The Venerable Dr. James T. Payne
St. Thomas of Canterbury Reformed Episcopal Church
July 4, 2010
Independence Day
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Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12) O ETERNAL GOD, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Collect for Independence Day) A few years ago, a substitute teacher wrote in the Washington Post about the depressing experience he had while teaching three advanced government classes in a suburban Virginia school. He decided to poll his students on the basic question of whether the American system of government was morally superior to that of the Soviet Union? Fifty-one of the 53 high school seniors he asked — the brightest high school seniors in one of the best school systems in the country — saw no difference between the two. These children could not morally distinguish between their own nation built on the basis of each individual having God-given rights, and another nation that has operated for over 70 years on the assumption that man is a mere creature of the state. Not coincidentally, the two children who did comprehend a difference were Vietnamese boat children. They had received a valuable education in reality when they experienced the collapse of their homeland into the darkness of totalitarianism. 1 Recent generations of Americans are less and less familiar with the remarkable story of the Founding Fathers. This country and its roots in the Christian religion are virtually not mentioned in contemporary education. The role of the Christian faith in shaping the American War of Independence and the United States of America is largely absent from newly published texts. The founders were a remarkable group of individuals, who pledged the lives, their "fortunes and their sacred honor" to the cause of liberty. "Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion." 2 But they were remarkable in another way as well in that they almost all understood the importance of the Christian religion in the establishment and maintenance of liberty. One of the most commonly quoted passages of Scripture during the American Revolution was Psalm 33: 12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Today we are told that most of the founders were Deists or even Atheists. Certainly they had varying degrees of orthodoxy. Washington appears to have been very orthodox. Jefferson was a Deist although he declared "I am a Christian". Franklin upheld Christian teaching while expressing some doubts about the divinity of Christ. But he also pled ignorance of theology. Although they were of various religious opinions, virtually all described themselves as Christians. Yet are told that America is not a Christian nation and was not founded as such. This morning, I present the case to the question: Is America a Christian nation? I will largely let the Founding Fathers speak for themselves through their speeches and writings: During his first inauguration, George Washington, the "father of our country" "… took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words "So help me God!" to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible His "Inaugural Address" was filled with numerous religious references, and following that address, he and the Congress "proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel, where Divine service was performed." 3 At the end of his two terms in office, in his "Farewell Address to the Nation" Washington wrote: "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle"; and this: "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 the sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian." John Adams, the second President of the United States wrote to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813 and shared these thoughts on the founding of our country: "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature." In an October 13, 1789 address to the military, President Adams said: "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. Thomas Jefferson, second President of the United States, wrote this on January 1, 1802 to the Danbury Baptist Association: "The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall; it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government." In 1803, while president, he wrote these words in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence: "I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of [the Christian religion]. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions". .."I am a real Christian, in that I follow the doctrines and precepts of Jesus Christ." James Madison, the fourth President of the United States: We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on 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. The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion in the world that deals with the heart. While in office, John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States wrote: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." Many years later, at the age of 69, John Quincy Adams delivered a speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts of the Fourth of July, 1837 in which he explained the fundamental relationship between Christianity and American liberty: "Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" "Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"? John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of Supreme Court, one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution, wrote: "Do not let anyone claim the tribute of American patriotism if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics. In 1811, in a letter to a Mr. John Bristed, he wrote: "I do not recollect to have had more than two conversations with atheists about their tenets (sic). The first was this: I was at a large party, of which were several of that description. They spoke freely and contemptuously of religion. I took no part in the conversation. In the course of it, one of them asked me if I believed in Christ? I answered that I did, and that I thanked God that I did." By 1789 every one of the 13 states of the United States of America had a requirement for a belief in God as a requirement for holding office, most required a belief in the inspiration of Holy Scripture and 9 stated that only Christians could hold office. Typical of these is the1776 Constitution of the State of Delaware:
Article 22 One of the greatest of the patriots was Patrick Henry, best known for his "give me liberty or give me death" speech. Here are his thoughts on Christian basis of the founding of the United States of America.: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!" Like two-thirds of the founders, Patrick Henry was an Anglican. Toward the end of his life, he reportedly read his Bible for hours at a time. He once said to a neighbor: "This book is worth all the books that ever were printed, and it has been my misfortune that I never found time to read it with the proper attention and feeling till lately. I trust in the mercy of heaven that it is not too late." In a letter to his daughter dated August 20, 1796, he wrote: "Amongst other strange things said of me, I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of the number; and indeed, that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory; because I think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics; and I find much cause to reproach myself that I have lived so long, and have given no decided and public proofs of my being a Christian. But, indeed, my dear child, this is a character which I prize far above all this world has, or can boast." On his death bed, Patrick Henry made a dying declaration: "Doctor, I wish you to observe how real and beneficial the religion of Christ is to a man about to die....I am, however, much consoled by reflecting that the religion of Christ has, from its first appearance in the world, been attacked in vain by all the wits, philosophers, and wise ones, aided by every power of man, and its triumphs have been complete." On November 20, 1798, in his Last Will and Testament, Patrick Henry wrote: "This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed." The following is attributed to French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831. It was often quoted by President Ronald Reagan and sums this all up rather well: "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests — and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning — and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution — and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" 4 Was America founded as a Christian nation? On the basis of the declarations of her Founding Fathers could any jury deny this as fact? Those who would spread a revisionist and distorted history and pretend that this country was not founded on Christian principle by Christian men are not just the enemies of Christ and His Church, but are also enemies of the religious beliefs and moral values upon which the nation was founded. If the founders are to be believed, those who seek to re-write history and to de-Christianize America are themselves the enemies of liberty. As our psalm today declares, ours is a godly heritage.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
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