Then and Now
Jul 25th, 2009 by David Anderson
Recently, a Congressman introduced a resolution declaring next year the year of the Bible. This type of resolution usually sails through. We have resolutions declaring awareness of everything under the sun. The PC San Francisco led house Democratic leadership found fault with this resolution.
In the past, honoring our heritage was common place. Here is one example.
I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying upon the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps” — President William McKinley’s First Inaugural Address, March 1897
America came out of its worst economic crisis up to that point.
Good-bye – good bye, all. It’s God’s way. His will, not ours, be done. Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee.” — last words of President McKinley before death, 14 September 1901
Here is on man’s take on it. It became the musical theme song of Christian Conservatives. It is both entertaining and informative. His views are his. Don’t email me about the closet line.
Some Today’s Democrats have a different take. Barney Frank (“Does that mean 2009 is not the year of the Bible? What is 2012, the Year of the Quaran?”), criticized Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (“That’s an endorsement of religion by the federal government, and we shouldn’t be doing that!”) President Obama said we are no longer a Christian nation.
These guys have no understanding of the First Amendment and as their legislation shows very little understanding of any of the Constitution. Acknowledging God is the foundation of our rights. We need to remember what made this Country great.
In 1982, we were in the middle of a worse recession than today. It seemed like we were stuck extending the 1970′s decade of decline (economically, militarily, and culturally). In 1983, President Reagan declared the year of the Bible and encouraged people to apply 2 Chronicles 7:14 personally. He declared it his favorite scripture. (If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land.) Maybe the old timers had something that many of our new guys are missing. In February of 1983 the longest peacetime expansion in history started.
I am not among the ‘churchiest’ of people and am no literalist when it comes to some of the harsh penalties noted in the Old Testament.
My idea of ‘fundamentalism’ springs from the words from the Sermon on the Mount.
Yet there is a passage from the Gospel of St. Mark that should be considered whenever some politician abandons principle after principle just to extend his lucrative tenure in office. It questions the wisdom of gaining the whole world at the price of one’s soul.
Every year is the year of the Bible.
Mike Protack
Tap dance around this, conservatives:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”
Moreover, the word “God” does not ever appear in the Constitution. Was this intentional?
People of faith, whatever their chosen faith, are free to practice it. But they are not free to impost their faith by government edict on any of the rest of us.
Ours is a secular Constitution and Government, yet we still have those who would impose something similar to a Christian version of Sharia on this nation. This is not right!
David Anderson, you ought to read this:
http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html
I believe that the phrase “endowed by their Creator” in our fundamental document says it all.
Hey, if there was a Year Of The Bible in 1983, it’s only fair that it is the Bible’s turn again. There are a lot of religious traditions to honor. Maybe 2011 could be the Year Of The Vedas. The next Year Of The Bible should come up again in 2024 or so.
President Obama said we are no longer a Christian nation.
FAIL
Obama didn’t say that.
The comment was very different – I’m looking for a valid text of it now.
Never mind, somebody already did the work for me:
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_obama_say_we_are_no_longer.html
Thank you for the link. For those who did not follow it, here is the quote.
Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers. President Obama
That is the manifestly absurd in my opinion. Our nation did not gain its founding principles from the non-Judeo Christian tradition. We are a nation which houses and benefits from many traditions. We should honor all that represent what is good. That does not make us a non-Christian nation. Is Egypt a Christian nation or Iran a Jewish nation? It is the Judeo-Christian influence that informs our laws, principles, culture, and history more than any other. Saying that because we have and benefit from other traditions that we can no longer recognize the beliefs of 75% of the population is insane. It is what is wrong with the new pluralism.
Acknowledging that we are not exclusively Christian is not the same thing as saying we are un-Christian.
Our nation did not gain its founding principles from the non-Judeo Christian tradition.
It most certainly did. The founding documents are conceptually rooted in the Enlightenment, which was a secular revolution in thought.
Whatever quotes you may find illustrating the religious beliefs of certain Founders do not change the fact that the Constitution is a secular document, deliberately so.
The nation is not a Theocracy, nor does it have an established church. It is not intended to pressure loyalty to any faith.
It is and was based upon Judeo-Christian Principles and done so purposely. It was not a secular nation. Understanding and educating people based upon the principles from which derive our laws is wholly consistent with the Founders and almost everyone there after. I have no desire to change anything in that regard. It is this revisionist attitude that I question.
As for should we honor other faith’s contributions, we do. Why wouldn’t we? I am not the one excluding people. The secularists are.
It is and was based upon Judeo-Christian Principles and done so purposely.
Only because as new Americans with European intellectual backgrounds, a Judeo-Christian viewpoint is inescapable.
It was not a secular nation.
The people are religious but the government is scrupulously secular. That is rather the point.
Understanding and educating people based upon the principles from which derive our laws is wholly consistent with the Founders and almost everyone there after.
Go for it… start with Locke.
Go for it… start with Locke.
Check out Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Adam Smith while you’re at it.
Noman, the mythbuster, with his/her fact-checking and broad perspective, thus injecting sanity to this blog! Good going, noman!
With respect not one thing was changed. only confirmed. The so call fact check tried to say that he didn’t mean what he said because the prepared remarks were different than what he said. He said something like this on more than one occasion.
The fact is either way it is essentially the same and wrong. It illustrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what is met by a Christian nation. It means neither a religious state nor one were every person is a Christian. The principled assumptions came from Christianity. How many times did the founders quote Voltaire and Hume? If they never existed our nation would be no different. They had no substantial impact on the founding. Some argue that Adam Smith (whose principle work was not published until 1776) was influenced by Hume, but that would not affect any particular argument because Smith was not writing to reject the Christian world view and in fact is generally viewed then and now as with in it.
Calvin, the reformers, and the Scriptures were foundational to the founding documents. As for Locke and Montesquieu (whom you missed), they were not distinct from the Christian world view but a part of it. The Supreme Court explained it well in the Trinity Decision. I wish the President would read it.
“…yet we still have those who would impose something similar to a Christian version of Sharia on this nation.”
There is no such thing as a ‘Christian version of Sharia.’
The Founders were Christians; their philosophy was based upon the Christian ethic, including self-reliance and a belief in the Almighty.
Try reading Burke or A. Smith, and get a clue.
The Founders were Christians
Some were, some weren’t. But so what? that wasn’t the question. The government they designed was scrupulously secular, not to reject religion but to protect it.
Some people just refuse to recognize that until the Liberal court of 1940 this was a given. Until 1962, this was a fact. We do not need to wonder what America would look like. As Rick said there is no Christian Shiria. We are not talking about forcing people to follow any faith. It is a false choice.
The misnomer that Constitution was secular is popular among some. The fact is the founders disagreed. It was based upon a Christian world view of fallen man. That is why the government was not trusted with absolute power even in the hands of the majority. It was important to diffuse power within the government and limit the government. “If men were angels, they would need no government,” one of the founders wrote in explaining why we needed to have checks and balances.
The Constitution is not a religious document. It is a governing document. The Declaration was a statement of principles and needed to have something which explained us. The Constitution did not. They did not contradict each other but complimented each other.
Noman all but 2 of the signers of the Declaration were and so were almost all of the delegates to the convention, the first governors and the first Congress. That is the worldview from which they came. Helping people to understand that and celebrate it is important to maintaining our country.