Christian Education, Part 5
Posted on April 15, 2007
Filed Under Worldview |
Okay, a few more “founders” to listen to as we try to get a feel for the consistent view that the foundations of religion and morality were critical to the republic they had established.
Samuel Adams (he didn’t invent beer!)
“Religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness.”
Patrick Henry
“The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor…and this alone, that renders us invincible.”
Benjamin Rush
“The only foundation for…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.”
Well, the list of quotations could go on and on. When I was working at the White House, this became an obsession with me: to read every original document I could get my hands on. I found that virtually every founder made the same kind of statement about the criticality of religion and the ensuing morality that came from it. They believed that the Constitution (to quote again from John Adams) “…was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
So, don’t let anyone tell you that the foundation of America is the Constitution. The foundation, as originally intended, was religion and morality. That is what the Constitution of the United States was to rest upon.
Now, having looked at all of this, we can finally conclude (do I hear applause?).
We started this whole thing because I was going to speak in Wichita on the criticality of Christian Education. (What we have just reviewed together in these several blogs formed the first third of that address, where I dealt with the past, the present and the future.) Education of our children (and adults) in the principles of the Bible were understood to be vital for all of life. But it was also understood to be absolutely critical for the health and future of this nation. If our children were not trained and educated in these principles, then the foundations would eventually erode and disappear as future generations no longer embraced and followed them. They all expressed, directly or indirectly, their fear of what would be the result of that neglect.
Even old Benjamin Franklin understood the ramifications of what would happen when the people of America no longer governed themselves with morality and virtue:
“…only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
Daniel Webster, one of the greatest orators to have ever arisen in America, offered a dim view of what would occur if we ever let those foundations crumble. I will close this blog and this topic with his statement and leave it to you to assess if we, as a nation, have reached that point:
“To preserve the government we must also preserve morals. Morality rests on religion; if you destroy the foundation, the superstructure must fall. When the public mind becomes vitiated and corrupt, laws are a nullity and constitutions are waste paper.”
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Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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When the children who are now being educated in our public schools grow up and become our legislators, what will they use as their guiding principles as they make decisions and pass laws for the rest of us? Without a sound foundation in morality and religion, how can we expect them to defend the principles on which this country was founded? We can see this erosion of principle at work already in our Congress.