In Defense of our Judeo-Christian Beginnings!

 

I recall more than few discussions on this site regarding the Judeo-Christian roots of our country. Many feel that this is a matter not worth discussing as God does not make an appearance in our Constitution. Remember if you will these discussions are always based on the Constitution as written and adopted in 1787. God played a most prominent role in every document leading up to the Constitution including the Declaration of Independence which was to serve as the notice to the world that this country was to be based on those very beliefs. In fact, God is not mentioned once, but twice in the opening two sentences of this all important document.

 

To make your lives easier I give you the exact words, “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.”

But it is the roots that are so often discussed here and are so often misrepresented. We will start at the beginning and move forward…

The first attempt to forge a self governing community based on freedom and acknowledging the word of God was in 1620 as the Pilgrims were preparing to land at Plymouth Rock. They gathered on the Mayflower and produced the Mayflower Compact. Here is the opening line from this first attempt at self governance in this new world, (In the King’s English of the time straight from Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation Vol. III pg 89-90) “ In the name of God, Amen.” Followed by the first sentence, “We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of the faith &c., having undertaken, for the glorie of God, and the advancemente of the Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutually in the presence of God, and one another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of the ends aforesaid;…” 

“Aforesaid”- adj.   Spoken of earlier. This covers the worship of God amongst other things they hoped to establish in this new place, not yet thought of as a country separate from England, and other things they wanted to establish the “preservation & furtherance” of.

Next the New England Confederation in 1643 covered the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and New Haven, the last two of which would soon merge into just Connecticut. It opens with, (again in the King’s English of the time) “Whereas we all came into these parts of America, with one and the same end and ayme, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel, in purity and peace; and whereas in our settling (by a wise providence of God) we are further…” I may be just an Average American but it seems that God remained at least until 1643, a pretty important thing they wanted incorporated into the daily and governmental life of this new land. I would also point out that its importance is foremost in their minds as it is God that gets first billing in both these above even that of the King.

Now you are thinking, Average American, you are talking about people who lived over 100 years before “our Founding Fathers” were talking about the Constitution and to this I can only say, you are absolutely right, good call. So let’s look at the next major attempt to establish some form of government on this continent.

Well we already did, it was called the Declaration of Independence and as we already covered it mentions God twice. We could look at the Albany Plan of Union (1754) in which God is not mentioned, but in that day and age it was assumed that the devotion to God was already established and Albany was nothing more than a request of the colonies to be considered as full citizens, a subject not covered under the religious doctrines of the time. Your citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven was a given, whereas your citizenship in the Empire of Great Britain was not. But if you look at Albany you must also look at the 1765 Resolution of the Stamp Act Congress where not only is the respect asked for by the members of the colonies to be represented by someone other than the House of Commons but the mentioning the “present happy establishment of the Protestant succession” specifically. And again in 1774 in the Continental Association the colonies, fighting to not succeed from the British Empire call upon the King to treat better the “Free Protestant Colonies”. Remember we were fighting to stay British but not pay the extreme taxes on tea charged by the Crown at the time. Think Boston Tea Party.

Then in 1776 the ax fell, we split ties officially, but we did not turn God out of our minds in doing so. So we turned out the Declaration of Independence but not in a vacuum. We included shortly thereafter the first solid attempt of self governance without a King in mind. The Articles of Confederation Article III, “… or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion…” Yep, we canned England, but not God. Our tolerance was already showing as we stopped saying Protestant but the mention of God was alive and well. Hell, freedom of speech doesn’t show up until Article V, maintaining God as still a focal point of this newly established country.

And it was from this foundation that the U.S, Constitution was written and from here that the establishment of our new FREE country was derived.

Side Note: Think of this at the end of every Presidential Press Conference, regardless of who’s President, “God bless America”, is a phrase we hang our collective American hearts on, along with the opening prayer before the start each Congressional session, swearing on the Bible to tell the truth, or singing our National Anthem, we as a people need these roots to be our strongest. Look at America lately, the last 40 years have seen a noticeable decline. Under LBJ we felt weak, under Nixon we felt dirty, under Carter we felt broke, and under Ford and Bush 41 we felt lazy, and under Clinton we felt dirty. Only Reagan and Kennedy had the right idea about America and Americans, we are the answers, and only through our hard work and belief in God will this country stay the magnificent land it is.

I would encourage some debate on this if there is any. It is factual evidence to the contrary of what you have learned even in school in this country for the last 60 years.

But what would I know; I’m just an Average American.