As a naturalized citizen from a country that,
overnight, lost its liberty to Hitler's occupying forces, I don't take freedom for
granted. My father had barely begun his first engineering job when he volunteered for
Norway's underground army and joined the deadly fight against Nazi totalitarianism. He
survived torture and deprivation in three concentration camps, then discovered a more
subtle battle: the creeping socialism of post-war Europe. Eventually he moved his
family to America, and we learned to appreciate the courage and hard-fought triumphs
of our adoptive land's founding fathers as much, if not more than, many native-born
Americans.
It's no secret that America has shifted far from her
early foundation. Historical ignorance, moral apathy and the growing lust for
feel-good myths and politically correct illusions all tend to veil today's erosion of
truth and
the growing hostility toward the God we love.
But, once in a while, the symptoms of the spreading
deformation erupt into our media-driven public consciousness. And, few of those
eruptions shake our sensibilities more dramatically than the sudden ban on the Pledge
of Allegiance in the classrooms of nine Western states. The Court of Appeals for the
9th Circuit had stepped on one of the tender spots still left in America's collective
conscience.
In many ways, that's good. The outrageous
prohibition stirred a sense of loyalty to a set of old principles and
convictions that we all too easily take for granted and forget to guard.
Perhaps, like the sleeping giant awakened to action through the attack on
Pearl Harbor, America sees a battle worth fighting. Better yet, from coast
to coast, Christians are prompted to consider what it means to be "a
nation under God" in today's pluralistic global community.
So what does it mean? What do we, as a nation,
now believe or disbelieve about the God who established our nation? What is the status
of our Constitution in this postmodern world that twists facts and denies absolute
truths? What is the state of our nation today, and where do we go from here?
First, the bad news:
1. The Constitution: The Bill of Rights has already been
revised almost beyond recognition. As leaders and teachers embraced
the illusions of modern liberalism, our courts followed suit. Little by little, the
original intent was forgotten, drowned in a flood of evolving interpretations and
"progressive" ideals. Now, the Constitutional edicts originally intended to
protect the people from an intrusive government have become tools to do the
opposite.
That's what happened to the First Amendment. It never
mentioned "separation of church and state." Instead, it forbids Congress from making
any laws "respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof."
Having escaped English injustice, our founders sought
protection from
government control over religion. They wanted freedom to exercise their faith
and had no desire to use the new government to restrict religious expression.[1]
California's irrational Court of Appeals turned the original intent
upside down. Following the legal trends of the last century, it barred "the free
exercise thereof" under the banner of a mythical establishment clause designed by
socialist change agents to eradicate the influence of Biblical truth and morality from
coast to coast.
George Washington warned us that this might happen.
In his
Farewell Address, he said,
"One method of assault may be to effect in the
forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system,
and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown...."[2]
2. The balance of power:
Though likely to be short-lived, this June 26 ruling shows how the balance of
powers between federal, legislative and judicial branches of government has been
blurred. Instead of applying laws written by Congress, liberal courts reinterpret
laws in such a way that they actually create new laws that fit their political agenda.[3]
Again, George Washington's insights could have saved
the day:
"...the habits of thinking in a free country should
inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves
within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the
powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends
to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create,
whatever the form of government, a real despotism....
"Let there be no change by usurpation; for though
this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by
which free governments are destroyed...."[2]
3. Intimidation and
compromise: After decades of mind-changing intimidation and
consensus thinking (don't offend, argue, disagree, mention contrary facts
or absolutes...) few dare fight for Biblical values. After all, taking an unpopular
stand could offend the group or community. George Washington warned us it would
happen:
"Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the
favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp
the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests."[2]
But here is the good news:
The bad news produces...
1. Alertness: Realizing how easily human managers can trade our precious freedom for tempting
visions of solidarity and security, we become all the more alert to deception. Let us
heed the words of James Madison: "I believe there are more instances of the
abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those
in power than by violent and sudden usurpation."[4]
2. Insight:
Reminded that we were a "nation under God," we look to see "from where [we] have
fallen"[5] so that we might, at least in our own hearts, restore the early God-given zeal for
following His way.
"When God is Lord," wrote former U.S. Senate Chaplain
Richard Halverson, "then the people are qualified to manage and control their
environment. When God is not Lord, then they are going to be the victims of their
environment whether it's physical, political, social or whatever else."[6]
3. Conviction:
Aware of the shifting sands of social trends, we see a deeper need to take our stand
on God's unchanging truths and moral standards. Encouraging us to live
as "a nation under God," George Washington said in his Farewell Address,
"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 of human happiness - these firmest props of the duties of men and
citizens. … And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be
maintained without religion."[2]
4. Determination: Saddened by the growing hostility toward God's name and honor, we determine all the
more to express our loyalty and thanks to the God who established our nation and its
courts on the certainties of His Word.
But living as uncompromising Christians may become
increasingly difficult in the months and years ahead. For a battle is raging all
around us. Growing ever more intense, this battle
is not "against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness...." [Eph 6:12-13]
"The real conflict is spiritual," wrote Chaplain
Halverson. "The real enemy is invisible. His masterpiece is his incognito. His most
subtle strategy is to convince us of his nonexistence."[7]
And he has been gaining much ground in America in the last century.
Yet we need not fear. "You are of God," wrote the
apostle John, "...and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than
he that is in the world." 1 John 4:4
5. Kindness:
Having heard the chorus of diverse voices that rose in response to the edict, we want
to show care and concern of all people -- even if we can't agree with their
understanding of God. "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love
does not parade itself, is not puffed up...." 1 Corinthians 13:4
6.
Gratefulness:
Awakened to the high cost and
fragile nature of our freedom, we treasure the gift God has given us all the more --
and thank Him with all our hearts. "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all
things, to whom be glory forever." Romans
11:33-36
7. Celebration:
May the Maker of this great land show us special ways
to honor Him as our Provider on the Fourth of July. Only He can renew our
hearts and protect us from our enemies.
"In September 2013, a case was brought before
the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that the pledge violates the Equal
Rights Amendment of the
Constitution of Massachusetts. In May 2014, Massachusetts' highest court
ruled that the pledge does not discriminate against atheists, saying that
the words 'under God' represent a patriotic, not a religious, exercise."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?"
Psalm 27:1
America, The
Beautiful
|
O beautiful for
spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea! |
O beautiful for pilgrim
feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
|
Endnotes
1. "England had an established religion, supported by the
taxpayers and with its members given privileges denied to members of other
congregations. Since the people who wrote the Constitution of the United States were
Englishmen, they knew exactly what they meant when they said that they wanted no
establishment of religion in the United States. Wise men wrote the Constitution, but
clever judges have been destroying it, bit by bit, turning it into an instrument of
arbitrary judicial power, instead of a limitation on all government power." Thomas Sowell, "Religion
and the Constitution.
2. George Washington, Farewell Address.
3. "...we must not lose sight of the fact
that Judge Goodwin's opinion relied on fifty years of Supreme Court Establishment
Clause jurisprudence, beginning with the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education case. The
Pledge simply failed to pass the three leading Establishment Clause tests invented by
the Supreme Court. Indeed, the Circuit Court's opinion makes perfect sense if one
accepts the modern liberal premise that religion and morality are incompatible with
free society and ought to be driven out of the public square." From
Courts Show Us The Crisis Of Our Time
by Thomas L. Krannawitter, Claremont Institute Precepts, June 28, 2002.
4. James Madison, Virginia Convention, June 16, 1788.
5. Revelation 2:5
6. Richard Halverson, We the People (Regal Books, 1987), page 125.
7. Ibid., page 52.
On New Year's Day, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote
the letter below to the Danbury Baptist Association in the state of Connecticut. In it, he
used the words, "wall of separation between church and state." That wall was intended
to protect religious freedom and expression by preventing the government
from interfering in religious matters. It was never intended to block
expressions of faith -- either at home or in public places. Thomas Jefferson, like
George Washington, often mentioned God in his public speeches and political statements
as well as in personal letters.
