Returning to Our Roots

Much has been opined about my profile and the statement that I wish to return Southern Indiana and this nation to the principles that made her the greatest on earth. What are those roots? Liberals will have you believe that our roots have nothing to do with religion, the Bible, Jesus, the Gospels or anything remotely pertaining to the subject. I find it peculiar that these students of history choose to overlook the faith that out forefathers put into the Almighty. They overlook that one of their favorite institutions, Harvard, was founded as a Christian College. 106 out of the first 108 institutions of higher learning in America were Christian based. One of the requirements for entering Harvard was knowledge of Latin and Greek so students could study the Bible. It's right there in the original handbook. 'Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs 2:3).' In the first 100 years, half of the graduates from Harvard were pastors.

Our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence and quickly voted to import 20,000 Bibles for the citizens to use. Patrick Henry is best noted for his quote "Give me liberty or give me death." Take that quote in its full context and you get something quite different. 'An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.' You won't find that in the history books at your local school today. He went on to say in the following year of 1776, 'It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.'

In George Washington's farewell address in 1796 he stated, 'It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.' This from the father of our country.

Of course, as progressives will note, we have grown as a country. We have had several Supreme Court decisions that have "advanced" us as a society. The first was in 1947, when this prayer was removed. 'Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee. We beg Thy blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers and our country. Amen.' Then in 1963, the Supreme Court banished the Bible from public schools. Part of the summary for the majority was this. 'If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and have been psychologically harmful to children.' Really? In 1965, the Court again took more rights when they denied a student from praying aloud over his food at lunch time. Now they were on a roll. In 1980, the 10 commandments were removed from school because students might actually "read them." James Madison, the man credited with writing the bulk of the Constitution, had a different view. 'We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.' Just don't read them.

I am not advocating making every public school in America a theist institution. We have private schools for that. I do however support vouchers for parents so that they can make the decision on which school their child attends, public or private. I do condone a return to the principles on which this country was founded and which made her great. That doesn't mean you have to be a Christian or religious person, but you do have to be honest, work hard and play by the rules. Freedom of religion is a basic right and if not for the Christians that founded this country and sacrificed for her, others would not have that right.