The Founders Speak
By Marnie Pehrson 

There is something that has been lost over the centuries that once was vital and critical to our Founding Fathers and to our nation. In this article, I will prove without doubt that the U.S. was founded upon Christian principles.

As we approach the 4th of July, let us look back on the foundation upon which our country was formed. The 4th of July is the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence when our Founding Fathers proclaimed their independence from British rule. This declaration set in motion a series of events, which led to the Revolutionary War, and the creation of the U.S. Constitution.  There is something that has been lost over the centuries that once was vital and critical to our Founding Fathers and to our nation. These are the core principles upon which our country was built. In this article, I will prove without doubt that the United States of America was built upon Christian principles and that these principles were intended to be the foundation of this country throughout time. 

Let's step back in time to July 4th, 1837 to an address given by John Quincy Adams in which he said, 

''Why is it that next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most venerated festival returns on this day? 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 the earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?'' 

John Quincy Adams new that without the freedoms vouchsafed in the United States Constitution, the freedom necessary for the gospel of Jesus Christ to flourish would not exist. The birthday of Jesus Christ and the birth of this nation were ''indissolubly linked'' and Christian precepts laid the cornerstone of human government! 

Is this true? Were Christian principles truly the cornerstone of our republic? A University of Houston study was conducted on the writings of the Founding Fathers and the sources they used to form the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In this comprehensive study, the university found 3,154 direct quotes that the Founders used. Of these quotes, 94% were based directly or indirectly on the Bible. For example, the 3 Branches of Government is based on Isaiah 33:22. The separation of powers is based on Jeremiah 17:9. Tax exemption of churches is based on Ezra 7:24. Repeatedly in early congressional records, the Bible was used as the premise for discussions and law making. For example, the Congressional Record of September 25, 1789 sites that a discussion of II Chronicles 6 led to the declaring of the first Thanksgiving holiday. 

In the Supreme Court case, ''Church of the Holy Trinity versus the United States'' 1892, the Supreme Court ruled, ''Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and must embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible for it to be otherwise. In this sense, to this extent our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian.'' 

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible for the U.S. Constitution stated, ''Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty – as well as the privilege and interest – of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.'' 

George Washington's farewell address for 150 years after it was given was quoted in every textbook in the nation. It has been strangely omitted in textbooks for the last five decades, but at one time it was revered as one of the most significant speeches ever delivered. In his farewell address, President George Washington, a primary founder of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, stated: ''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.'' George Washington said anyone who would remove the pillars of religion and morality from our nation could not claim to be a patriot! 

But What About Separation of Church and State 

Nowhere in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights does the term ''separation of church and state'' exist. The 1st amendment simply states, ''Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'' The term ''separation of church and state'' was taken from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson on January 1, 1802 to Danbury Baptist Church. Danbury Baptist Church had heard rumors that a congregational church was going to be made the official state religion so they wrote a letter to President Jefferson in protest. President Thomas Jefferson responded to them with a letter letting them know that they did not need to worry about one denomination becoming the official state religion. He assured them that ''The First Amendment erected a wall of separation between church and state.'' 

In the full context of the letter and the situation it is obvious that Thomas Jefferson was merely stating that no one denomination would ever be declared the official religion of the United States because the 1st Amendment prevented the establishment of any one state denomination. 

His letter was viewed in this appropriate context for many years and was used as a precedent in seeing that Christian principles were the foundation of our laws, but that no one denomination was established as the official state religion. 

In 1853, a group of people requested that Christian principles be separated from Government. The House Judiciary and Senate committees studied the situation for a full year and finally concluded in their report of March 27, 1854, ''Had the people [the Founding Fathers] during the Revolution a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle… At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and its amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one sect [denomination]… In this age, there is no substitute for Christianity. That was the religion of the founders of the republic, and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.'' The Senate filed a similar report. 

Two months later the House Judiciary Committee stated, ''The great vital and conservative element in our system [the thing that holds our system together] is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'' 

There can be no doubt that the founding fathers intended our country to remain firmly grounded in Christian principles. It is clear that they did not intend for the term ''separation of church and state'' to eradicate God from our schools, to remove God from our government, or to promote immorality throughout our nation. Not only did they intend for these Christian principles to continue, but they also warned that if our country ever removed them, we would be ripe for destruction. 

George Mason, the Father of the Bill of Rights explained, ''As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, so they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities.'' 

Let us return to those Christian principles that have made us free. Let us remember that God will not allow a nation, established and once guided under his hand, to continue in iniquity without reaping the consequences. As Psalms 33:12 states, ''Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.'' And Proverbs 14:34 tells us that ''Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.'' ''But the nation and kingdom that will not serve [God] shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly destroyed.'' (Isaiah 60:12) Let us unearth and heed the warnings of our founding fathers and of God himself, lest we reap a ''chain of causes and effects'' that punish our ''national sins by national disasters.'' 

Most of the quotes in this article along with many more can be found in America's Godly Heritage by Charles D. Barton. 

Another good resource on the principles and values espoused by our Founding Fathers can be found in the Federalist Papers. 

Click here for a copy of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. 

E-mail Marnie: thewayhome@ideamarketers.com 
Marnie's sites: http://www.ideamarketers.com/christian/
and http://www.SheLovesGod.com

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