to God and His Word.


Mayflower compact

We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.


The First Charter of Virginia (granted by King James I, on April 10, 1606)

• We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance

of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the

Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet

live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…

Instructions for the Virginia Colony (1606)

Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all

of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the Giver of all Goodness.


William Bradford

• wrote that they [the Pilgrims] were seeking:

• 1) "a better, and easier place of living”; and that “the children of the group were being

drawn away by evil examples into extravagance and dangerous courses [in Holland]“

• 2) “The great hope, and for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world"



The Mayflower Compact (authored by William Bradford) 1620 Signing of the Mayflower

painting Picture of Compact

“Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and

honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of

Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of

another, covenant and combine our selves together…”


John Adams and John Hancock:We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]


John Adams:

“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general

principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general

principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of

God.”



•“[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of

devotion to God Almighty.”

John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

"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." --October 11, 1798



"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and

my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It

contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to

Thomas Jefferson



"Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite

Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817] photographs of this

letter: Page 2.... page 1.... page 3... page 4

.......click here to see this quote in its context and to see John Adams' quotes taken OUT

of context!



Samuel Adams: Portrait of Sam Adams Powerpoint presentation on John, John Quincy, and

Sam Adams

“ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to

all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.” [ "American Independence," August 1, 1776.

Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia]

“ Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate

the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys

and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… and leading

them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” [October 4,

1790]



John Quincy Adams:

• “Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and

most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “Is it not that, in the

chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday

of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is

it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the

foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human

government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?

--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport,

Massachusetts.

“The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well

as a moral and religious code.”

John Quincy Adams. Letters to his son. p. 61



Elias Boudinot: Portrait of Elias Boudinot

“ Be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers . . . and judge of the tree by its

fruits.”



Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence Portrait of Charles Carroll

" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are

decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining

the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."

[Source: To James McHenry on November 4, 1800.]



Benjamin Franklin: Portrait of Ben Franklin

“ God governs in the affairs of man. 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 in

the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I

firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in

this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787

original manuscript of this speech



“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had

daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they

were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?”

[Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]



In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he

insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others,

ancient or modern."



In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as

"a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."



Alexander Hamilton:

• Hamilton began work with the Rev. James Bayard to form the Christian Constitutional

Society to help spread over the world the two things which Hamilton said made America

great:

(1) Christianity

(2) a Constitution formed under Christianity.

“The Christian Constitutional Society, its object is first: The support of the Christian

religion. Second: The support of the United States.”

On July 12, 1804 at his death, Hamilton said, “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of

the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for

mercy; pray for me.”

"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the

finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of

interests." [1787 after the Constitutional Convention]

"I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as

a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can

prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man."



John Hancock: Portrait of John Hancock

• “In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that

whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at

the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only

on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best

human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the 11th of May…to

humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the

sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a

spirit of repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the American

Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we desire to thank Almighty

God]…That the people of Great Britain and their rulers may have their eyes opened to

discern the things that shall make for the peace of the nation…for the redress of

America’s many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and their security

to the latest generations.

"A Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from labor and recreation.

Proclamation on April 15, 1775"



Patrick Henry: Portrait of Patrick Henry

• This is all the inheritance I can give my dear family. The religion of Christ can give

them one which will make them rich indeed.”

—The Last Will and Testament of Patrick Henry

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by

religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, 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.”



John Jay: Portrait of John Jay

“ Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well

as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for

their rulers.” Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John

Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed., (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970), Vol. IV, p. 393.

“Whether our religion permits Christians to vote for infidel rulers is a question which

merits more consideration than it seems yet to have generally received either from the

clergy or the laity. It appears to me that what the prophet said to Jehoshaphat about his

attachment to Ahab ["Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?"

2 Chronicles 19:2] affords a salutary lesson.”

The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 1794-1826, Henry P. Johnston



Thomas Jefferson:

“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”

“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my

observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."

“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 a gift from 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, and that His justice

cannot sleep forever.” (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in

the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York:

Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s

Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]



Samuel Johnston:

• “It is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected to

high offices under the government of the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or

any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the

office of President or other high office, [unless] first the people of America lay aside the

Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the

people will choose such men as think as they do themselves.

[Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788 at the

North Carolina Ratifying Convention]



James Madison

“ We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our

heart.”

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of

government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our

capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” [1778 to

the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]



• I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or

against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who

occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation

and wealth, publicly to declare the unsatisfactoriness [of temportal enjoyments] by

becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your

evidence in this way.

Letter by Madison to William Bradford (September 25, 1773)



• In 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided the Bible

Society of Philadelphia in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible.

“ An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia” Approved February 2, 1813

by Congress

“It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward

each other.”



• A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments

of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.

[Letter by Madison to William Bradford [urging him to make sure of his own salvation]

November 9, 1772]



At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the

central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from

the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22;

“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver,

the LORD is our king;

He will save us.”



James McHenry – Signer of the Constitution Portrait of James McHenry

Public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The

doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the

rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a

conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts

of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain,

without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our

institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue

wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.



Jedediah Morse: portrait of Jedediah Morse

"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political

and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity

shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which

flow from them, must fall with them."



John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg Statue of John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg

• In a sermon delivered to his Virginia congregation on January 21, 1776, he preached

from Ecclesiastes 3.

Arriving at verse 8, which declares that there is a time of war and a time of peace,

Muhlenberg noted that this surely was not the time of peace; this was the time of war.

Concluding with a prayer, and while standing in full view of the congregation, he

removed his clerical robes to reveal that beneath them he was wearing the uniform of an

officer in the Continental army! He marched to the back of the church; ordered the drum

to beat for recruits and over three hundred men joined him, becoming the Eighth Virginia

Brigade. John Peter Muhlenberg finished the Revolution as a Major-General, having been

at Valley Forge and having participated in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown,

Monmouth, Stonypoint, and Yorktown.



Thomas Paine:

“ It has been the error of the schools to teach astronomy, and all the other sciences, and

subjects of natural philosophy, as accomplishments only; whereas they should be taught

theologically, or with reference to the Being who is the author of them: for all the

principles of science are of divine origin. Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive

principles: he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the

Author.”

“ The evil that has resulted from the error of the schools, in teaching natural philosophy

as an accomplishment only, has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism.

Instead of looking through the works of creation to the Creator himself, they stop short,

and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of his existence. They labour

with studied ingenuity to ascribe every thing they behold to innate properties of matter,

and jump over all the rest by saying, that matter is eternal.” “The Existence of God--1810”



Benjamin Rush:

• “I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little

pains to prevent them…we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our

republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the

principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this Divine Book, above all others,

constitutes the soul of republicanism.” “By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures]

from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in

their minds.” [Letter written (1790’s) in Defense of the Bible in all schools in America]

• “Christianity is the only true and perfect religion.”

• “If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God

into our world would have been unnecessary.”

"Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all,

let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian

religion. This is the most essential part of education”

Letters of Benjamin Rush, "To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools",

March 28, 1787



Justice Joseph Story:

“ I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the

beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the

Common Law. . . There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not

recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”

[Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593]

“ Infidels and pagans were banished from the halls of justice as unworthy of credit.” [Life

and letters of Joseph Story, Vol. II 1851, pp. 8-9.]

“ At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under

consideration [i.e., the First Amendment], the general, if not the universal sentiment in

America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state, so far as

was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious

worship.”

[Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593]



Noah Webster:

“ The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of

two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other,

the duties we owe to our fellow men.”

“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.”

[Source: 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language]



Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men

who will rule in the fear of God [Exodus 18:21]. . . . If the citizens neglect their duty and

place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted . . . If our

government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the

citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the

laws. [Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie and Peck,

1832), pp. 336-337, 49]



“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.” [Noah Webster. History. p. 339]

“The Bible was America’s basic textbook

in all fields.” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5]

“Education is useless without the Bible” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5 ]



George Washington:

Farewell Address: The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national

capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation

derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the

same religion" ...and later: "...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that

national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..." photo of Farewell

address original manuscript



“ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.”

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus

Christ.” [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]



"To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more

distinguished character of Christian" [May 2, 1778, at Valley Forge]



During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but

added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of

office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words “So help me

God!” to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible.



Nelly Custis-Lewis (Washington’s adopted daughter):

Is it necessary that any one should [ask], “Did General Washington avow himself to be a

believer in Christianity?" As well may we question his patriotism, his heroic devotion to

his country. His mottos were, "Deeds, not Words"; and, "For God and my Country."

“ O Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ, my merciful and loving Father; I acknowledge

and confess my guilt in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I

have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of my sins, but so coldly and carelessly

that my prayers are become my sin, and they stand in need of pardon.”

“ I have sinned against heaven and before Thee in thought, word, and deed. I have

contemned Thy majesty and holy laws. I have likewise sinned by omitting what I ought

to have done and committing what I ought not. I have rebelled against the light, despising

Thy mercies and judgment, and broken my vows and promise. I have neglected the better

things. My iniquities are multiplied and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord,

with shame and sorrow, detestation and loathing and desire to be vile in my own eyes as I

have rendered myself vile in Thine. I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the

free pardon of my sins for the sake of Thy dear Son and only Savior Jesus Christ who

came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thou gavest Thy Son to die for

me.”

[George Washington; from a 24 page authentic handwritten manuscript book dated April 21-23, 1752]

[William J. Johnson George Washington, the Christian (New York: The Abingdon Press, New York &

Cincinnati, 1919), pp. 24-35.]



"Although guided by our excellent Constitution in the discharge of official duties, and

actuated, through the whole course of my public life, solely by a wish to promote the best

interests of our country; yet, without the beneficial interposition of the Supreme Ruler of

the Universe, we could not have reached the distinguished situation which we have

attained with such unprecedented rapidity. To HIM, therefore, should we bow with

gratitude and reverence, and endeavor to merit a continuance of HIS special favors". [1797

letter to John Adams]



James Wilson: Portrait of James Wilson

Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

Supreme Court Justice appointed by George Washington

Spoke 168 times during the Constitutional Convention

"Christianity is part of the common law"

[Sources: James Wilson, Course of Lectures [vol 3, p.122]; and quoted in Updegraph v. The

Commonwealth, 11 Serg, & R. 393, 403 (1824).]

________________________________________________________________________

_________________

Public Institutions

Liberty Bell Inscription:

“ Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof” [Leviticus

25:10]

Proposals for the seal of the United States of America

• “Moses lifting his wand and dividing the Red Sea” –Ben Franklin

• “The children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by

night.” --Thomas Jefferson

On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John

Adams "to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America." Franklin's

proposal adapted the biblical story of the parting of the Red Sea. Jefferson first

recommended the "Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by Day, and a

Pillar of Fire by night. . . ." He then embraced Franklin's proposal and rewrote it

Jefferson's revision of Franklin's proposal was presented by the committee to Congress

on August 20, 1776.

Another popular proposal to the Great Seal of the United States was:

" Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God"; with Pharoah's army drowning in the Red

Sea

Click here for a larger image



The three branches of the U.S. Government: Judicial, Legislative, Executive

• At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide

the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government

from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22;

“For the LORD is our judge,

the LORD is our lawgiver,

the LORD is our king;

He will save us.”



Article 22 of the constitution of Delaware (1776)

Required all officers, besides taking an oath of allegiance, to make and subscribe to the

following declaration:

• "I, [name], do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in

the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy

Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."



New York Spectator. August 23, 1831

“ The court of common pleas of Chester county, [New York] rejected a witness who

declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked that he had

not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of

God; that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice: and that

he knew of no cause in a Christian country where a witness had been permitted to testify

without such belief.



New England Primer: Photograph of The New England Primer reprint

Used in public and private schools from 1690 to 1900 second only to the Bible

Some of its contents:

A song of praise to God

Prayers in Jesus’ name

The famous Bible alphabet

Shorter Catechism of faith in Christ









Our Constitution includes the phrase, “Done in the Year of our Lord,” To say that the use of “In the Year of Our Lord” was very common back then, only goes to prove my point. If it was the objective of the Founders to separate “religion and government,” then adding “In the Year of our Lord” makes absolutely no sense



Declaration on Independence, drafted in 1776, state the following:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator

The Declaration also includes the basis on which those who signed the document pledged their lives:

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,



On March 16, 1776, “by order of Congress” a “day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” where people of the nation were called on to “acknowledge the over ruling providence of God” and bewail their “manifold sins and transgressions, and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”1



Congress set aside December 18, 1777 as a day of thanksgiving so the American people “may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor”2 and on which they might “join the penitent confession of their manifold sins . . . that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance



Congress also recommended that Americans petition God “to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”3 Here’s one from 1799 during the administration of John Adams:

[That April 15, 1799] be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens on that day abstain, as far as may be, from their secular occupation, and devote the time to the sacred duties of religion, in public and in private; that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore his pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to his righteous requisitions in time to come; that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so ruinous to mankind; that He would make us deeply sensible that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people [Proverbs 14:34].”4





At the time the Constitution was drafted, there were 13 individual colonies with 13 different constitutions. Each of them mentions God or providence. North Carolina required belief in the authority of the Old and New Testaments as a qualification for holding political office in the state



setting Sunday aside as a day of rest for the President doesn’t make any sense either (Art. 1, sec. 7) if the purpose of the Constitution was to create a government completely separated from religion, (Gods day of rest) why did the government and the citizens in the states acknowlwdge this day?





Here is the separation debate with Judge Roy Moore

View debate: 'Is America a Christian nation?'
Watch to gain more confidence for moral standards

The secularists' attack on religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of life, parental rights, private property and more is rooted in their claim that America is not a Christian nation, so, as they argue, Christian principles can't be part of our government.

A debate on the issue was sponsored last fall by a University of South Carolina group of atheists and agnostics. It's our opinion that the winner of the debate is American history and Christian values, represented by our friend E. Ray Moore, founder of Exodus Mandate, which is helping rescue children nationwide from immoral government schools.

Learn how to stand on a firm foundation for the moral values that serve all families and all Americans. View the debate segments now.



DEBATE: IS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION?



1. OPENING STATEMENT (MOORE) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5FXnbbAfyI


2. OPENING STATEMENT (MOORE / SILVERMAN) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRZYRXJOQJ8


3. OPENING STATEMENT (SILVERMAN) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KyceL2rMGc


4. REBUTTAL (MOORE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQKZ1pwn4Os


5. REBUTTAL (SILVERMAN)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fowfxw1xawE


6. CROSS EXAMINATIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0736dSs0lYk


7. Q & A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaI2nZ6ifp0&feature=related


8. CLOSING STATEMENT (MOORE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gnLIRM7vsg


9. CLOSING STATEMENT (SILVERMAN)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOp6BEWTazg&feature=related



Guys,I recommend that you actually take a look at original source documents rather than second-hand commentary on the period. A good place to start is with Benjamin F. Morris’ The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States :

http://www.americanvision.com/christianlifecharacter.aspx%20%20

who uses original source documents to make his case. Until you and everyone else answers (not dismisses) the content of this thousand-page volume, there really shouldnt be a debate. I have the pdf I can send if you would read it, just email me.



BTW,The revolutionaries eliminated the seven-day week and implemented a ten-day week. This eliminated the biblical creation model. The fact that Sunday is set aside as a day of rest is a funny way of separating religion and government. In addition, the French implemented a revolutionary calendar beginning with a new “Year One.” The French example is what Ingersoll and you would have to demonstrate from our nation’s Federal Constitution and subsequent official documents. So then, you can’t on one hand claim that the Founders wanted to separate religion and government and then on the other hand claim that they left two conventions of the Christian religion in the Constitution, the very document that you and others claim was specifically designed to secularize government.