As I was skimming through the website of my home town newspaper today, the Greenville News, I noticed a reader comment displaying opposition to the notion of Christian principles in the founding of the United States.  Obviously a debate still rages about the Christian foundation of America, but why?  Upon conducting my own research, I found numerous examples supporting beliefs in God and the Christian beliefs of our leaders and their positive view of Christianity and God in the operation and growth of the government and the country. 

The Founders’ views on religion in the public schools can also not be ignored.  Yes they wrote in the Constitution of a separation of church and state, but state funded schools were supported in instilling religious values in students, and using the Bible as a textbook.  The understanding of this separation has been largely perverted.

Not all Americans are or have to be Christian, but to disregard American founding principles and history is to destroy the essence of American culture, and our future.  Christianity greatly influenced all of Western Civilization especially in its holy book, the Bible.  Biblical scriptures provide valuable lessons and knowledge of moral values, law, history, and literature.  I contend that schools should bring back use of this extremely important book, not necessarily as a tool for forcing citizens to become Christians, but to educate our population on the ideas and values that shaped this great country, and our civilization.

I wish to offer a few historical points in support of the Christian nature of the U.S., and a few references.  Make conclusions as you wish.

Witness:

-     President George Washington (Farewell Address): “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 people.”

-          Harvard University’s “Rules and Precepts,” adopted in 1646, called upon each student to consider that, “the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ…as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning,”

-          Yale called on the Rector to, “studiously endeavor, in the education of the students, to promote the power and purity of religion.”

-          King’s College (Columbia University) in New York, though affiliated with the Anglican Church, had, “no intention to impose on the scholars the peculiar tenets of any particular sect of Christians, but to inculcate upon their tender minds the great principles of Christianity and morality.”

-          Massachusetts Law of 1642 called for the appointment of individuals to look after the capacity of children “to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of this country.”

-          When Thomas Jefferson spoke of a, “wall of separation between Church and State,” in a letter written to the Baptists of Danbury in 1802, he meant only to express that the Federal government had no place meddling in church affairs or to carry out religious practices, and vice versa.  Jefferson encouraged the acknowledgement of God as seen in the Declaration of Independence which read, “All men are…endowed by their Creator.” 

-          Jefferson also oversaw the use of the Bible in Washington, D.C. public schools while he was president of the Washington D.C. public school board.

-          The Articles of Confederation referenced God in the conclusion which read, “And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures…to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.” 

-          The National Motto, “In God We Trust”

-          The Pledge of Allegiance

-          The National Battle Hymn

-          Vice President Calvin Coolidge said in a 1923 public address, “no nation ever has stood without religion.  No nation ever will stand without religion.  No nation ever can stand without religion…The public school is the one place to put religion to make it effective in national life.”

-          Justice Joseph Story in 1833 described the purpose of the First Amendment to keep the influence of different Christian sects from taking hold of the federal government which lacked a national religion, but also says that the consensus in America was that Christianity should receive encouragement from the government so long as it did not impede freedom of worship.

-          Justice William O. Douglas, in writing the opinion of the 1951 Zorach case, wrote, “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.  We guarantee the freedom to worship as one chooses…To hold that government may not encourage religious instruction would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups.  That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe…We find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence.”

-          In a 1798 letter to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts John Adams wrote, “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.”

A few texts of reference:

-          The Roots of American Order, Russell Kirk

-          George Washington: A Collection, W.B. Allen

-          The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, Benjamin Morris

-          The American School 1642-1990, Joel Springs

-          God In Our Public Schools, W.S. Fleming