Should We Kick God Out Of The Country?
By Tony DiPasquale (09/09/03)
Today, a number of Americans, many of them college educated, espouse the virtues of separation of church and state. Somehow our education system has failed, for many actually believe this to be a law, or worse yet, part of the Constitution. Apparently, they do not understand that without God, our country, and our precious freedoms, could not exist.
Years before we won our independence from England, America enticed people from around the world with the promise of religious freedom. Both the Pilgrims and the Quakers, and many others to follow, risked their lives on the open seas for a chance to avoid religious persecution in this new land.
Today it seems we have come full circle. No, we are not persecuting Lutherans or Catholics, nor are we mandating that everyone worship according to a certain denomination. No, today we are persecuting God Himself and all those who dare to publicly acknowledge Him, all under the guise of separation of church and state.
When the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, more specifically the First Amendment, there was never any reference to a "separation of church and state." In fact many of them believed that a nation that turned its back on God could not survive. Even the first Thanksgiving was, as George Washington put it, to be "…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.…" This hardly sounds like a government that isolated itself from religion.
Fast forward to the present, where we have a courageous judge by the name of Roy Moore, who is risking his career to defend the correct meaning of the First Amendment as well as his belief in Almighty God. The First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…" It does not say "respecting the establishment of a religion." No, they were rather concise in what they said, which was that Congress had no business making any laws pertaining to religion whatsoever. Yet somehow, we have come to understand this to mean that government must be void of religion. If this were the case, can someone explain to me the inscriptions on both the Supreme Court building as well as its doors?
If we are to believe that God is to be excluded from our government, then to whom do we owe thanks for our inalienable rights? Government? We must remember that those who give us our rights can also take them away. I, for one, have much more faith in God not trampling on our rights than any politician or bureaucrat.
Even the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had attempted to ban the Pledge of Allegiance. Sure this ruling did not stand, but do not for one moment think that the war has been won. The persistence of the opposition will never cease, and the Alabama decision will only give encouragement to their cause.
Where was our self-proclaimed devout Christian President during the Alabama debacle? Not once has he spoken in support of the Ten Commandments, an issue that one would assume should be dear to his heart. This should serve as no surprise however, as the current bread of politician no longer stands for their convictions. Rather than defending Judge Moore's actions, or at the very least using political pressure to thwart its removal, Bush chose to remain silent. Apparently, the thought of taking on any political risk outweighed the choice to stand for what is right. But the blame should not fall squarely on his shoulders, few others in the Republican Party have come to the rescue.
Even still, the implications of chasing God from our borders are close at hand. With God effectively eliminated from our country and our government, what will serve as a replacement for the country's moral guide? If we choose to rely on man's authority rather than God's, I am afraid history dictates that our future will be bleak.
Let us for a moment imagine a country without God as its moral compass. No longer will we be able to limit marriage to a man and a woman. No longer will we have a day off in observance of Christmas. It may remain a day off, but it most likely will be referred to as a "winter break." No longer will oaths be taken on the Bible. The question then becomes, what do we swear on? The ramifications of such a measure are endless, and certainly not positive. All one has to do is review the surge in crime, divorce, and illegitimacy rates in the past fifty years to see what has happened. Now imagine this magnified.
Before we go off believing that freedom of religion means freedom from religion we had better stop to think if we are willing to live with the consequences. So much has happened in this country since we have moved away from God, let's not find out what happens when we abandon Him altogether.
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