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One Nation -
Under God?
The Pledge of Allegiance, long recited by U.S.
schoolchildren, acknowledges the United States
as "one nation under God." But does God have a place in America today?
by James Capo
The
January inauguration of a new president marked the 42nd time Americans had witnessed
an orderly, peaceful and voluntary transfer of power and authority from one leader
to another.
In the history of nations that is a remarkable and unprecedented accomplishment.
It is a testimony to the wisdom of the nation's forefathers that the United States
has enjoyed such a long, peaceful, prosperous history.
What principles were in the minds of the forefathers that allowed them to institute
such a remarkably stable, farsighted system of government? On what values did they
build their new nation?
An unbiased study of American history shows those principles and values are based
squarely on the book on which President George W. Bush in January placed his left
hand as he took the oath of office-the Bible.
The United States was founded on Christian ideals and values by men who were, for
the most part, strongly and deeply religious.
The official oath of office, as written by the founding fathers, states: "I
do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president
of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States."
When George Washington was sworn in as the nation's first president in 1789, he spontaneously
added "I swear, so help me God," and kissed the Bible. As near as historians
can tell, every president since has followed Washington's example in adding "so
help me God" at the end of the presidential oath.
Growing American disunity
Though you rarely read about it in modern history books, the religious faith of the
founding fathers guided the deliberations that formed the foundation of the United
States' legal system and established the standard by which they expected the nation
to operate.
But today, rather than being the glue that in past years bound the country and its
leaders together, religion-specifically religion based on the Bible-has become a
point of contention.
The Cabinet nominee for the new president's administration who drew the sharpest
criticism in Senate hearings, former Missouri governor and senator John Ashcroft,
was denounced by a broad range of special-interest groups (and some senators) who
argued that his Bible-based beliefs rendered him unfit for a position as the nation's
chief law-enforcement officer.
Although many great things have taken place in the United States, and it remains
the undisputed leader of the free world, we see many disturbing trends within its
borders. The very factors that contributed to making America great are seldom stressed
by its leaders and often are hotly criticized. What does this mean? Has the United
States lost its way? Where is the country headed?
Guided by the Bible
The greatness of the nation was once inseparably linked in its citizens' minds with
the nation's respect for God and the principles of morality and character taught
in the pages of the Bible.
As delegates from the states met to craft a national constitution in the summer of
1787, Benjamin Franklin, governor of Pennsylvania, addressed the group: "If
a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His (God's) notice, is it probable that
an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings,
that 'except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.'"
Franklin then called on the group to offer regular, daily prayer to ask for God's
assistance and blessings in their deliberations (William Federer, America's God
and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, 1996, pp. 248-249).
Presidents and politicians routinely made mention of God and biblical principles
in their public statements. In 1778 James Madison, a primary architect of the Constitution
and a future president, remarked: "We have staked the whole future of American
civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future
of all of our political institutions ... upon the capacity of each and all of us
to govern ourselves ... according to the Ten Commandments of God" (Federer,
p. 411, emphasis added).
You can almost hear these ancient words of Moses echoing in the words of the founding
fathers: "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD
my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you
go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and
your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes,
and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people'" (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).
The founders of the United States wanted God's blessing on their endeavor and generally
recognized His laws as their guiding principles. They knew the nation's success and
greatness would come in proportion to the favor God granted it.
Regrettably, we seldom find such statements by the founding fathers in modern history
books. Most have been deliberately expunged. But, when you do find them, they clearly
reveal the thoughts and beliefs that motivated these men. Let's notice a few such
comments:
Patrick Henry, member of the Continental Congress and five-time governor of Virginia,
declared: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great
nation was founded ... by Christians; not on religions (denominations), but on the
Gospel of Jesus Christ" (Federer, p. 289).
John Adams, member of the Continental Congress and second president of the United
States, remarked: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and a religious
people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other" (Federer, pp.
10-11).
His son, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, stated: "... The Declaration
of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's
mission upon earth ... It laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first
precepts of Christianity ..." (Federer, p. 18, emphasis added).
These bold men were outspoken in declaring that they had founded the United States
and its government on Christian principles.
Political-science professors at the University of Houston assembled 15,000 writings
from the founding fathers as a research project that lasted 10 years. They isolated
3,154 direct quotes cited by the founding fathers. They discovered that these men
quoted from the Bible four times more often than any other source.
More than a third of their quotes came directly from the Scriptures. They took another
60 percent from writers such as William Blackstone (who wrote the then-standard text
on law) who relied on the Bible in forming their conclusions. All told, the professors
found that 94 percent of their
quotations had some biblical foundation.
Government modeled on Scriptures
The Bible, moral principles and a constant looking to God for guidance were so integral
to the thinking and acting of the majority of the founding fathers that they influenced
even the structure of the government.
For example, historical sources show that these men's concept of three branches of
government was inspired by Isaiah 33:22: "For the LORD is our Judge,
the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King ..." (emphasis
added throughout). From this they derived the idea for the judicial, legislative
and executive branches of government.
Their rationale for separation of powers into three branches of government came from
Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who
can understand it?" (New International Version). Recognizing what the Bible
said about the condition of the human heart, they did not want to vest too much power
in the hands of one man or a small group.
They even decreed that government should exempt churches and other religious organizations
from taxation based largely on Ezra 7:24: "... You have no authority to impose
taxes, tribute or duty on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple
servants or other workers at this house of God" (NIV). The Congressional Record
of Sept. 25, 1789, shows that a discussion of 2Chronicles 6-Solomon's dedication
of the temple-led to declaring the first Thanksgiving holiday.
John Quincy Adams said in 1821 that "the highest glory of the American Revolution
was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government
with the principles of Christianity" (Federer, p. 18, emphasis added).
The Supreme Court, in a decision in an 1892 case, declared: "Our laws and our
institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer
of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and
to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian"
(Federer, p. 599, emphasis added).
The court's decision quoted 87 precedents, including quotations from and acts of
the founding fathers and congressmen and officials of state governments. At the end
of the list the justices said they could cite many more but that 87 should be sufficient
to show that the nation's laws are based on and include the teachings of the Bible.
Separation of church and state?
Today, however, we're subjected to the mantra that the founding fathers advocated
separation of religious principles from the laws and the operation of the government.
As we have seen, nothing could be further from the truth. These farsighted men knew
that taking God out of the picture-separating biblical principles from government
and society-leads to disaster.
President Washington, in his 1796 farewell address, reminded Americans of the source
of their success and how to continue it. Several of his warnings-points he considered
essential for the nation's success-were overtly religious. He noted that the two
foundations of political prosperity in America were religion and morality, and no
one could be called a patriot "who should labor to subvert these great Pillars
of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens" (Federer,
p. 661).
That statement alone makes it hard to reconcile the modern concept of the separation
of church and state with the belief and practice of the "father" of the
country.
The state of the union
Washington repeatedly mentioned God and the need for His blessing as he left office
and bade farewell to the new nation. A little more than 200 years later President
Bill Clinton, in his farewell address, reflected on the condition of the nation.
But he gave credit not to God, but to the American
people, telling them:
"You have made our social fabric stronger, our families healthier and safer,
our people more prosperous ... Our families and communities are stronger ... Our
economy is breaking records ... Incomes are rising across the board ... America is
in a strong position to meet the challenges of the future ... (I'm) confident that
America's best days lie ahead."
No doubt the United States is a more prosperous nation than it was a decade ago.
The nation in recent years has seen its greatest economic growth. Although the economy
slowed beginning in 2000, it remains an enormous and powerful economic engine.
But what of the nation's social fabric? What about its families? Are they indeed
healthier, as Mr. Clinton claimed? Although it is expedient for a leader to assume
a positive and hopeful tone, we should also ask on what is such hopefulness based.
Without God, mere hope is built on sand. God is no longer welcomed as a part of society.
He is relegated to the churches and not even allowed out in public.
As recently as 1957 an act of Congress made "In God we trust" the United
States' national motto. Today such an act surely could not reach the floor of Congress,
much less be accepted. A similar motto adopted by the State of Ohio, "With God
all things are possible," was declared unconstitutional last year because, said
one of the ruling judges, it was "an endorsement of the Christian religion."
(See "Separation of Church and State?," page 9.)
What has happened? How have we moved so far from a time when debates on the floor
of the Congress, and even arguments before the Supreme Court, were settled by references
to Scripture? Now even alluding to the Bible is cause for a case being thrown out
of court.
Have courts' decisions to alter national policy and separate God's principles from
their rulings had any effect on the fabric of America?
One of George Washington's farewell warnings encourages eternal vigilance:
"... Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained
without religion ... Reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle" (Federer, p. 661).
Did Washington's prediction come to pass? When we look at the 1963 Supreme Court
decision that removed Bible classes and religious instruction from public schools
as the point at which religious principles were effectively separated from public
and educational policy, what do we see?
Statistics cited by David Barton in the 1993 video presentation America's Godly
Heritage show that pregnancies among girls ages 10-14 increased 553 percent from
1963 to 1987, and births to unwed mothers ages 15-19 have increased every year since
1963. Rates for both had been stable for decades before 1963. Infections of sexually
transmitted diseases among high-school students shot up 226 percent in only 10 years.
Among American families, divorce rates, which had been declining before 1963, began
to skyrocket, climbing 117 percent in 15 years. Single-parent families are up 140
percent, and unmarried but cohabiting couples are up 536 percent. Violent crimes
rose an astounding 794 percent.
Which way is better?
Jeremiah 6:16 has good advice: "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand in the ways and see,
and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find
rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it."'"
The constitution of the State of Delaware in 1776 stated: "Every person who
shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to public office or place
of trust ... shall make and subscribe the following declaration ...: 'I, ____, do
profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy
Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the
Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration'" (Federer, p. 203).
Other state constitutions made similar statements. This was consistent with the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it did not require membership in a specific
denomination.
The Pennsylvania and Vermont constitutions contained identical provisions that "each
member (of the legislatures), before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe
the following declaration ...: 'I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor
of the universe, the rewarder of the good,
and punisher of the wicked ...'" (Federer, p. 504, 623). In other words, it
was a public proclamation by a politician acknowledging that he would answer not
only to voters but would be accountable to God for his performance in office.
Nations and citizens accountable
to God
It was obvious to the founding fathers that an individual answers to God. But they
believed that a nation also answers to God.
On the floor of the constitutional convention in 1787, the difference between individual
and national accountability was explained. An individual answers to God in the future,
in the resurrection. But, when a nation dies, it is forever dead.
So when does it answer to God? Virginia delegate George Mason, known as the father
of the Bill of Rights, explained: "As nations cannot be rewarded or punished
in the next world, so they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and
effects, Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities" (Federer,
p. 423). The founders believed a nation would directly answer to God for its sins
and its rejection of Him.
As students of the Scriptures, they understood many of its lessons. They knew God
was patient with the kingdom of Israel for more than 200 years.
They understood He was long-suffering with the nation of Judah even longer. But eventually
the day of reckoning for Israel and Judah arrived. The founding fathers wanted the
United States to be a Christian nation-in substance, not just name-to forestall a
similar day of reckoning.
The prophet Daniel was no stranger to the rise and fall of kingdoms. He lived through
the fall of Judah and the downfall of mighty Babylon. God prophesied through him
that, at the end of our age, "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never
was since there was a nation, even to that time" (Daniel 12:1).
Other prophecies detail the rise of new international powers-and predict the calamitous
fall of existing powers, including the United States, Britain and other British-descended
nations.
Jesus Christ similarly predicted that the time of the end would be marked by "great
distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equalled
again." He explained what He meant: Unless that time of world upheaval and terror
is cut short, "no living thing will survive ..." (Matthew 24:21-22,
New International Version, Revised English Version). At that time the world's problems
will have grown so great that no power on earth could resolve them, not even a superpower.
God is patient both with individuals and nations. He is "not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2Peter 3:9). When Americans
consider whether they are still one nation under God, they would do well to heed
not only the warnings of the founding fathers and biblical prophets but the lessons
of history. Without a drastic change of direction to seek the One who has blessed
the United States so greatly, the country will go the way of former powers. GN
© 2001-2022
United Church of God, an International Association
Related Information:
Sidebar: Separation of Church and State? (2001)
Table of Contents that includes "One Nation - Under God?"
Other Articles by James Capo
Origin of article "One Nation - Under God?"
Keywords: nation under God pledge of allegiance America and the Bible Bible and the U.S.
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