Sweeping Abortion Laws??

You see things like this are some of the reasons we keep losing on fronts like Abortion and Intelligent design. Well meaning people climbing up a sheer rock face see a foothold, then proceed to try and put an entire leg into it. Small moves, that is how we arrived at this state of moral decay, that is how we must climb out of it. This article articulates the recent decision by some states in the area of abortion

Sweeping Bans

Whether it be good people in PA. trying to protelytise or people in the above article trying to wholey ban abortion, this is not the proper course. In both cases science is on our side, we need to use their (The left's) own BS against them, not say, "I'm bigger than you, I'm higher on the food chain... " Get in my belly!!". Cuz while it may be funny coming from a 2 metric ton Scottish assasin, from the mouths of concerned Christian's it sounds unthinking and silly and only proves the opposition's point!

That's Hollywood!!

In typical fashion today Hollywood resolved to celebrate time honored traditions such as homosexuality, liberal ideology and the travails of being a transvestite over the more fringe story of redemption told in "Walk the Line", a story chronicling the life of singer Johnny Cash. That's right; it was not even nominated for Best Picture. I was especially taken by the director of Bareback Mountain's statements where he exclaimed, "I didn't know there were so many gay people out there. Everywhere, they turn up," Lee said. "More importantly, I think I'm amazed how people everywhere have had the sensitivity to want to get into the complexity of the issue, the probability of love, the illusion of love, all those things. It's not simple things you can categorize as right or wrong." , which again wrongly claim that homosexuality is not an issue of right and wrong and further distort and already distorted issue by celebrating it. It is very hard to make an argument that this is a love story when almost immediately the two main characters are engaged in graphic homosexual relations. The word love somehow did not come easily to mind. Were I to put it in the context of a Heterosexual scene, the words animal lust would seem more appropriate and fit much better. This movie degrades the concepts of marriage, love and monogamy in ways that make my stomach turn and for no other reason than to advance an agenda that Lee now claims is representative of much of our population. Yeeaaahhh Riiiigghhhttt!

You just had to know the MSM would latch onto something like this.

Jesus Case in Italy

It seems absurd when you look at it but given some of the things the ACLU in this country has brought to court I hope they don't get any ideas

Even more on Abortion

It seems I am not the only one who agrees that the abortion battle must be won in hearts and minds, not in court rooms. Surprisingly the voice of agreement comes not from a staunch conservative like myself, but from liberal editorial pages. Sadly their aim is not to end abortion, but to concede on key points about it in order to focus on others. An end around of sorts. As Ann Coulter rightly points out " The Democrats are trying to "reframe" their message to make people think they believe abortion is wrong." I suppose however that if this becomes the prevailing sentiment on the left we could count it a victory of sorts or as New York Times, William Saletan puts it,"You can tell yourself that the pro-choice majority stayed home in the last election, or that they voted on other issues, or that Democrats botched the debate. But those excuses are getting tired. Sixteen years ago, as the behavior of voters and politicians showed, abortion was clearly a winning issue for you. Now it isn't. You have a problem." It took the losing congress and two national elections to figure it out folks but they finally realized, normal mainstream Americans do not generally like the idea of taking life, any kind of life. As such I am sure that if they have not already, they will soon realize that the majority of Americans are God fearing and basically moral human beings who don't generally care for raving fanatic nutballs in public office (too bad for Tedd, John, Hillary, Schumer, Biden, Finestein, Harman). If they are not careful "Moveon" may just be what America does on an even larger scale than previously seen. We are a long way from convincing the left our position is the correct one, but knowing they are begining to realize that other people, a lot of other people are convinved is a good start.

Ann Coutler's full article

Wire-Tapout

I have to say Hillary Clinton never ceases to amaze me. To my knowledge thus far the only thing that has been done is the NSA listening in to calls that originated in the US to foeign terrorist and affiliated sources. I have not even heard them say "Domestic spying" which implies that American citizens (which foreign nationals using our soil as shelter are not BTW) are being wire-tapped. Gues I'll have to wait until all the facts are in but it sure would be great to find out that Hillary and all of her lambastic, bloviating cronies were totally full of BS on this one.

Hillary's slander

Eros or Agape?

I saw this article on a paper that the Pope recently wrote and I thought it worthy of a look. Particularly the first half of the article. Take a peek and then come back for my comments below.

Eros or Agape?

I would even expound on his point by sighting this issue as another argument for abstinense prior to a deeply commited life relationship or marriage. Eros or sexual love whether we like it or not injects emotions into a relationship. The key to success or destuction lies in the timing. If those emotions are brought to bare to soon, the relationship becomes about little else and there is no room to know and experience one another seperate from the physical attractions and bonds that sex inevitably creates. When God said "and the two will become one flesh" I believe this is what he was talking about. Granted it is a great leap of faith to trust God in that regard and hope that when you do finally make love, the two of you are compatible in that way. But that is what our relationship with God should be based in... Deep Faith. Something to strive for and aspire to in a world where the immediate is held above that which is deep and lasting

More on Abortion

Here is another interesting legal view on the Roe contreversy and ironically it makes my point. The begining header of the article starts out with a quote

"If you chose not to decide you still have made a choice"

a popular rock band called RUSH used it in one of their tunes a decade or two back. The next line goes something like this, "I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Freewill." The point being as humans we have to choose and if not given a choice we rebel. If we cannot accept the truth and choose to do otherwise then it is to our perril and a tradgedy unequaled, but it is God's will that the decision should be ours and ours alone.

Abortion

In light of South Dakota's potential abortion ban I felt I should write a bit about my views on the subject.

SD Legislature to ban abortion

First off I am a Christian and a conservative on nearly every issue that matters. Though it occurs to me that Roe vs. Wade is not the central battlefront against abortion, or maybe it is but I believe it should not be.

The real issue is that our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, have progressed to a moral point of critical mass. To think that overturning Roe would stop abortion is the same as saying that taking away a junkie's needle is going to stop him/her from scoring Heroine. We who believe that abortion is the wrong thing have to first believe that indiscriminate, promiscuous sex is wrong. Not wrong in a moralistic way (even though it is), but wrong for the individual, wrong for families, wrong for women, men, everyone it touches. Wrong in a way that affects lives. That destroys people personally. That is the battle friends.

Until we can show those who scream "keep your laws off my body" that they are doing harm to themselves and everyone around them by their own actions, until they can really see that on their own, all the rederic in the universe won't help. To that end the pro abortionists are right, they should have the right to choose. To choose abstinence until marriage, to choose not to have sex with men/women whose children they are not prepared to bare, to value purity and respect one another without objectifying their bodies, and yes to choose abortion. Not because it is an OK alternative to pregnancy, but because our God gave them free will and by such, that very right. We need to win hearts and minds with the truth. We are going about the battle all wrong. If we know our argument is the right one then we should be able to prove it, evidence it and shift opinion by its transparency and veracity. Lets not win by disqualification, lets win by knockout!!

WWII Poster (edited)

Stupid Liberal Quotes

"Clinton's pardons have no impact on the health and welfare of the American people."
Barbara Streisand

"Bush stole the elections and since then we have all been suffering the consequences,"
Jessica Lange

"He betrayed this country! He played on our fears! He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure pre-ordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place!"
Al Gore

"Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas,"
Natalie Maines- The Dixie Chicks

"I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a "deserter." What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate."
Michael Moore

"Regime change! George Bush has to go and we have the power to do it. The officials of the government shall be removed from office for crimes and misdemeanor; their crime against peace, and for use of torture in Iraq."
Ramsey Clark- former Democratic Attorney General (March 31, 2003)

"One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown."
Marcy Kaptur- Democratic Representative Ohio

"He's (Osama bin Laden) been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and these people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that."
Patty Murray- Democratic Senator Washington (speech to a high school honors class)

"The American people may have been lured into accepting the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation, in violation of long-standing international law, under false premises,"
Robert Byrd- Democratic Senator West Virginia (USA Today- 5/21/03)

"Our paradigm now seems to be: something terrible happened to us on September 11, and that gives us the right to interpret all future events in a way that everyone else in the world must agree with us. And if they don't, they can go straight to hell."
Bill Clinton

"If men like [Ken] Starr and his allies could ignore the Constitution and abuse power for ideological and malicious ends to topple a President, I feared for my country."
Hillary Clinton

"Not only did the tax cut fail to prevent a recession, as its supporters said it would, it probably made the recession worse,"
Tom Daschle- Democratic Senator South Dakota (January 4, 2002)

"Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future."
Jimmy Carter

"Did I expect George Bush to f--- it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did."
John Kerry- Democratic Senator Massachusetts

"Being a liberal is one of the best things you can be."
Janeane Garofalo

"The problem is we elected a manager, and we need a leader. Let's face it: Bush is just dim."
George Clooney

"George W Bush is like a bad comic working the crowd, a moron, if you'll pardon the expression."
Martin Sheen

"Bush wasn't elected, he was selected— selected by five judges up in Washington who voted along party lines."
Alec Baldwin

"Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot."
Al Franken- (The title from his book)

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"
Bill Clinton

"This vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President"
Hillary Clinton

"I mean, I think, Iraqis, I think, feel that if we drove smaller cars, maybe we wouldn’t have to kill them for their oil.”
Bill Mahr - Larry King Live (November 1, 2002)

"We all need to take a deep breath and think about being a Bush daughter and having that cross to bear. I'd go out and have a couple of drinks too,"
Julia Roberts

"If you asked would I live in London the rest of my life, yeah, I'd be very happy to stay here. There's nothing in America that I would miss at all."
Robert Altman - The Times (London) January 21, 2002

“I despise him [President George W. Bush]. I despise his administration and everything they stand for."
Jessica Lange - at a film festival in Spain (September 25, 2002)

"It is an embarrassing time to be an American. It really is. It’s humiliating.”
Jessica Lange - at a film festival in Spain (September 25, 2002)

"Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing... you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn't affect two-thirds of the people of the world."
Jimmy Carter

"We don’t know whether in the long run the Iraqi people are better off, and the most important thing is we don’t know whether we’re better off." - On the question of whether qetting rid of Saddam Hussein was a good thing.
Howard Dean - Former Democratic Govenor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 (Meet The Press 6/22/03).

I know on September 11, we were all evacuated from the building, and we found ourselves standing outside—most of us. I was whisked away with no place to go. We ended up on the top floor of the police headquarters. We pulled the shades down, thinking that might make us more secure.
Tom Daschle - Democratic Senator South Dakota

"Well I don't know what the city of Hollywood knows about foreign policy, but do I know that a lot of people do learn and educate themselves about policy and I don't have to be a policy expert to know that this will be a disaster."
Janeane Garofalo

"There is ample evidence that the horrific events of Sept. 11 have been carefully manipulated to switch public focus from Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who masterminded the Sept. 11th attacks, to Saddam Hussein, who did not,"
Robert Byrd- Democratic Senator West Virginia (USA Today- 5/21/03)

"Saddam Hussein is a threat, but the threat is not so great that we must be stampeded to provide such authority to this president just weeks before an election."
Robert Byrd- Democratic Senator West Virginia (New York Times op-ed, 10/10/02)

"While endangering one of the most pristine areas in the world, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would do nothing to make our country more energy independent,"
Tom Daschle- Democratic Senator South Dakota(March 19, 2003)

"by just getting the SUVs to have the same fuel economy as autos."
Barbara Boxer Democratic Rep. CA. ( On how the U.S. could save more oil than the Anwar would produce)

"Well, there's no credible link between Iraq and al Qaeda. There's no credible link between Iraq and 9/11."
Janeane Garofalo

"death warrant for social programs for decades and decades to come."
Julian Bond - NAACP Chairman (President Bush's tax cuts)

"In two short years, George W. Bush has taught us what the 'W' stands for -- wrong. Wrong for our children, wrong for our parents, wrong for our values. Wrong, wrong, wrong for America."
John Edwards- Democratic Senator North Carolina (February 23, 2003 )

"It's your money, says President Bush when he promotes tax cuts. I disagree with his tax policy but admire his spin."
Bill Clinton - Out of Control (June 28, 2003)

"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud,"
Edward Kennedy

"Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and Confederate swastika flying side by side."
Julian Bond - NAACP Chairman (On the Republican Party)

"We must uphold the promise of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton and never allow the President and his Republican friends to threaten Social Security by putting it on the Wall Street trading block."
John Kerry- Democratic Senator Massachusetts (Speech To Massachusetts Democrat State Convention," May 31, 2002)

"Unfortunately, last spring, Republicans chose exactly the wrong solution. They made a huge tax cut their No. 1 priority -- ahead of everything else -- and discarded the framework of fiscal responsibility,"
Tom Daschle- Democratic Senator South Dakota (January 4, 2002)

"We give an infinitesimal amount of our money to people around the world. I think what people around the world would say is it would take so little for this rich country to help and alleviate so much misery and even that is too much for them. We’re oblivious to suffering.”
Bill Mahr - Larry King Live (November 1, 2002)

“Bush says you’re either with us or against us. I don’t know who ‘us’ is. I say to Mr. Bush—this is what democracy looks like. We will not give our daughters and sons for a war for oil.”
Susan Sarandon

"This is a racist and imperialist war. The warmongers who stole the White House have hijacked a nation's grief and turned it into a perpetual war on any non-white country they choose to describe as terrorist."
Woody Harrelson

"If we continue following George Bush’s military policy and defense policy, will become a secondary military power."
Howard Dean - Former Democratic Govenor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 (Meet The Press 6/22/03).

"I can’t tell you the answer to that either." On the question of how many troops do we have on active duty.
Howard Dean - Former Democratic Govenor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 (Meet The Press 6/22/03).

"The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy."
Ramsey Clark- former Democratic Attorney General

"I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war, saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country."
Tom Daschle- Democratic Senator South Dakota

"But the problem for Social Security is that it is actually in fine shape until, I don’t know, 2040 or something like that."
Howard Dean - Former Democratic Govenor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 (Meet The Press 6/22/03).

"We need to change our ethic and aspire to be more Canadian-like,"
Michael Moore

"They could call Jesus a terrorist too. I mean, he was pretty tough on money lenders a time or two."
Ramsey Clark- former Democratic Attorney General (during a media event for an anti-war group)

"I think we are isolating ourselves, and in so isolating ourselves, I think we're minimizing ourselves, I don't think we are taken as seriously today as we were a few years ago."
Tom Daschle- Democratic Senator South Dakota (July 19, 2001)

"I'm the number 1 target of the White House. They can't get Osama bin Laden; they're going to get me."
Jean Carnahan- Democratic Senator Missouri (CNN's Crossfire, 10/15/02)

"The difference between Martin Sheen and George W. Bush is Martin Sheen is actually convincing when he acts like he's president."
Paul Begala- Democratic strategist (CNN's "Crossfire," June 4, 2002)

"Any child born into the hugely consumptionist way of life so common in the industrial world will have an impact that is, on average, many times more destructive than that of a child born in the developing world."
Al Gore

"Here’s what I say to people. You have a choice. Do you want to have the president’s tax cut or would you like a health-care program that nobody can ever take away?"
Howard Dean - Former Democratic Govenor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 (Meet The Press 6/22/03).

"This country of ours has committed the most serious act of aggression in its history by engaging in a war of aggression without a declaration of war by Congress,"
Ramsey Clark- Former Democratic Attorney General

"I do not begrudge his salute to America's warriors aboard the carrier Lincoln, for they have performed bravely ... but I do question the motives of a desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech,''
Robert Byrd- Democratic Senator

"I think the president would mislead the American people."
Jim McDermott- Democratic Congressman Washington (statement to the press while in Iraq)

“He [Treasury Secretary-designate John Snow] is said to be in favor of further tax cuts but against deficits. Doesn’t one lead to the other?”
Peter Jennings - World News Tonight - December 9, 2002

"The president succeeded during the election campaign in convincing a majority that Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida are practically the same thing ... but he convinced the majority of something that is not true and is not backed up by any evidence that I am aware of."
Al Gore

"Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find."
James Carville (on Paula Jones sexual harassment allegation against Bill Clinton)

"A nation that continues, year after year, to spend more money on defense than social programs is nearing spiritual death,"
Danny Glover

"I did not support Operation Desert Fox."
Janeane Garofalo

"Bin Laden didn't come from the abstract. He came from somewhere, and if you look where ... you'll see America's hand of villainy."
Harry Belafonte

We Are A Christian Nation!

John Adams and John Hancock:
We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]

John Adams:
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798

"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson

"Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817] | photographs of this letter: Page 2.... page 1.... page 3... page 4
.......click here to see this quote in its context and to see John Adams' quotes taken OUT of context!

Samuel Adams: | Portrait of Sam Adams | Powerpoint presentation on John, John Quincy, and Sam Adams
“ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.” [ "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia]

“ Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” [October 4, 1790]

John Quincy Adams:
• “Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “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 earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?
--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

“The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.”
John Quincy Adams. Letters to his son. p. 61

Elias Boudinot: | Portrait of Elias Boudinot
“ Be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers . . . and judge of the tree by its fruits.”

Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence | Portrait of Charles Carroll
" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." [Source: To James McHenry on November 4, 1800.]

Benjamin Franklin: | Portrait of Ben Franklin
“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]

In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."

In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."

Alexander Hamilton:
• Hamilton began work with the Rev. James Bayard to form the Christian Constitutional Society to help spread over the world the two things which Hamilton said made America great:
(1) Christianity
(2) a Constitution formed under Christianity.
“The Christian Constitutional Society, its object is first: The support of the Christian religion. Second: The support of the United States.”

On July 12, 1804 at his death, Hamilton said, “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.”

"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests." [1787 after the Constitutional Convention]

"I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man."

John Hancock: | Portrait of John Hancock
• “In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the 11th of May…to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the American Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we desire to thank Almighty God]…That the people of Great Britain and their rulers may have their eyes opened to discern the things that shall make for the peace of the nation…for the redress of America’s many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and their security to the latest generations.
"A Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from labor and recreation. Proclamation on April 15, 1775"

Patrick Henry: | Portrait of Patrick Henry
"Orator of the Revolution."
• This is all the inheritance I can give my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.”
—The Last Will and Testament of Patrick Henry

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” [May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

“The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.”

John Jay: | Portrait of John Jay
“ 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.” Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed., (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970), Vol. IV, p. 393.

“Whether our religion permits Christians to vote for infidel rulers is a question which merits more consideration than it seems yet to have generally received either from the clergy or the laity. It appears to me that what the prophet said to Jehoshaphat about his attachment to Ahab ["Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?" 2 Chronicles 19:2] affords a salutary lesson.” [The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 1794-1826, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893), Vol. IV, p.365]

Thomas Jefferson:
“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”

“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]

Samuel Johnston:
• “It is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected to high offices under the government of the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President or other high office, [unless] first the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves.
[Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788 at the North Carolina Ratifying Convention]

James Madison
“ We’ve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart.”

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]

• I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare the unsatisfactoriness [of temportal enjoyments] by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; and I wish you may give in your evidence in this way.
Letter by Madison to William Bradford (September 25, 1773)
• In 1812, President Madison signed a federal bill which economically aided the Bible Society of Philadelphia in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible.
“ An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia” Approved February 2, 1813 by Congress

“It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.”

• A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven. [Letter by Madison to William Bradford [urging him to make sure of his own salvation] November 9, 1772]

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22;
“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
He will save us.”
[Baron Charles Montesquieu, wrote in 1748; “Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislature if it were joined to the executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be lost if the same … body of principal men … exercised these three powers." Madison claimed Isaiah 33:22 as the source of division of power in government
See also: pp.241-242 in Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History: The Principle approach by Rosalie Slater]

James McHenry – Signer of the Constitution | Portrait of James McHenry
Public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.

Jedediah Morse: | portrait of Jedediah Morse
"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."

John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg | Statue of John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg
In a sermon delivered to his Virginia congregation on Jan. 21, 1776, he preached from Ecclesiastes 3.
Arriving at verse 8, which declares that there is a time of war and a time of peace, Muhlenberg noted that this surely was not the time of peace; this was the time of war. Concluding with a prayer, and while standing in full view of the congregation, he removed his clerical robes to reveal that beneath them he was wearing the uniform of an officer in the Continental army! He marched to the back of the church; ordered the drum to beat for recruits and over three hundred men joined him, becoming the Eighth Virginia Brigade. John Peter Muhlenberg finished the Revolution as a Major-General, having been at Valley Forge and having participated in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stonypoint, and Yorktown.

Thomas Paine:
“ It has been the error of the schools to teach astronomy, and all the other sciences, and subjects of natural philosophy, as accomplishments only; whereas they should be taught theologically, or with reference to the Being who is the author of them: for all the principles of science are of divine origin. Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles: he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.”
“ The evil that has resulted from the error of the schools, in teaching natural philosophy as an accomplishment only, has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism. Instead of looking through the works of creation to the Creator himself, they stop short, and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of his existence. They labour with studied ingenuity to ascribe every thing they behold to innate properties of matter, and jump over all the rest by saying, that matter is eternal.” “The Existence of God--1810”

Benjamin Rush:
• “I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them…we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this Divine Book, above all others, constitutes the soul of republicanism.” “By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures] from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds.” [Letter written (1790’s) in Defense of the Bible in all schools in America]
• “Christianity is the only true and perfect religion.”
• “If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into our world would have been unnecessary.”

"Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education”
Letters of Benjamin Rush, "To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools", March 28, 1787

Justice Joseph Story:
“ I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. . . There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
[Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593]
“ Infidels and pagans were banished from the halls of justice as unworthy of credit.” [Life and letters of Joseph Story, Vol. II 1851, pp. 8-9.]
“ At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under consideration [i.e., the 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.”
[Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States p. 593]

Noah Webster: | Portrait of Noah Webster
“ The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men.”

“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...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.”
[Source: 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language]

Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God [Exodus 18:21]. . . . If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted . . . If our government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. [Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, 49]

“All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.” [Noah Webster. History. p. 339]

“The Bible was America’s basic textbook
in all fields.” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5]

“Education is useless without the Bible” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5 ]

George Washington:

Farewell Address: The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion" ...and later: "...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..." | photo of Farewell address original manuscript

“ It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.”

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]

"To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian" [May 2, 1778, at Valley Forge]

During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words “So help me God!” to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible.

Nelly Custis-Lewis (Washington’s adopted daughter):
Is it necessary that any one should [ask], “Did General Washington avow himself to be a believer in Christianity?" As well may we question his patriotism, his heroic devotion to his country. His mottos were, "Deeds, not Words"; and, "For God and my Country."

“ O Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ, my merciful and loving Father; I acknowledge and confess my guilt in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of my sins, but so coldly and carelessly that my prayers are become my sin, and they stand in need of pardon.”
“ I have sinned against heaven and before Thee in thought, word, and deed. I have contemned Thy majesty and holy laws. I have likewise sinned by omitting what I ought to have done and committing what I ought not. I have rebelled against the light, despising Thy mercies and judgment, and broken my vows and promise. I have neglected the better things. My iniquities are multiplied and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord, with shame and sorrow, detestation and loathing and desire to be vile in my own eyes as I have rendered myself vile in Thine. I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins for the sake of Thy dear Son and only Savior Jesus Christ who came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me.”
[George Washington; from a 24 page authentic handwritten manuscript book dated April 21-23, 1752
William J. Johnson George Washington, the Christian (New York: The Abingdon Press, New York & Cincinnati, 1919), pp. 24-35.]
Click here for George Washington's Prayer Journal

"Although guided by our excellent Constitution in the discharge of official duties, and actuated, through the whole course of my public life, solely by a wish to promote the best interests of our country; yet, without the beneficial interposition of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, we could not have reached the distinguished situation which we have attained with such unprecedented rapidity. To HIM, therefore, should we bow with gratitude and reverence, and endeavor to merit a continuance of HIS special favors". [1797 letter to John Adams]

James Wilson: | Portrait of James Wilson
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
Supreme Court Justice appointed by George Washington
Spoke 168 times during the Constitutional Convention

"Christianity is part of the common law"
[Sources: James Wilson, Course of Lectures [vol 3, p.122]; and quoted in Updegraph v. The Commonwealth, 11 Serg, & R. 393, 403 (1824).]

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Public Institutions
Liberty Bell Inscription:
“ Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof” [Leviticus 25:10]

Proposals for the seal of the United States of America
• “Moses lifting his wand and dividing the Red Sea” –Ben Franklin


• “The children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.” --Thomas Jefferson

On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams "to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America." Franklin's proposal adapted the biblical story of the parting of the Red Sea. Jefferson first recommended the "Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by Day, and a Pillar of Fire by night. . . ." He then embraced Franklin's proposal and rewrote it

Jefferson's revision of Franklin's proposal was presented by the committee to Congress on August 20, 1776.

Another popular proposal to the Great Seal of the United States was:
" Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God"; with Pharoah's army drowning in the Red Sea

Click here for a larger image

The three branches of the U.S. Government: Judicial, Legislative, Executive
• At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22;
“For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
He will save us.”

Article 22 of the constitution of Delaware (1776)
Required all officers, besides taking an oath of allegiance, to make and subscribe to the following declaration:
• "I, [name], do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."

New York Spectator. August 23, 1831
“ The court of common pleas of Chester county, [New York] rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God; that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice: and that he knew of no cause in a Christian country where a witness had been permitted to testify without such belief.

New England Primer: | Photograph of The New England Primer reprint
Used in public and private schools from 1690 to 1900 second only to the Bible
Some of its contents:
A song of praise to God
Prayers in Jesus’ name
The famous Bible alphabet
Shorter Catechism of faith in Christ