by
Jerry Newcombe
That seems like a speculative topic — to try and guess what our first
president under the Constitution would have to say to modern Americans.
But
actually I won’t speculate at all. I’ll use some of his own writings to
make my points (or his points). And they won’t be from some of his
obscure writings, gleaned from arcane, private letters the way the
Supreme Court did in a 1947 decision with a private letter Thomas
Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists. That decision changed forever
the way religion, specifically Christianity, is treated in the public
square — and not for the better.
George Washington, the father of
our country, sent out in written form his Farewell Address (September
19, 1796). In this classic piece of American political writing, he gives
some warnings to his fellow Americans (and us) just as a “parting
friend” might do.
He said in that message: “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.” When
the founding fathers spoke of “religion,” they were speaking of
Christianity, in a nation which at the time was 99.8 percent Christian
(Benjamin Hart, “The Wall that Protestantism Built,”
Policy Review, Fall 1988).
Like
the other founders, Washington believed that for the Constitution to
work, the people needed to be virtuous. As he himself put it in the
Farewell Address, “virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular
government.”
What was the source of virtue, according to them (even some of the unorthodox among them)?
Religion
(on a voluntary basis) — always with the rights of conscience in place.
Thanks to the framers of our nation, we are free to believe (or not
believe) whatever we want in this country. Only to God, and not the
state, shall we give an account.
Washington elaborated on the importance of “religion and morality”
(again from his final public message): “The mere politician, equally
with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could
not trace all their connections 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?”
In
case any one doesn’t get the point, he basically asks, how can morality
continue without faith? It cannot, Washington warns: “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” [Emphasis mine].
But so many now think we’re so much smarter today. In fact, in 1980, in
Stone v. Graham,
the US Supreme Court struck down the posting of the Ten Commandments in
schools. Why? Because Little Johnny might read them and obey them.
They declared: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to
induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate
and obey, the Commandments. However desirable this might be as a matter
of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the
Establishment Clause.”
Whatever the outcome of elections nationwide, in all the different
races, from local dogcatcher to president, we have a lot of ground to
make up.
George Washington also said that as a nation we should
never expect God’s blessings if we continue to defy His Word. In his
First Inaugural Address, he said: “The propitious smiles of Heaven can
never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order
and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” (The Ten Commandments come
to mind.)
The propitious smiles seem to have turned into a frown
lately. But why should God be pleased with a nation that slaughters
millions of unborn babies, redefines God-ordained marriage, and is awash
with immorality?
Finally, Washington did not just urge his fellow
Americans to follow God’s eternal laws, he urged them to follow Christ.
He said that we can never hope to be a happy nation unless we imitate
the Savior. After the war, but before the official treaty ending the
conflict, Commander-in-Chief Washington sent a letter to the governors
of the thirteen states. It was a famous letter, dated June 13, 1783, and
is called the “Circular to the States.” Near the end of this circular,
Washington said that he prayed we will all learn to imitate the Lord.
This is exactly how he worded it:
I now make it my earnest prayer…that he would 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 an humble imitation of whose example in
these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.
How
far we have fallen from the vision of the father of our country who
said that we would only be a happy nation if we imitate Christ.
Therefore, shouldn’t we as a nation ask ourselves: Are we imitating
Christ? Are we a happy nation?
The answer to both of these questions is obvious. May God help us to get back on the right track.
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