"Instantly a light as of a thousand suns shone down from above me, and pierced and broke into fragments the dark cloud which enveloped America. At the same moment the angel upon whose head still shone the word 'Union,' and who bore our national flag in one hand and a sword in the other, descended from the heavens attended by legions of white spirits. These immediately joined the inhabitants of America, who I perceived were well-nigh overcome, but who immediately taking courage again, closed up their broken ranks and renewed the battle.
"Again, amid the fearful noise of the conflict I heard the mysterious voice saying, 'Son of the Republic, look and learn.' As the voice ceased, the shadowy angel for the last time dipped water from the ocean and sprinkled it upon America. Instantly the dark cloud rolled back, together with the armies it had brought, leaving the inhabitants of the land victorious.
"Then once more, I beheld the villages, towns and cities springing up where I had seen them before, while the bright angel, planting the azure standard he had brought in the midst of them, cried with a loud voice: 'While the stars remain, and the heavens send down dew upon the earth, so long shall the Union last.' And taking from his brow the crown on which blazoned the word 'Union,' he placed it upon the standard while the people kneeling down said, 'Amen.'
"The scene instantly began to fade and dissolve, and I at last saw nothing but the rising, curling vapor I at first beheld. This also disappeared, and I found myself once more gazing upon the mysterious visitor, who in the same voice I had heard before, said, 'Son of the Republic, what you have seen is thus interpreted. THREE GREAT PERILS will come upon the Republic. THE MOST FEARFUL FOR HER IS THE THIRD. But the whole world united shall not prevail against her. Let every child of the Republic LEARN TO LIVE FOR HIS GOD, his land and Union.' With these words the vision vanished, and I started from my seat and felt that I had seen a vision wherein had been shown me the birth, the progress, and the destiny of the United States.
"'Such, my friends,' the venerable narrator concluded, 'were the words I heard from Washington's own lips, and America will do well to profit by them.'"
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), the French statesman and historian who spent time in America studying why its political system was successful and wrote his observations and conclusions in his famous book, Democracy in America. He described the relationship between character and society in America, but noted that it was the religious aspect of our country that first caught his attention. He wrote: "Religion in America.... must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country."
De Tocqueville also wrote:
"I have known of societies formed by the Americans to send out ministers of the Gospel into the new Western States to found schools and churches there, lest religion should be suffered to die away in those remote settlements, and the rising States be less fitted to enjoy free institutions than the people from which they emanated. I met with wealthy New Englanders who abandoned the country in which they were born in order to lay the foundations of Christianity and of freedom on the banks of the Missouri, or in the prairies of Illinois. Thus religious zeal is perpetually stimulated in the United States by the duties of patriotism. These men do not act from an exclusive consideration of the promises of a future life; eternity is only one motive of their devotion to the cause; and if you converse with these missionaries of Christian civilization, you will be surprised to find how much value they set upon the goods of this world, and that you meet with a politician where you expected to find a priest. They will tell you that 'all the American republics are collectively involved with each other; if the republics of the West were to fall into anarchy, or to be mastered by a despot, the republican institutions which now flourish upon the shores of the Atlantic Ocean would be in great peril. It is, therefore, our interest that the new States should be religious, in order to maintain our liberties.'
Such are the opinions of the Americans, and if any hold that the religious spirit which I admire is the very thing most amiss in America, and that the only element wanting to the freedom and happiness of the human race is to believe in some blind cosmogony, or to assert with Cabanis the secretion of thought by the brain, I can only reply that those who hold this language have never been in America, and that they have never seen a religious or a free nation. When they return from their expedition, we shall hear what they have to say. [Democracy in America, Vol, 1, pp. 311-312]
Patrick Henry wrote: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians."
Thomas Jefferson, not one to discuss his particular religious beliefs with others, sent a letter to Benjamin Rush on April 1803 in which he wrote: "To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other."
He wrote the following to Thomas Pickering in 1827: "[With respect to] the pure and simple doctrines he (Jesus) inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily his disciples. It is my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed purely from his lips, the whole world would at this day have been Christian. I do not know that you and I may think alike on all points... As the Creator has made no two faces alike, so no two minds, and probably no two creeds, we well know that there are shades of differences. There may be peculiarities in your creed and in mine and they are honestly formed without doubt. I do not wish to trouble the world with mine, nor to be troubled for them. These matters are to be settled only with Him who made us; and to Him we leave it, with charity for all others, of whom also he is the only rightful and competent judge. I have little doubt that the whole of our country will soon be rallied to the Unity of the Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus also."
Thomas Jefferson was so pleased that he had helped to secure religious freedom in our new nation, that he specifically wanted that title to be listed on his epitaph. His epitaph reads: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, Author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." It was Jefferson's wish that his tomb stone reflect the things that he had given the people, and not the things that the people had given to him.
Joseph Story, a member of the Supreme Court from 1811 to 1845, and during much of that time also a professor at Harvard Law School, published by far the most comprehensive treatise on the US Constitution.
Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story
Volume 2 of Story's Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (5th ed. 1891; pp. 630-632) discussed the meaning of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment this way: "Probably at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the amendment to it now under consideration [First Amendment], the general if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience and the freedom of religious worship. An attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation."
Thomas Cooley, who was as renown a legal school as Joseph Story, also wrote a treatise on the US Constitution, entitled Constitutional Limitations. In that treatise, he explained that aid to a particular religious sect was prohibited by the US Constitution, but he went on to say: "But while thus careful to establish, protect, and defend religious freedom and equality, the American constitutions contain no provisions which prohibit the authorities from such solemn recognition of a superintending Providence in public transactions and exercises as the general religious sentiment of mankind inspires, and as seems meet and proper in finite and dependent beings. Whatever may be the shades of religious belief, all must acknowledge the fitness of recognizing in important human affairs the superintending care and control of the Great Governor of the Universe, and of acknowledging with thanksgiving his boundless favors, or bowing in contrition when visited with the penalties of his broken laws. This public recognition of religious worship, however, is not based entirely, perhaps not even mainly, upon a sense of what is due to the Supreme Being himself as the author of all good and of all law; but the same reasons of state policy which induce the government to aid institutions of charity and seminaries of instruction will incline it also to foster religious worship and religious institutions, as conservators of the public morals and valuable, if not indispensable, assistants to the preservation of the public order.... No principle of constitutional law is violated when thanksgiving or fast days are appointed; when chaplains are designated for the army and navy; when legislative sessions are opened with prayer or the reading of the Scriptures, or when religious teaching is encouraged by a general exemption of the houses of religious worship from taxation for the support of State government. Undoubtedly the spirit of the Constitution will require, in all these cases, that care be taken to avoid discrimination in favor of or against any one religious denomination or sect; but the power to do any of these things does not become unconstitutional simply because of its susceptibility to abuse. . . ." (pp. 470- 471).
As presented in an article by Dee Wampler - "Never Hostile to Religion" (2005) - political science professors at the University of Houston collected all the writings from America's founding era to see whom the Founders were quoting. Researchers assembled more than 15,000 writings. The project spanned 10 years, and by the end of their work, researchers isolated 3,154 direct quotes made by the Founders, and identified the sources of these quotes. The man most quoted was Baron de Montesquieu (8.3%). Sir William Blackstone was second (7.9%) and John Locke was third (2.9%)). Surprisingly, researchers discovered that the Founders quoted directly out of the Bible four times more often than they quoted Montesquieu, four times more than Blackstone, and 12 times more than John Locke. In all, 34% all the Founders' quotes came directly out of the Bible.
Our Christian heritage was so firmly respected that in 1892, in the case of Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court declared: "No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people. . . . This is a Christian nation." The decision did not mean, however, that the Supreme Court was endorsing Christianity as the official religion because that would offend the very intention of the First Amendment. It was the heritage that the Court was acknowledging. The decision also read: "There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning. They affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation. These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons. They are organic utterances. They speak the voice of the entire people. While because of a general recognition of this truth the question has seldom been presented to the courts, yet we find that Christianity, general Christianity, is, and always has been, a part of the common law of Pennsylvania."
Other examples of our how Christianity impacted our founding , our view of government and society, and our culture include the following:
1. The Declaration of Independence reads, "All men . . . are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
2. When the US Congress met for the first time under the Constitution, in 1789, one of its very first actions was to appoint chaplains in both Houses.
3. On the day after the House of Representatives voted to adopt the form of the First Amendment Religion Clauses which was ultimately proposed and ratified, Rep. Elias Boudinot proposed a resolution asking President George Washington to issue a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, assigning a day of national thanksgiving. The wording was as follows: A proclamation should be issued such that "the President recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
4. President Washington then issued such a proclamation (similar to an Executive Order), assigning a day of national prayer and thanks to God. Congress made it an official national holiday in 1941. (See below for the official Presidential Proclamation)
5. Every president of the United States (with only one possible exception) has been administered the oath of office with his hand on the Bible, ending with the words "So help me God."
6. The Supreme Court begins every proceeding with the ringing proclamation "God save the United States and this honorable Court."
7. All currency bears our national motto, "In God we trust."
8. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag affirms that we are "one nation under God." Congress would not allow a comma to be placed after the word nation, in order to reflect the basic idea that ours is a "nation founded on a belief in God."
9. In 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most liberal federal appeals court, has upheld the phrase "Under God" in the pledge. The Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to hear any challenges to the phrase.
10. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., exhibits arts with religious messages, including The Sacrament of the Last Supper, The Birth of Christ, The Crucifixion, and The Resurrection, among many others with explicit Christian themes and messages.
11. Legislative prayers have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
12. Tax exemptions for church properties were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
13. Congress approves of federal grants for college buildings of church-sponsored institutions.
14. Engraved on the metal cap of the Washington Monument are the Latin words Laus Deo, which mean "Praise be to God."
[including references to "Never Hostile to Religion," Liberty Magazine]
In issuing his Presidential Proclamation to set aside a day of national thanksgiving, President George Washington wrote: "Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."
Our Founding Fathers believed that religion has an important role in this country. They believed that good citizens derive moral guidance from the precepts of Christianity and that moral guidance was essential in the proper governing of society and the integrity of the republic. As John Adams declared: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Even ultra-liberal President Woodrow Wilson admitted that "America was born a Christian nation."
The doctrine prohibiting government inhibition of religion can be traced through some significant U.S. Supreme Court cases. In 1984, Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger delivered the Supreme Court's opinion in the case of Lynch v. Donnelly, which held that the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island did not violate the Constitution by displaying a Nativity scene. Noting that presidential orders and proclamations from Congress have designated Christmas as a national holiday in religious terms for two centuries and in the Western world for twenty centuries, he wrote: "There is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of religion in American life...The Constitution does not require a complete separation of Church and State. It affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions and forbids hostility towards any....Anything less would require the 'callous indifference' we have said was never intended by the Establishment Clause. Indeed, we have observed, such hostility would bring us into a war with our national tradition as embodied by the First Amendment's guarantee of the free exercise of religion."
In 1963, avowed and rabid atheist and hedonist, Madelyn Murray O'Hare, brought suit to challenge a Pennsylvania statute that called for the reading of ten verses from the Bible, "along with the pledge of allegiance," to start every morning in the public schools. After reflecting on the Bible versions, students were then required to recite the Lord's prayer. (The law permitted students to be excluded from these exercises by a written note from their parents to the school). It was that landmark case, School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, in which the Supreme Court effectively took religion out of public school. It struck down the statute as offending both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. But despite its damage, the Court wrote that some degree of religious acknowledgment - some religious exercises - must be allowed. "It is insisted that unless these religious exercises are permitted, a 'religion of secularism' is established in the schools. We agree of course that the State may not establish a 'religion of secularism' in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe." In other words, if religion is completely excluded, then the school will have effectively adopted a 'secular' position or "religion of secularism" (no religion), and that is as equally forbidden under the First Amendment as the endorsement of one religion over another. Although having the dubious distinction of removing religion from schools, Abington also stands for the principle that "opposing or showing hostility to religion" is the same as establishing a "religion of secularism" and "preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe." In 1968, in Epperson v. Arkansas the Court likewise held that "The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and non-religion" and "the State may not adopt programs or practices in its public schools or colleges which 'aid or oppose' any religion. This prohibition is absolute." Consistent with this general principle and continuing to recognize it, the Court, in 1990, ruled that state action is impermissible when it "would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion."
In 1985, William Rehnquist, then an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, sought to emphasize the Court's error in Everson with its "Wall of Separation" rule. In Wallace v. Jaffree, he delivered the dissenting opinion and wrote: " It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of constitutional history, but unfortunately the Establishment Clause has been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor for nearly 40 years. Thomas Jefferson was of course in France at the time the constitutional Amendments known as the Bill of Rights were passed by Congress and ratified by the States. His letter to the Danbury Baptist Association was a short note of courtesy, written 14 years after the Amendments were passed by Congress. He would seem to any detached observer as a less than ideal source of contemporary history as to the meaning of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment.... There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation [between church and state] ... The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or intent of the framers.... Whether due to its lack of historical support or its practical unworkability, the Everson "wall" has proved all but useless as a guide to sound constitutional adjudication. It illustrates only too well the wisdom of Benjamin Cardozo's observation that "metaphors in law are to be narrowly watched, for starting as devices to liberate thought, they end often by enslaving it." Berkey v. Third Avenue R. Co. (1926). But the greatest injury of the "wall" notion is its mischievous diversion of judges from the actual intentions of the drafters of the Bill of Rights. The 'crucible of litigation' is well adapted to adjudicating factual disputes on the basis of testimony presented in court, but no amount of repetition of historical errors in judicial opinions can make the errors true. The 'wall of separation between church and State' is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned."
