"The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments." So proclaimed Benjamin Rush, one of the Founders of the United States and found in his work "On the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic" written in 1806.
Rush and the other Founders of this nation, despite today's pronouncements by the Progressives, were believers in God, Providence, religion and the need to adhere to religious and moral principles. Today we and most importantly our children are told that such things as religion and morals are passe. That is not the case and indeed following the godless, unethical and immoral Progressives may be the reason we are in the shape we are in today in our great nation.
There are those within our country who are pointing out that until we restore our morality we will remain a nation unable to solve our problems. If we do not get right with our God, our difficulties will continue and the leading issue is the matter of on demand abortion. This horrible practice is going to cause God to turn a deaf ear to our concerns. Given that we have now achieved the death of some 50 million innocents, would we blame Him for no longer listening.
Like the Founders and many of the inhabitants, I believe that the creation of our nation was not an accident. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, North America was inhabited by American Indians who lived a hunter/gatherer life style that was nomadic. Starting in the 17th century we find everything from the religiously persecuted to the ne'er do well coming to North America from western Europe. From these immigrants came those who caused the revolutionary changes in America. At their very core was the belief that God and morality were important to the success of their endeavors. Indeed with the gaining of freedom from England, the Founders called on communities to erect schools based on religious tenets in order that the children become virtuous individuals. That, due to a misinterpretation of a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, is not longer the case in our public schools.
If you are a virtuous person you know it is important to your salvation. As the old joke goes it was the ten commandments not the ten suggestions and the Old Testament in particular sees God reminding us constantly who was responsible for getting us to a good point in our life. Indeed in Deuteronomy 5, Moses cautions his people to "do as the Lord, your God, has commanded you, not turning to the right or left...."
We have become a people who constantly talk about "the gray" of a matter and extenuating circumstances. We are told that there is more to an issue and that it isn't a "black and white" or "good or evil" world as though that causes one to be less compassionate. I would argue that the virtuous one will have more compassion then one who claims to be compassionate and throws the pregnant teenager under the knife for her abortion. There now, its all over go home and have a happy life.
Abortion is just one example of how we have lost our way and become a people with a fading morality. Drugs, alcohol, gambling all the old and new vices rear their ugly heads today and our children are constantly exposed to people acting badly. When they get into trouble we wonder why it happened with few of us pointing the finger in the proper direction because we have a million reasons to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.
At a time of the year when we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, let us remember how those who have gone before us had such faith in Him for the direction of their lives. I ask of you that you go back to those men who gave us the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Read those documents and read what those enlightened men, guided my the Almighty, had to say about the grace of Divine Providence in their lives. Rest assured neither they or their world was perfect but I believe they were more confident in their path and more resolute in their ideas and convictions then we are today.
Showing posts with label morals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morals. Show all posts
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Founders and Religion
When I reached 4th grade my teacher handed me and the rest of the students in 4th grade a book on American History. While I do not remember the title or the author of said book I do remember there was an American flag on the cover. I also remember ten Bible versus being read, the Lord's prayer being said, and the Pledge of Allegiance spoken by all students present that day and every day of the school year.
When it came time for history I was a happy student. I loved history. We learned about the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and how we defeated the British. After the War we covered the Constitution and then went on to the early years of our country. I remember reading about and discussing the Founding Fathers as I went through school and how these were principled men. Their principles were based on their religion and their faith in God.
Somewhere along the way we began to take a different path not the one recommended by those who gave us those two divinely inspired documents that formed our nation. Can I name that time? Yes, I can. It was February 27-28, 1963, when the United States Supreme Court by an 8-1 margin voted to end the policy of reading 10 Bible verses in school. That put America on the slippery slope to becoming a secular nation and took us off the path discovered by the Founders. The case, by the way, was Abington Township School District v. Schempp. To this case was added Murray v. Curlett. The Murray case was brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the founder of an atheist organization. Ms. O"Hair, her son, and her granddaughter were brutally murdered in 1995.
The dumbing down of the nation, however, had begun even earlier. In fact you can go back to the early years of the 20th century when we got rid of the McGuffey readers, they taught lessons of morality, and they went to John Dewey's plan for public educaation, the miserable system we have today.
We also began the degrading of the Founders. They were not religious. Men like Jefferson and Washington were really Deists. On top of that, these men were slave holders and even fornicated with their slaves impregnating them. This theme became a primary one during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s so that we could remove the pictures and names of the Founders from the public square and rename the schools after criminals like Eldridge Clever.
Our Founders gained a great deal of inspiration from Cicero and his writings on the principles of natural law. Cicero believed that Natural Law is true law. "True law is right reason in agreement with nature...." Cicero proclaimed that Natural Law comes from God our creator. It "is the distinction between things just and unjust, made in agreement with that primal and most ancient of all things Nature; and in conformity to Nature's standard are framed those human laws which inflict punishment upon the wicked and protect the good."
It was the studying of Cicero that convinced the Founders that being virtous and morally strong was important when it came to the writing of our founding documents. Benjamin Franklin stated,"Ony a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt or vicious, they have more need of masters." Jefferson pointed out that virtue was something that had to be earned and learned. Virtue was also something that could be lost. Washington said "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."
It is evident that contrary to what has become the popular view of our Founders, they weren't really a religious group and they really believed that there was a "wall of separation" between church and state, that these men believed in people being virtous, moral and principled individuals. Indeed, all of that was necessary to maintain our liberty and economic freedom.
Now we have a president who tells the world that America is not a Christian nation. He tells the rest of the world that like them we are a secular nation. If that, my readers, is indeed true, we will, as the Founders pointed out over and over again, fail and fall and the rest of the world will follow. The reason for the fall and failure is simple. If we fail to believe in something, in this case our greatness, morality and principles, we will fall for anything.
When it came time for history I was a happy student. I loved history. We learned about the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and how we defeated the British. After the War we covered the Constitution and then went on to the early years of our country. I remember reading about and discussing the Founding Fathers as I went through school and how these were principled men. Their principles were based on their religion and their faith in God.
Somewhere along the way we began to take a different path not the one recommended by those who gave us those two divinely inspired documents that formed our nation. Can I name that time? Yes, I can. It was February 27-28, 1963, when the United States Supreme Court by an 8-1 margin voted to end the policy of reading 10 Bible verses in school. That put America on the slippery slope to becoming a secular nation and took us off the path discovered by the Founders. The case, by the way, was Abington Township School District v. Schempp. To this case was added Murray v. Curlett. The Murray case was brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the founder of an atheist organization. Ms. O"Hair, her son, and her granddaughter were brutally murdered in 1995.
The dumbing down of the nation, however, had begun even earlier. In fact you can go back to the early years of the 20th century when we got rid of the McGuffey readers, they taught lessons of morality, and they went to John Dewey's plan for public educaation, the miserable system we have today.
We also began the degrading of the Founders. They were not religious. Men like Jefferson and Washington were really Deists. On top of that, these men were slave holders and even fornicated with their slaves impregnating them. This theme became a primary one during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s so that we could remove the pictures and names of the Founders from the public square and rename the schools after criminals like Eldridge Clever.
Our Founders gained a great deal of inspiration from Cicero and his writings on the principles of natural law. Cicero believed that Natural Law is true law. "True law is right reason in agreement with nature...." Cicero proclaimed that Natural Law comes from God our creator. It "is the distinction between things just and unjust, made in agreement with that primal and most ancient of all things Nature; and in conformity to Nature's standard are framed those human laws which inflict punishment upon the wicked and protect the good."
It was the studying of Cicero that convinced the Founders that being virtous and morally strong was important when it came to the writing of our founding documents. Benjamin Franklin stated,"Ony a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt or vicious, they have more need of masters." Jefferson pointed out that virtue was something that had to be earned and learned. Virtue was also something that could be lost. Washington said "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."
It is evident that contrary to what has become the popular view of our Founders, they weren't really a religious group and they really believed that there was a "wall of separation" between church and state, that these men believed in people being virtous, moral and principled individuals. Indeed, all of that was necessary to maintain our liberty and economic freedom.
Now we have a president who tells the world that America is not a Christian nation. He tells the rest of the world that like them we are a secular nation. If that, my readers, is indeed true, we will, as the Founders pointed out over and over again, fail and fall and the rest of the world will follow. The reason for the fall and failure is simple. If we fail to believe in something, in this case our greatness, morality and principles, we will fall for anything.
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