The faith of our founders is evident in our founding documents and the various Constitutions of the states. Let’s look briefly at the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Preamble to the Iowa Constitution.
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration contains five references to God.
Paragraph 1
“…to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, …”
Paragraph 2
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
Closing Paragraph
“Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world … with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…”
U.S. Constitution
The Supreme Law of the Land, Our Constitution, is itself founded upon biblical principles. There are many examples, but two of the most prominent are the Separation of Powers and the Republican form of Government.
Separation of Powers
The very structure of the United States Constitution is built around the biblical concept of separation of powers. Unlike much of the humanistic philosophy we see today, the founders understood that humanity had been corrupted by sin and had a bent toward selfishness, pride and evil. This state of humanity was often referred to as the “depravity of man.” They recognized that too much power consolidated into one office or branch of government would lead to trouble so they separated the governmental powers into coequal branches based on Isaiah 33:22: For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King … ( Is 33:22).
- The Lord as the Lawgiver, is represented in the Legislative Branch as established in Article I.
- The Lord as the King, is represented in the Executive Branch as established in Article II;
- The Lord as the Judge is represented by the Judicial Branch as established in Article III.
The Republican Form of Government
In Article IV, Section 4, we see that the form of our government is a republic. There are many examples of republics in history, but the earliest one was from the Bible, where Moses the great lawgiver whose image is engraved above the Supreme Court Building, established a representative form of government (see Exodus 18:13-27).
In the Year of Our Lord
The pre-signatory paragraph of our Constitution states “… in the year of our Lord …” This phrase, is a direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Iowa Constitution
Like other State Constitutions, the Constitution of Iowa acknowledges our dependence upon God.
Preamble
“…grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings…”
In Their Own Words
Some will argue that the above references to God are not direct references to the Christian God or the Bible. However, the historical evidence points to a different conclusion. It is an irrefutable historical fact that the Christian faith provided the foundations upon which our nation was built. The writings of our founders and subsequent leaders confirm this. What follows is just a sampling:
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity”
– John Adams, from a letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813
“I consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for public service.”
-John Adams; Charles Francis Adams (1854); The Works of John Adams
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”
– John Quincy Adams; Letter to an autograph collector from Washington on April 27, 1837
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”
– Calvin Coolidge; in a letter to E.E. Thompson, March 31, 1927
“No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”
-Noah Webster (1843); “A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects”, p.291
“Had the people, during the Revolution, had 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 the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one sect …. In this age, there can be 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.”
– U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees, 1854, in response to those seeking to take God out of government
As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, Emanuel, which means God with us. If God is God and the Creator of heaven and earth, then the nations are subject to Him. God doesn’t cancel His plan for the earth, the nations or Iowa just because some people in the legislature invent a law that opposes Him. Either God is God or He is not.
Some will say, “But I don’t believe in God.” They certainly have the right to believe what they want. No one is forcing anyone to be a Christian. Forced Christianity ceases to be Christianity. As Montesquieu said, “…the Christian religion is a stranger to despotic power.”
Some will also say, “But when you put the Bible or Christian concepts in government or in schools, you are forcing Christianity on others.” No, we are not forcing others neither are we advocating for a theocracy. But we do advocate for a republic based on Christian principles which provides the foundation for the liberties we prize and the rights we seek to maintain.
For those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, I will stand for your right to do so. Threats, harassment, bullying, or being canceled is always wrong. I will stand for your right to freedom of speech and expression, however, that freedom does not automatically extend into government policy. Satanists, for example, have the freedom to believe what they want and to speak accordingly. But that freedom does not mean we must have public policy that gives Satan equal status with God, which amounts to denying the Christian foundations of our nation and offending the God upon whom we depend for future blessings.
I have observed that those who object to Christian influence in government and seek to remove Christianity from public life seem to be just fine with influencing, and even forcing, others to accept their favored ideology.
- They demand that we abandon the 5000 year-old definition of marriage and accept their definition to include homosexual unions.
- They demand that we accept drag queen story hour as family friendly.
- They demand that we deny the biological reality of male and female, use “correct” pronouns and accept the trans agenda.
- They accuse us of banning books and call us book-burners because we don’t want pornographic books in school libraries, but they are okay with banning the Bible from schools.
- They demand that we give Satan equal status with God as an establishment of religion so they can establish after school Satan clubs on school property and set up satanic displays in our Capitol building.
The list goes on and, if we don’t comply, they are more than happy to use the force of law to cancel our voices, get us fired from our jobs, or destroy our businesses. All you have to do is disagree and you become a target.
What is described above is a hypocritical narrative of neutrality. In the context being discussed here, neutrality is simply used to silence Christian influence while those who promote neutrality have no intention of being equally silent in the public square. When Christians buy into that narrative, it is based on a flawed understanding of the 1st Amendment and creates an ideological vacuum which will immediately be filled with non-Christian values.
The Bottom Line
- Neutrality is a myth. Someone’s values will shape public policy; the only question is whose?
- The erosion of moral values and the decline of our nation is a direct result of rejecting the faith of our founders. Morality and religion are necessary to the preservation of our nation and the freedoms we have enjoyed.
- History shows Christian values to be at the foundation of our nation and those foundations must be restored and strengthened. We must not be intimidated or afraid to say it out loud: The United States of America is a Christian Nation.
